This race is held at Moody Gardens on Galveston Island located south east of Houston Texas. I had a blast at this race with great volunteers and crowd support. 2016 was a hot year for April making it a fast and hot race.

The expo or more commonly known as IRONMAN village is held outside with several of the top triathlon vendors with everything from socks to helmets, bike mechanics/rentals and nutrition. It's not big for the size of the event but is on par with other IRONMAN events.

The check in is well organized and held inside a large tent. At each station make sure that you have the correct number for your packet, bibs, race numbers, timing chip etc… when I checked in the volunteers reversed one of my numbers at one of the stations and I had to go back and get it fixed.

The race is held on Sunday and they allow you to check in on Friday and Saturday. Bike check in is only available Saturday afternoon and parking should be available with athletes coming and leaving throughout the afternoon. You may have to park in a lot further away so be prepared to drive around a bit or to walk. Not an issue other than getting back to your car after checking in to get your bike.

Galveston traffic in the area can be slow with the event so if your arriving from off the island make sure you know to take the first exit after the bridge. Also arrive early on race day.

On race day it's about a half mile walk from transition to the swim start so make sure you have the time to get there especially if your in one of the first swim waves.

The swim itself is in an intercostal bay but can still have rough water or current depending on the tide. Being a Texas waterway there is a chance of having oyster beds on the bottom. This wont be an issue if you swim all the way into the exit where it will be sand and a ramp extended out into the water.

The bike course runs the length of the island heading south. Galveston is known for being windy however it will most likely be a cross wind making the bike course still very fast. The aid stations are well stocked and manned.

The run is a 3 loop run around Moody Gardens. There are some small hills and the sun can make the sections on the road very hot. They do have ice and cooling stations setup with many of the aid stations and there are lots of locations for spectators to watch. You run along the water front for part of the course which will be cooler then on the road. Near the finish there is a playground located behind the check in tent that a lot of families let the kids play on while they cheer.