My last race of the season has come to a close. It was not the day I was hoping for, but I am glad I made the trip out to Clearwater to compete.

The competition this year was amazing and a lot of the pros brought their “A” game. The pace of the swim and the bike would have blown up the competition every other year, but for some reason 40 guys managed to hold on for those disciplines. It was spectacular. We were riding at 47km/hr (29miles/hr) for the 90km bike—and this was not because of the drafting. It was a relatively clean race, but the advantage of riding 10 meters apart is still an advantage, but totally legal. It was not until the run where everyone started to pay, including me—and pay big-time I did!

I tried to make a move with 30km to go on the bike, but I guess I had a big target on my back and was not able to sneak away. My apologies to the other 3 guys (Philip Graves, Fraser Cartmel, and Andrew Starykowwicz) for getting stuck with me. They were riding strong and I am sure a break would have lasted under different circumstances.

I was still in contention for a strong top-ten finish with 5km to go. The mind wanted it, but the body just wouldn't respond. I suppose Kona was still a little in my legs and the lack of quality speed work was not ideal given the speed of the field.

I eventually groveled home because there were no cars in sight to hitch a ride with and the spectators and volunteers kept my spirits high. My position at the end of the day was, well, worse than I thought it was, so let's just not talk about it.

Instead we should talk about Michael Raelert of Germany. His older brother Andreas finished second to me last year at this event and went on to a third-place finish at the Ironman World Championships in Kona this year. Michael had a great race today, which he finished off with a 1:09:05 half-marathon run that gave him a finish time of 3 hours, 34 minutes—6 minutes faster than my world record last year. Congratulations to you both and everyone else who made it to the finish today.

I have now packed my bike and sent it off for a courier, as it is vacation time for the next 2 weeks. Thanks to everyone for all the support over the past year. For me it has been an exciting 8 months that would not have been possible without all the help and support from a large number of people. You all know who you are, so thanks big-time!