Friday: Me and Lupe arrived in Augusta around 4pm, we immediately went to the Marriott to go check-in. I was expecting a long line at the registration area, but there was maybe 20 people there. We made our way through the Ironman Store. After check-in at the hotel we got some dinner at Carrabbas. We were playing spot the triathlete, which was pretty easy since all you need to do was looked for the shaved legs wearing athletic clothing. 
Saturday: I left in till around 10am, head over to the race hotel to catch the athlete briefing and some 75% off tri clothes!!! It was a very chill day, I dropped off my bike at transition and ate some lunch and a light dinner. I tried to stay off my feet as much as possible. I laid down around 9:00 but couldn't really fall asleep.
RACE DAY:
I was so excited I woke up at 4:20, 10 minutes before my alarm. I did my race morning routine. Applied some Ironman Tattoos (total BAMF). For breakfast I had a 1.5 bagel with a lot of peanut butter and a granola bar, while sipping on a electrolytes drink. Got dressed and Lupe sharpied inspirational messages on my forearms. Head out to the shuttle around 5:30. I parked in the lot next to the race hotel, then took the shuttle towards transition. Once, at transition I realized how many people there were over 3,000 bikes there a sea of carbon! I was about 2/3 of the way back on the left hand side. It was cramp really cramp but I got the last spot on the between two racks, leaving me a tiny bit of extra room. Took the shuttle to swim start and waited around till 8:48am.
Swim: I was wave 20 of 24. The water was 76 barely wetsuit legal, I started off in the front middle of the pack because I felt like my swimming had improved so I could hold my own. The water felt great they opened up the floodgates so there was a 1 knot current helping us along. The swim was pretty uneventful till I had contact with a big weed. It wrap up around my face, I must have look like I was drowning because one of the paddle boarder asked if I was ok. I was like "yea, just got some weed on my face." I continued swimming along the river, swam a 30:39 for the 1.2 miles. I had estimated I do around 30 minutes so I was quite happy with my results.Came out of the swim a little dizzy, it was about at least 300 meter till T1, the first bit was up a steep boat ramp. The strippers were great but they made a tiny hole in one leg. 
Bike: Got on the bike and was ready for 56 miles. I saw Lupe along the barricades cheering. I kept telling my self I need to relax and race my own race. The first 15 miles flew by, I was passing people all the time. My HR was in the low Z2 and i was averaging above 20 mph. I felt great so I decide to push the pace. The ride was going by so quickly! My nutrition seemed like it was going perfect. The weather could not have been any better, it was overcast with a slight mist, and no wind! I was hammering it, 21 mph for the first 30.8 miles. I hit the hills around this point so my paced slowed down a little. Their were no really steep hills, just 1 long climb leading up to the last aid station. I averaged 20.67 mph for the 56 miles for a time of 2:42:35. I advance from 32nd place to 17th place in my age group and 1620th till 809th. When I got to T2 and looked at my time I thought to myself I am going to die on this run. I pushed it way to hard on the bike.
Run: I was really worried about this run. I just started running only 4 weeks before, my longest run was only 5 miles or so. I had no idea how I was going to run a half marathon. I kept telling my self just run a long at a pace your HR dictates. I was moving at a 8:45 pace for the first 6.5 miles then I was expecting to be doing like 9:45 miles. I do not know how I was pulling this off. My pace for my longest training run was 9:30 miles. I realized I was going to break my sub 6 hour goal by 30 at least 30 minutes. I end up walking for a few minutes around mile 10, but then got back to running. This course is very spectator friendly, I was able to see Lupe at least 4 times on the corner of 10th and board. It was great when I saw her, I was like "ok X amount of miles before I see her again." A shout out to Alan from Podium Multisport for giving me some encouragement when I was feeling dead on the lap 2. Most of the course was lined with with spectator, it was great to have your name on your bib so people were able to cheer for you by name which was really up lifting. I end up finishing the half marathon in 1:57:44 averaging 8:59/miles. I advance to 16th place in my age group and 764th overall.
My total time was 5:18:22. I do not know how I pulled it off but it seemed like everything played it self out perfectly on race day. Though tough training days really paid off. Now only if I could have such a race in Ironman Florida on November 3rd. I would recommend this race to anyone wanting to do a half Ironman distance. It is a fast course and a lot of fun! The only thing that bothered me about this race was that transition was 1.5 miles away from the finish line and one needed to walk there and back to get ones stuff. But that's not going to stop me from doing the race again next September. 
I'd like to thank Lupe for being there for me on race day and all though training days during the summer. She is a great supporter, I do not think I would have been able to get back home without her. She held me up when my legs felt like jello after I finished and walked with me 3 miles round trips in the rain back to transition to pick up my bike and gear. Thank you so much mi amor! It means a lot to me!! Love you!!
If you have any questions feel free to comment and I'll respond ASAP.
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