It was a beautiful day in Haines City, Florida this past weekend and the first time the city hosted this event. The overall event turned out geat! The city and especially the volunteers did a great job. I would definitely go back next year. The event was won by Lance Armstrong in approximately 3 hours 45 mins.
Swim: The swim took place in Lake Eva. 1.2 miles in what turned out to be a M or W (depending on your point of view) shaped course. I did not enjoy this part as the total of six turns caused a lot of clobbering as the athletes converged on each buoy. My time was 50 minutes plus a few seconds.
Bike: A beautiful ride through the rolling hills of Polk County. As it turned out, this 56 mile course had lots of hills! Even still I managed a time of 3 hours 6 minutes.
Run: By the time the run started for me, it was well over 80F. The run consisted of three laps around the lake and neighborhood. This course also had hills at the start of the course. I ended up doing a run/walk method in order to complete it.
My total time including roughly 7 minutes for each transition was 6:51:00.
I live in Orlando, Florida and participate in marathons and triathlons.
