Gulf Coat 1/2 IM Report
Paul Wozniakowski

This race is down in Panama City Florida, I figured that it would be a good warm up for IMFL in November.

I drove down there with my girlfriend, thanks Dora. Folowing what I do best we were winging the trip. Figure leave Thursday afternoon, there Friday morning, leave Saturday after the race. Not a problem.

Now for the race.
Swmming, not what I am good at. The water was a perfectly smooth, clear and 70 degrees. Salt water is very easy to swim in and without much trouble I was out in 35 minutes.

Bike ride in Florida is flat, flat and flat. My initial plan was to bike as fast as I could and try and survive the run. Everything was going great. For the first 16 miles I was cranking away at an average of 25.2 mph. Then A little bit of a wobble in the rear tire. I pull over and see that the tire is half flat. I thought that maybe I could just refill it, not. So i throw the new tire on and try to fil it. Well the CO2 connection does not fit on my valve extenders, oops, should have checked that before the start, my fault. Time goes by, about 30 minutes, a camerq crew stops by, then a couple of race people. One of them had a pump that did not it the valve the other guy had a bike pump that was somewhat coopertive. Well enough to get 80 lbs into the wheel. That got me rolling until mile 32. Since I already had low pressure I was askiig for another flat and I got one. Blah , blah, blah another 20minutes and I was on my way. There was no SAG supprt at this race. Made one more pit stop to help someone elsewith their tire.

I ended up biking a 3.12 56 mile at a stunning 17.5 mph. When I finished my bike computer read 24.8 avg. Now that's funny.
With nothing to lose on to T2 and for the 13.1 mile jog. Since I lost 65minutes to the bike ride, my new race goad became 5.30. I started the run at 3.54 on the clock and all had to do now was to bring in a nice easy half.

The run was hotter than hell. Air temperature was 80 and in the sun on the pavement with no shade it registered 92. Perfect just ike I used to from my 45 degree run here just 2 days before. The run came and went without any glitches. It ended with a 1.34and a total time of 5.30.20.

I slipped from a potential top 10 overall finish to 500ish place. In the meantime I had a great time. Learned to always, always check your equiment, never give up no matter how long it takes for someone to help you out and never ever get angry. Just contine on with the race and do that best that you can and the things that you can control.
This was a disappointint finish time but a great racing experience.

Thanks for listening,
Paul

I did not proof read this, please excuse any grammar or spelliig mistakes.