Whoo hoo!  You did it!  The swim and bike course sound treacherous and you did great.  Great average on the bike.  

I remember my first HIM being miserable and I walked  A LOT of the run.  So, don't be too hard on yourself, you accomplished most of your goals and learned a few lessons.  well done!

Congratulations!

Kevin, you did great! I agree with tmason - you're too hard on yourself. Looks like we had very similar experiences on our first 1/2IM. We've never done this kind of distance and it is not the lack of your running fitness at all. I do 20k distance almost every week now and was totally reduced to walking too because of the cramping legs. It must be the combination of swimming/riding/temp/effort that does that. We just never experienced that before. Great experience, congratulations again!!!

(I'm already thinking of redemption...)

What an incredible journey of self realizations and self actualization. You set out to prove you could do it and despite many setbacks you did it. You have learned lots about yourself and you have drawn a line over which you have crossed but don't really care to cross again....we'll see about that.

The swim sounds tough and the bike portion seems very tough.

You didn't mention nutrition on the bike. The cramping on the run sounds a lot like my first half at Morden last year. I didn't have enough electrolytes. Now I take e-load (salt pills) during the bike and and run. 

I know you are rusty and tired, you old fart, but sometimes nutrition is the answer. I suspect you didn't have enough electrolytes and, perhaps had too much water?

Having said that. Awesome race, despite what you say. This is an incredible achievement. if you want to focus on Sprints and Olys. That's cool...But I maintain that you have the capacity and the heart to do the longer stuff. 

What a season you have had! I'm proud of you.

Job well done my friend!!  You did great!

Sorry it took so long to read this Kevin...been a bit self absorbed lately. But I'm so glad I finally got to check this out. What a gutsy, gutsy performance. Truely inspiring. Well done