The following Race Report was submitted by Eric.  I asked Eric to do the Patriot Race Report since this was his first 1/2 Iron Distance Race.  He put together a really great race report (and a really great race as well).

Pre Race

I was quite nervous the week running up to the race. The dinner at Dan's helped quite a bit to talk to people that had done it in the past and to generally joke around. On Friday, I got everything set up and packed early in the day so that I could try and relax in the evening. Anyway, I tried to go to sleep early but really only ended up getting 3 hours of sleep. At 4:00 AM I was up and by 4:40 was out the door. Upon getting to the race, it was a weird feeling. When I first started triathlon, I was always quite nervous but recently I had experienced more happy excitement to race. On this day, however, it was all business and was more of a feeling that a difficult job had to be done.

Swim

I sprinted off the start of the swim in hope to find someone a little bit faster than I was to draft behind. It was weird as there was not the traditional body contact that you normally find at the start of the race. There was, however, quite a bit of contact by the time we got to the first buoy. I was never able to find a good draft but paced pretty well off of someone for a good portion of the swim. Part way through the swim, a women in bright colored cap flew by - It must have been Lisa. It was as if a torpedo had been launched. In the end, I felt pretty good on the swim and was ready for the bike.

Bike

For the first 40 miles, I felt super strong(for me). I was pacing around 19.8 miles per hour or so on the first lap and continued to feel strong on the first part of the second lap. In an Olympic triathlon, I can hold 20 mph so this was pretty good for me considering it was twice the length. At around mile 40, I began to feel tired. A couple of miles later, Jocelyn passed me on the bike. I must have passed her on the swim and she caught up on the bike. As she and I often go neck and neck on the Thursday night class, it was good to have her pass me as I tried to keep up for the rest of the bike. Anyway, she was kicking !@# on the bike and was able to maintain a better pace. With about 8 miles to go on the bike, I ran out of calories - !@#$! At this point, I really really really wanted to finish the bike and was starting to bonk. Anyway, I finished the bike and my family was there cheering me on which gave me a great boost. I dumped the bike and put on dry socks which felt great. The guy next to me said "oh man - I should have stayed home and made pancakes for the kids." This totally cracked me up and was a good way to start to the pain that was about to begin.

Run aka "death march"

I immediately downed a gel as I knew I was desperate for calories. I was also feeling very bloated and had a stitch as I started the run which lasted for a good 40 minutes. From looking at the pictures on the run, I looked like I had gained back the 15 pounds that I had lost since January. By the time I got to mile one, I was not sure at all how I was going to get through it. The run in general was truly painful. I was trying to think of something that was as painful in my life and the only thing that comes close is when I was 9 years old and had to have 7 teeth taken out at once. I think I had Novocaine during this and also got to hold the hand of a smoking hot nurse while the dentist was taking them out (funny how your remember certain things). During this run, I had neither a smoking hot nurse holding my hand or Novocaine. Surprisingly by mile 3, I was holding a sub 9 minute per mile pace which is good for me at this distance. As the race went on, this went down a bit. At mile 5ish, I downed another gel but almost puked it back up. Brain, stomach and legs all had different agendas. They were clearly "not on the same page" to use a bull!@#$ bingo phrase. Once I got to the half way point, the idea of finishing, kept me going. I did find the run very hilly. For a while I was wondering, is this whole !@#$ing run uphill!? Running a half marathon after 58 miles on the bike is just brutal no other way to look at it. Having aid stations every mile is a great feature during a race.

Finish

Seeing the finish line is perhaps one of the best feelings that you can have. Tony was there close to the finish and gave me a high five as I made the final stretch. My two sons were there close to the finish and ran across with me. That was really cool as I had not planned that at all. As soon as I finished, I began to feel a lot better seeing all of the team hanging out and being very supportive of everyone. It really is a great crew that we have put together. The veterans of HIMs looked pretty good and did not appear to have suffered to the degree that I had or were better at hiding it.

Conclusion

It feels damn good to have accomplished the HIM and am happy to have it over. I will do another one, but not this year. Next big event for this year will be Cranberry.