- Distance: 1500 Meter Swim, 21 Mile Bike, 6.2 Mile Run
- Time: 2 hr 28 min 35 sec overall; 31:44 Swim, 4:08 T1, 1:01:59 Bike, 1:13 T2, 49:33 Run
- Place: 15 out of 29 in age group, 91 out of 193 men, 103 out of 271 overall
- Weather: Mostly sunny, 5-10 mph winds, air temps in the upper 70's, water temp of 75 degrees
As the sun was coming up I could tell it was going to be a hot and sunny day. It wasn't supposed to get extremely hot until later in the day, but the humidity was still pretty bad. I was able to get my wetsuit on and warm up a little bit before the start. The waves and salt water taste were about what I expected, and there was no sign of any jellyfish. I was assigned to start in the first of three groups and I positioned myself on the right side of the main field. The temperature of the water
was never a factor for me and my breathing felt comfortable except for the occasional wave of water in my mouth. Once I got beyond the breakers I realized I hadn't taken the cross current into consideration. Just my luck the current was moving from left to right which meant I had to keep adjusting my line to stay headed toward the first turn buoy. The back portion of the course which ran parallel to the shore went by fairly quickly due to current, and the final section back to shore had a lot of seaweed that kept getting caught in my fingers and goggles. Once on the beach we had to jog about 100 yards back to the start line to begin our second loop. The second lap felt almost identical to the first with the exception of the congestion. I thought that everyone would be spread out by the second loop, but I was bumping into more people or they were bumping into me more than the start of the race. As I approached the shore and was able to walk out of the water, I started to remove my wetsuit top. While pulling my arm out of the sleeve I inadvertently broke the watchband and the watch remained in the sleeve. I fished it out and began trying to put the pin of the band back together as I walked to the
transition area. In hindsight I should have just pocketed the watch immediately and got on the bike as quickly as I could, but my over-analytical nature wanted to fix the watch so I would be able to constantly calculate my pace for the rest of the race. I spent at least two extra minutes in transition trying to put the band back together with no success. At this point I was frustrated and mad at myself for wasting so much time so I put the watch in my jersey pocket, grabbed my bike, and started toward the bike course. I guess I took my frustration out on the course because I was passing people one right after the other for almost the first 5 miles. I don't ever recall passing that many people on the bike in a race before. The course was flat and I was wearing my new aero helmet for the first time, but I just felt a lot faster than I normally do in a race. After completing the first loop and starting the second I
knew where to expect the pot holes and breaks in the payment. There were more on the course than I thought there would be and some were pretty jarring. I averaged over 20 mph on the bike so I was happy with that. The run course was mostly in the sun and the section along the boardwalk was quite windy. About halfway through the second loop I could tell that I was starting to tire a little bit. I ran with the watch in my hand for the entire run course so I could keep an eye on my pace. Carrying it in my hand was less of a hassle than I though it would be and I was kicking myself for wasting as much time as I did in the first transition. I was able to break the 2.5 hour mark and I beat my best olympic distance time from two years ago by more than ten minutes, so I can't complain too much.
was never a factor for me and my breathing felt comfortable except for the occasional wave of water in my mouth. Once I got beyond the breakers I realized I hadn't taken the cross current into consideration. Just my luck the current was moving from left to right which meant I had to keep adjusting my line to stay headed toward the first turn buoy. The back portion of the course which ran parallel to the shore went by fairly quickly due to current, and the final section back to shore had a lot of seaweed that kept getting caught in my fingers and goggles. Once on the beach we had to jog about 100 yards back to the start line to begin our second loop. The second lap felt almost identical to the first with the exception of the congestion. I thought that everyone would be spread out by the second loop, but I was bumping into more people or they were bumping into me more than the start of the race. As I approached the shore and was able to walk out of the water, I started to remove my wetsuit top. While pulling my arm out of the sleeve I inadvertently broke the watchband and the watch remained in the sleeve. I fished it out and began trying to put the pin of the band back together as I walked to the 
transition area. In hindsight I should have just pocketed the watch immediately and got on the bike as quickly as I could, but my over-analytical nature wanted to fix the watch so I would be able to constantly calculate my pace for the rest of the race. I spent at least two extra minutes in transition trying to put the band back together with no success. At this point I was frustrated and mad at myself for wasting so much time so I put the watch in my jersey pocket, grabbed my bike, and started toward the bike course. I guess I took my frustration out on the course because I was passing people one right after the other for almost the first 5 miles. I don't ever recall passing that many people on the bike in a race before. The course was flat and I was wearing my new aero helmet for the first time, but I just felt a lot faster than I normally do in a race. After completing the first loop and starting the second I 
knew where to expect the pot holes and breaks in the payment. There were more on the course than I thought there would be and some were pretty jarring. I averaged over 20 mph on the bike so I was happy with that. The run course was mostly in the sun and the section along the boardwalk was quite windy. About halfway through the second loop I could tell that I was starting to tire a little bit. I ran with the watch in my hand for the entire run course so I could keep an eye on my pace. Carrying it in my hand was less of a hassle than I though it would be and I was kicking myself for wasting as much time as I did in the first transition. I was able to break the 2.5 hour mark and I beat my best olympic distance time from two years ago by more than ten minutes, so I can't complain too much.
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