It’s the day after. I’m not as sore as I usually am, although I am tired and a little sore. I didn’t have the cramping that has plagued me throughout the years but I was certainly not fast–my first half was faster than my second half, and I suspect I was on the verge of bonking.

But I finished, again, which is more than I can say about Livestrong Philly.

Despite my misgivings about wearing a yellow jersey in a big event, I wore one anyway: my Livestong jersey that I got for fundraising for Livestrong Philly. I was impressed to see at least two other Livestrong jerseys out there, as well as someone in Fat Cyclist gear (the picture’s not the best so I’m leaving it on Twitpic, so it’s viewable here):

For the first half of the ride, the conditions were close to perfect: cool, with a small amount of rain in Kailua and in Ka’a’awa. The course was a little different this year–rerouting added three significant hills (in front of Kalaheo High School both ways and Kahikili Highway headed back from Ka’a’awa) without eliminating any. I made decent time to the halfway point, purposely avoiding all but two rest stops, the 50 mile and 100 mile turnarounds–4 hours–but took a bit more–4.25 hours–to finish, at least in part because of an extended rest stop at the final one on my way back. This despite my pacing myself with my Garmin Forerunner 305.

I also had some issues with my vision around mile 80. I used my regular prescription glasses rather than my prescription sunglasses and that may have been an issue–or it could have been related to dehydration and nutrition. Today my eyes still feel strained.

The positives are I didn’t get heat stroke or heat exhaustion this year and I barely had any indications of cramping, let alone actual cramps.

So, I accomplished my two goals: finishing and not injuring myself. If you’d like to see a bit of detail on this, here’s the Garmin Connect information.

And of course, I had some serious bike envy along the way, like with this awesome, retro Colnago:

Now onto marathon training.
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