This was my first half Ironman and I knew it was going to be a challenge! The weather was atrocious which didn't help. I didn't like the swim - the lake was extremely murky and the river section is full of weeds and debris. At one point I swam into a submerged concrete slab (no injury caused just peculiar) - I was swimming on the edge though as the river is narrow and I was trying to avoid the others. The bike is a great course but in the hail it was hard to take advantage of the downhills. I saw a couple of ambulances looking after people who had crashed. Two things that were pretty annoying from an organisational standpoint were 1. I had timed it to get an energy drink at a certain point and they had run out. There was only one other stop right at the end of the course so not helpful. 2. They had the wrong distances displayed for the gauntlet. I kept thinking I must have taken a wrong turn but then realised that although it clearly said Gauntlet, it actually meant Bastion. 
I am not particularly sensitive but I thought the run course was crazy. The mud was so bad at some points that I had to hold onto trees to wade through. I appreciate the rain was bad in the morning but they did change the course and was surprised they didn't make more changes. I thought it was impossible to run in places and given how many events were using the same course, it was churned up even more. I saw a couple of people injure themselves and get carried off to waiting ambulances. On the upside, the pre-race info was great and registration was easy and well organised. I was really pleased to complete but I'm not sure it was enjoyable and once is definitely enough for me.