Second lap, throw up and IV's

I had planned to take several extra minutes in transition to gather my wits before what I knew was going to be a long run in the heat and humidity. I headed out on the run course and felt somewhat good, maybe this won’t be too bad after all. About one mile into the run a guy in my age group ran up behind me and asked, “How many more guys in our age were ahead of me?”.... “A ton,” I replied. “Maybe all of them." He continues to say “No way! The guy who qualified for Kona last year is right behind us.” In my head I’m thinking this guy is drunk and the humidity is really kicking his butt. With him about 10 paces ahead of me the light went on.... I shouted out, “Are you on your first or second lap of the run?” He laughs and says, “Sorry, this is my second.” I never saw him again as he ran into the distance. I guess the good news was at this point I must have still looked like an athlete.

I buzzed through the first 2.5 miles under a 7:30 pace, nice and easy! Then things started to go south again. The stomach started to turn and the cramping was back with a vengeance. I arrived at the aid station at mile 3.5 and stopped to take in some Pepsi to see if that would help. At the end of the last table there was little cups of salt that could be chased with water. At this point I figured that it is what my body needed, salt. Down it went and within about 20 steps, I was bent over in the ditch. My body clearly didn’t want any part of that salt. Little did I know, that was that start of a 5 minute episode where my body let me know that it hadn’t been processing ANY of the liquid or nutrition that I had been putting in it for the past 4 hours. I threw up EVERYTHING. A few minutes of throwing up followed by a few more minutes of dry heaving. All the athletes were very nice telling me to hang in there. I stood up and started to walk hoping to keep a straight line. This was the most scenic part of the course situated at the tip of the golf course overlooking the ocean. So, the fact that I was walking gave me time to enjoy that! I started to feel a bit better giving the current situation and managed to start running again. This fourth mile took me 14:03, oops! I managed a few sub 10 min miles with my tank on empty. Mile 7 was a speedy 12:34!

There was a girl running on her first lap that I would pass running, then when I was forced to a walk she would pass me back. This happened several times before I came up with the brilliant idea that it may be easier to finish this thing with a friend. Laura and I are now friends. We mustered a good walk-run together. She got me through miles 9-12 before I said goodbye and maned up for the last mile. I knew the camera crew would be there at the finish so i couldn’t very well be walking. With my guts turning inside out, I did the last half mile close to a 7 min mile.

As I crossed the finish line, the camera man asked me how it was. I said, “It was the hardest race I have ever done, physically and mentally.” At that moment, he said I turned white and my legs went from under me. I made my way over to the medical tent. The instant I tried to lay down my leg started to cramp due to dehydration. It took several of then medical staff to hold my leg down and get pressure on it. Once my leg let go, they hooked me up to an IV and pumped liquids into my body. After about 15 minutes I really started to feel better.

Swim 34:09 Bike 3:09:51 Run 2:20:53 Total 6:04:53