As you can see from my time, it wasn't a PR.  It was a game of attrition.  Whoever could loose the least amount of salt survived.  The race was cancelled at about 4 hours in due to extreme weather conditions: heat and humidity.

I knew from the beginning something was amiss as my heart rate was much higher than expected for as slow as start I was having.  Then between mile 1 and 2 I lost my water bottle in the mass of people taking a corner.  It was too much of a safety issue to try and turn around to get it so I pressed on knowing I'd have to adjust my hydration approach.

By mile 6 I was drenched in sweat and realized I would need to not only change my approach to running this race, but also my expectations. Instead of being concerned about pace and heart rate, I just focused on heart rate.   Since my body was working so hard just to stay cool, my heart was working harder and thus to stay in my heart rate zone, I had to tone everything down.  Plus I was changing my electrolyte plan as well.  Instead of taking 2 salt tablets every four miles, I was taking one tablet every time I passed a water station.

The heat was brutal but it was the humidity that kept it miserable.  To slow down was worse that staying moving because at least when you were moving you had a bit of a breeze to help evaporate some of the sweat off.

Towards the end, I was hearing emergency vehicle sirens way too frequently to know this race was going to continue.  I was seeing someone on the sidelines either laying flat out on the ground stretching or gimping along with cramps.  My suspicion was all electrolyte / dehydration issues.

By mile 23, just after getting on the bike path (home stretch), race officials canceled the race due to extreme conditions.  Though they told everyone to stop running and catch a bus, I had done my planning accordingly and was able to keep going.  Not to mention it would have been faster for me to finish by moving forward than to have had to walk back to the bus pickup and be on a hot bus for the ride back.

All in all, it was  good experience for dealing with extreme heat and able to adjust expectations and performance.  I lost an estimated 10 pounds on this race, but it was hard to say considering I immediately drank a container of coconut water, fizzy soda, and fruit juice in the car ride back and then two glasses of orange juice and some water upon arriving back at my friend's place.  Fortunately I did not suffer from dehydration...just one lost water bottle.

PS.  One of my other friends who was running the half portion ended up in the medical tent from passing out on course.  It was a rough day.