I registered by hand at the Marathon Expo and saved 5 bucks. Hoped all would be ok. Recently I checked the web site and it said I must get my Bib number ahead of time. So I contacted someone who said he will mail the race director. NOTHING.
Race day: I get there and they still have a lot of kinks to work out. For instance, they gave us chips to put on our sneakers BUT we change sneakers during the bike...They ended up moving one of the mats and recording bike splits manually and other stupidity.
The 5 mile race was ok. Lot of fast runners. Peter, the wheel chair athlete, was there. Run went ok. Lots of long hills. Very hot day. T1 then bike. I actually passed 3 people on the bike and gave 1 back and there were still bikes on the rack before I left which was surprising. On the LIE service road, a car went into our lane to make a right and I yelled at them and a cop came running to have the car wait while we passed the car on the left. Other then that it was ok. There was 1 tight turn done twice which the second time around hurt me. The biker ahead of me, did something weird and I jerked and felt my left calf cramp up badly. I tried to stretch it especially coming into T2 but it felt weird initially on the second run.
To finish it off, I actually came in 3rd for my age group. Waited over an hour in 90+ degree weather until they finally took a break from the 5 mile awards to tell us that they don't have the duathlon awards and they will mail it out. Lot of kinks to work out....