Thanks for all of the nice comments and congrats, everybody!
I thought maybe I'd have some post-race blues now that all of the training and anticipation and excitement has past, but that's not the case. Some follow-on items:
I received my copy of the commemorative DVD that is distributed to IM participants. It's a professionally-produced, 10 minute collection of video clips from the race. In addition to the shots of all the superb athletes, there is inclusion of oddball items - the obese guy, the guy on a mountain bike, and the heart patient (guess who.) Turns out I am prominently featured for about 4 seconds displaying my surgical scar, mouthing off about my comeback from OHS and my great (in my own opinion) swim. I'm normally pretty reserved, but when I encountered a cameraman in my face at T1, I just started babbling like a dope - guess it was just all of the race excitement. I'm somewhat embarrassed, actually, but it's kind of neat to have a spot on the souvenir DVD. Now I'm thinking that maybe there is potential for that clip to show up in the OLN TV broadcast of the race...I'll have to wait and see.
My wonderful wife threw a post-race party for me. We had a barbeque, and she invited the local community of endurance athletes who train at the park where we ride and run. I'm in awe of all these folks, and they were over at my house slapping me on the back. One of them took the time to make a cake that was frosted to resemble the finisher medal. Very cool.
And finally, I am looking forward to a new job that I'll start in a few weeks.
So it hasn't been "back to the same 'ol grind." It's nice not to have an abrupt ending after the culmination of 3 years of obsession and training.
Next goal - I'm going to work on my pathetic running and smash a PR at the Thanksgiving 10K!
Life is good!
