After months of training and hard work the day of my race finally came.  For a week and a half I had been watching the weather to see what the weather would be like for the race.  One day it would look excellent and the next it would look a little worse.  This happened until race day.  Well, the end result was a 10-15 mph headwind for most of the race.  I can handle most weather, but wind drives me crazy.  The start of the race was not too bad, but by the end of the race the headwind became stronger.  It was frustrating, but I just pushed through.

I felt great for most of the race.  I started a little too fast for the first mile, but I quickly realized that and slowed things down and settled into a comfortable pace.  About mile 5 the one major hill started and a slowed down so I would not waste energy pushing hard up a hill.  I managed the hill well and felt great.  At 1:41 I passed the 13.1 mile mark and I was half way done.  My legs felt really good at this point and my body was really feeling good.  I continued feeling really good until about mile 19.  At mile 19 I knew my body was starting to get a little tired.  I slammed a gu and knew that I had to make it to mile 21 and at that point I would take a 5 hour energy and ride that to the finish.  Well, 21 came and I took the 5 hour energy.  By this point I still felt fairly good, but my legs were feeling it now.  I just settled in and took it a mile at a time.  As I was finishing mile 23 the 3:25 pacer came up behind me and I decided I was just going to settle in with him.  I stayed with him until mile 25.5, but at that point my legs felt like they were going to cramp if I tried to push too hard so I slowed down a little and let him pass me.  I thought it would be better to slow and finish strong then to cramp and have to stop right before the finish.  I pushed until I could see the finish line.  When I saw the finish line I picked up the pace a little more and I was able to sprint the last 100 yards to the finish. 

I was happy with my time considering the weather.  The wind made things really difficult and it seemed to get stronger as the race progressed.  The race