Pacing re: strengths and weaknesses

So, I finally did my first tri. What an experience. It was a lot of fun and I felt really good afterwards. I came home with a ton of new questions, but this is my first (and I bet it has been asked before?):

If you are strong in the first one or two areas, what do you do to make your best time? Let's say you are strong at the swim and bike, but not on the run (like me):

A) Push really hard on the swim and bike, making as much time as possible, since the run will be slow.

OR

B) Push LESS hard on the swim and bike, saving as much energy as possible to make better time on the run.

This race I felt like I wasn't pushing myself to the max at all. It was my first race and I wanted to enjoy it so that I might do it again. I held back a bit in everything just because I wanted first and foremost to finish. I finished and now I'm ready for my next race and I want to do better! My ranking for the swim was 120/332, for the bike 190/332...and for the run (ugh) 305/332. Finished 253 overall, but imagine how I could have finished if I hadn't putzed on the run!