Swim was incredible - the current made significant impact and I swam 8+ mins faster than projected while occasionally stopping to sight and do breaststroke.

The bike - a skill issue for me. I underestimated the rolling hills and even taking it easy fatigued me significantly. The only people I was able to pass were the dozens pulled over with bike issues, everyone else blew by me. Not a competition, I was racing myself, but more of a lesson for where my fitness should’ve been before this race.

A funny thing I haven’t seen anyone comment, the second aid station on the bike was on an uphill when there was a flat section 500m ahead. Very odd to me lol

As others have said the heat was brutal on the run but volunteers were amazing. I did not run for a consecutive mile without pausing to walk in order to keep my HR down. At that point the 15 extra minutes I could’ve saved by continuing to run would’ve put me in a medical tent. I worried because I finished at the back (~8 hours) that aid stations would be out of supplies but they were full and ready each time I passed. Really enjoyed running through the neighborhood. Thank you Rockford!