I finally did the Gulf Coast Triathlon, a half iron distance race (1.2 mi. swim, 56 mi. bike, half marathon). It feels like I've been training forever for a half since I decided to put this distance off until this year since trying for the end of last year took its toll with training in the heat.

Julie and I drove up on Thursday and Kirby and Bev met us there that night and Adam met us there on Friday. My new camera came in handy and Kirby took some great pics.

Speaking of heat, now I know why this race is affectionately called the "Gulf Roast". It was hot, hot, hot! Here's my race recap:

Race Morning
Wake up at 4:00 AM and eat, take some Endurolytes and other vitamins and supplements I normally take, and start hydrating. Our bikes were already in transition and we stayed at the host hotel, so we just had to walk down and get our stuff ready.

I go to pump up my tires, and my rear is flat. I pump it up and can hear the air escaping and even in the darkness can spot the hole in my tire. I don't have any spares so I ask the guy manning the Dragon Sports tent for bike repairs if they have a tire or patch kit. He says he didn't pack the stuff so he's not sure and the guy that did will be back soon. I head to the room to grab a dollar bill in case I need to rig a patch. I get back down and they had a few tires. Most of them are the Continental Grand Prix 4000s I wanted to get anyway. They are all red which works perfectly since my new bike has red on it.

I grabbed my bike and tossed it over the transition fence and they picked it up and had it ready to go by the time I got back from the room with cash to cover the tire/labor. Had to go back to transition to rack my bike and then get all my stuff laid out for the bike and run. Back in the room, we all got suited up and wetsuited up and went down to wait for the swim start.

The Swim
The ocean was fairly calm and the wind wasn't too bad. The Course was a long out, short over, and long back. The current was going to be with us for the over section. The water was 75 which was perfect for my sleveless wetsuit.

About 150 yards out, there were jellyfish a couple feet below the surface which made swimming fun. Got stung a bit and had to go through them again on the way in. Luckily, the itching wasn't too bad.

I don't carry my Garmin on the swim so I didn't know my swim time. I had planned on 40-45 mins. and ended up doing it in 36.

T1
An uneventful, yet slow as usual, T1 which is a good thing.

The Bike
The bike course is flat and runs along the beach for a bit and then out into the woods where the heat picked up and the road alternated between nice and crappy. I skipped the first bathroom stop which was a mistake since I was dying about 5 miles before the next one. Stopped at the next one and leaned my bike up against a post. When I got out of the port-o-let, one of the volunteers handed me my bike. I told her she rocked and went on my way. My rear tire was in the gravel so I peeled out which probably didn't look at all cool.

My butt was feeling sore by about mile 35 when I took another bathroom break. This one was preemptive. The last 20 miles, I had to get out of the bars and lean back to get rid of the butt pain. Luckily it didn't slow me down too much. My goal for the bike was 18 MPH average and I was at about 17.7 according to my computer and my Garmin which I didn't think was bad considering I had two stops. My new bike rocks and made it easy to keep that pace. Still, I was happy to get off the bike and start running.

T2
The port-o-lets next to my rack were occupied so I had to jog over about 100 yards away from the transition exit to get to an open one. Still, uneventful.

The Run
Ah, the run... I felt great coming out of transition and had to slow myself down to keep a 9:00 mile pace which was my target. That lasted for a couple miles and then the heat got me. Miles 3-7 really sucked. Hard. 8-10 were better and the last three were tough. I walked all the aid stations and took water, gatorade, and sponges at each one. I got a bit of chaffing in an area I didn't want chaffed and had to deal with that for a couple miles which wasn't too fun. I was going to stick a sponge down my tri shorts to try to stop it but the next aid station was out.

The Finish
I was very glad when I was done and very happy to get a nice cold beer after a recovery drink. A swim after that in the pool felt really good. They were out of pizza when we went back down to get food so we had another beer and then showered up to go to Carraba's for dinner.

My Results
Swim: 36:21
AG Place: 103 of 221
Gender Place: 379 of 919

T1: 5:18
AG Place: 173 of 221
Gender Place: 664 of 919

Bike: 3:07:29
Pace: 17.9 MPH
AG Place: 198 of 221
Gender Place: 793 of 919

T2: 2:36
AG Place: 107 of 221
Gender Place: 406 of 919

Run: 2:26:59
Pace: 11:11
AG Place: 151 of 221
Gender Place: 541 of 919

Overall Time: 6:18:10
AG Place: 168 of 221
Gender Place: 640 of 919
Overall Place: 824 of 1239