New York Triathlon -- under 3 hours, 28th of 78 men in my age group!

An overall good day! But it started really poorly. So here I am, 4:20am Sunday, bike and bike shoes already at transition (required), and I walk out the door of my hotel to find a torrential downpour. A foot of water in the gutters. Everything is soaked. I waited, and walked the 18 blocks to the site in drizzle. Rain got heavier. I forgot to put my cyclocomputer on the bike, and forgot to mix my G2 with my filled water bottles (I did the G2 mix during the swim to bike transition, but not the computer). A bit disorienting.
Then the mile walk to the swim start, with 3400 other racers, and probably an equal number of specatators. Two of those spectators were my ministers, Bill Goettler and Maria LaSala, who happened to be vacationing in New York. We had dinner on Saturday night, and Bill managed to cheer me on as I left the swim, returned on the bike, and started the run. Maria joined him at the finish. It is so great to have support. Thanks, guys.
There was also tremendous support from the Team In Training fraternity: I wear my TnT triathlon suit, and the cheering by anybody who has ever been connected with TnT is great! This was not a TnT race for me, but I got huge cheers as I entered the Park on the run, and "Go Team" throughout all 3 parts of the race.
The swim is all downstream, and to my eternal joy, the 55+ racers were the first age-group group, after the M & F Pros, and the M & F Elites. Start was delayed almost 25 minutes by the weather (they thought there might be some lightning), but by start time (for me, about 6:30am) it was not raining anymore.
Here's the numbers: 28/78 in my M55-59 age group (36%).
TOTAL TIME: 2:49:05 (breaking the magic 3 hour mark! hooray!)
SWIM: 21:22 (.9 miles; 1:17 per 100 meters)
Transition 1: 8:12 (this really big time is because the swim time stops as we exit the water, and then my group had to run, barefoot on tarmac, for 450 yards to transition -- all that running is counted in the transition time) -- its tough on your feet. My time was typical of the people in my "yellow" transition area
BIKE: 1:21:36 (18.3 mph) -- this was a very hilly course, with lots of up & down (see below)
T2: 1:38 -- pretty good, only a 13 of 129 M55+ were faster
RUN: 56:19 (9:05 min/mile) -this was really good for me on a brutally hilly course

The course: Swim was downstream from 99th street to 79th street in the Hudson River; I started in a group including all 55+ men, and all 129 were in the water, holding onto a rope so the current would not whisk us away. I was about 20th from the back of the group of 129. Obviously, I don't swim fast, although I can swim very long distances -- speed will be next winter's training priority.
Out of the water on a ramp, with volunteers standing ankle deep inwater, helping to pull us up onto the dock, then the long run on pavement to get our bikes.
Bike course ran from the 79th Street boat basin (where transition was set up) onto the North Bound Henry Hudson Parkway (totally closed to traffic!), all the way up Manhattan, through the tolls, across the bridge into the Bronx, and about four more miles to Mosholu Parkway, onto Mosholu for about 2 miles, reverse course, head back on the opposite side (still the Northbound lanes) of the Henry Hudson, all the way south to 59th street, then back north to 79th Street exit & to transition. VERY hilly course, a real challenge, and slower than my other Olympic Triathlons, but still a very good time, I think. I was 33/129 in the M55+ group. So, faster than 75% of the riders. The Bike is my strength in Triathlon, and always has been, and probably always will be.
The Run: brutal. It began with a steeep climb from the River to 72nd street, west on 72nd into Central Park, then immediatly left, to head north on the west side of the park road, all the way up to the top of the Park, across to the East side road, and back south to the Tavern on the Green, more or less. There were at least 7-8 major uphills during this run, by far the most climbing of any triathlon I have ever done. But my time was not too bad for me. I was almost exactly in the middle of the M55+ group.
But I broke 3 hours, which was my goal, and on this very difficult course, I am very happy about that time.
The race was very well organized, and all the logistics went very smoothly: it was always obvious where we were supposed to go next, and there were lots of volunteers, who seemed to know what they were doing. I was showered and packed up by 11:30am, and back in North Haven by 2:00pm.
Nothing like a great day of early morning racing.