THE RUN - BLOW BY BLOW BY BROOKS KEYS

The Run

Some would say I am a runner, some say I should focus solely on running, and if prodded enough I may admit I am a runner. However, Peter and Dean asked me several times during the week if I ever thought about doing this race, I was and am still saying emphatically "NO." 52.4 miles is way to long to think about running and I experienced that firsthand on Sunday. I know Peter pretty well and I had no doubt he was going to "go for it", there was no doubt He was going to run his race yet try to set himself up for the win. That did excite me about the double marathon.

I also noticed a strange viBe on Sunday morning as we drove to the race. I knew Peter's stomach was giving him fits on Saturday after the race and I started to think it was in the morning as well. I started to get nervous when he asked for music in the car and there was no talking and definitely no joking around. Some may say this could be good as we put on the game faces, but for a run this long you need to keep it light in the morning and only have a few minutes of focusing. You can certainly use the first hour of the race to compose yourself and post the stakes mentally without losing anything. So all of this to say I had knots in my stomach before the race.

We arrived at the start, and I helped Peter put on his armor…shin guards (compression socks), running shoes (camo of course to represent the south), and the Michael Jordan collection running top (I think Peter was running in a kids small shirt). We made our way to the start and I immediately started prepping bottles and calories. Finally the race started. Apparently these boys like to start fast. I read after the race in an interview after day two that Ribiero was going to mark the other contenders. He was obviously bluffing and went to the front and set the pace, a fast clip, under 60 minutes for first 10 miles. Peter settled in about 20-60 seconds back for the first 8 miles until he got comfortable and ran up to the three leaders (Ruberio, Kregar, O'Keefe).

At this point O'Keefe was going backwards a little and Ruberio greeted the newest member with a funny, "GOOD MORNING Peter, come run with us." Peter went to the front and set the pace for about 800 meters when Ruberio really exposed his cards and started pushing the pace again. Peter continued to run his race and after several miles starting giving them some time back. Looking at historical times it was hard to argue with the tactics we were playing. The 2 leaders went through the halfway point about 4 minutes ahead of Peters 3:02. If Peter even paced his race you would assume to see both guys come back and come back enough for Peter to move into the lead. However, the two leaders gutted out great runs and both ran their best times ever and very impressive times at the end of this race. One thing for sure, all of these competitors at Ultraman were incredible athletes.

A little before the half (or marathon point) I gave Peter a salt tablet and some caffeine. I was hoping this combined with a halfway home reassurance would give him some motivation to make a move. He looked somewhat relaxed and his stride was strong. Less than a mile after the 26.2 banner, he changed shoes. I knew this was okay to do, but not great sign. A few miles later he changed shoes again, I got concerned but kept it internal. About mile 30 or so he walked through a stop to drink, I was past the point of concern and mild worry crept in. About mile 32 the wheels absolutely came off, all racing stategy went straight out the window. I finally asked the question I wasn't planning on asking all day, "Do you want me to run with you?" At first a "no" then "okay come on" So I joined in only thinking okay I have 2 bottles and a gel, don't drop the gel.

We ran a decent clip for several miles, I was trying to talk as much as possible…however, I've been with these guys for a week, so not much more to talk about at this point. I was trying to make sure Peter drank a lot. At first we started setting marks to run to, signs, top of hills, etc. Finally we had the van go every half mile and stop. Before the van I would see what Peter wanted, or really needed, run ahead to the van and fix it or get Dean to fix it. This worked well as with each half mile we got deeper and deeper into survival mode. I first knew this was going to be tough when before we got to 13 miles Peter said his legs were done. Did I mention he had gone to the bathroom 4 times before this point, so you could probably say his stomach was gone too. I tried to keep him positive, told him to be smart, keep moving, and I never mentioned DNF. I knew the only way he would DNF was if it would be against his will. The walk breaks got longer and longer.

Peter wanted to speed walk, that sucked. Here you have a guy in a all spandex outfit complete with shin guards doing the sorority shuffle (or soccer mom sprint) with a guy in running shorts (okay short running shorts) "running" with him. It was not pretty, thank you Tim Carlson for not snapping any photos at this point, and if you did could you please burn them? I was hoping this slowing pace would help Peter not go into further debt but as I saw our pace continue to slow I knew we were in trouble. But at least he realized it when he said, "I am getting a little delirious." Thanks Peter that's what I wanted to hear, don't panic right? Well at least I felt better a few miles later when he said, "I wish I could run naked" Great, now the random comments from left field started flying, and we still had about 10 miles to go. I was continuing to make sure Peter was eating, drinking, and staying as cool as possible. But of course I started to forget about myself, I stopped drinking and definitely hadn't eaten much all day.

Finally we reached the airport the home of our 3 different vans for the week and we knew it was 7.5 miles to go. Half mile after half mile continued, each getting drastically slower. We got to 10k to go. Somewhere around here Dean started getting worried as Peter really was not looking good. I figured I could see how bad off he was if he responded about it and it gave us conversation. Finally we got to 5k to go. I was breaking it down in my head as training run distances from about 8 miles out. Finally at 5k to go I told Peter, "5k what fat people do on the weekend, we can finish this off." He quickly noted, "I feel like I am waddling like a fat person." He was! With about 2 miles to go Penguin waddle references started coming out. There was no more running left. And the walking wasn't even fast anymore. I was so ready to be finished at this point that I stopped thinking about if we would make it or not, then I realized how slow we were walking. Peter said with a mile to go that we weren't running across the line. And with Dean and I beside him he did as he said and waddled across the line in one of the gutsiest athletic performances I have ever experienced. I told him right before the last turn into the old airport, that I was proud of the week he put together and that he showed a lot of character and heart all week and especially during that last 20 miles of the run. He kept apologizing for his run, I told him not to worry, that he had a great race and finished and even with a respectable time. Peter put it all out there and left everything he had on the roads of Hawaii

We crossed the line and luckily Dean and I were there to grab Peter, his legs were gone. We carried him over to a bench and he sat down. He threw up for a while, started to go into shock and then finally laid down and let us elevate his legs. I was getting scared, he was not in good shape and as expected was refusing any medical help. He didn't want to drink anything and we knew he needed to get fluids in him. No IVs were available so I had to resort to feeding him ice. Again thanks Tim for not taking any pictures of this! I was watching the finishing clock and every 2.5 minutes I was giving him ice. This was very strange looking but I knew this would slowly hydrate him and also give me a check to make sure he didn't pass out. Finally after about 2 hours he was talking a little and starting to come around. He sat up and was doing slightly better. I left Peter with Dean and went to straighten up the van. When I came back Peter was doing an interview which made me feel a lot better. About 30 minutes later he wanted to try to walk, he almost fell down 5 times but with each minute he became more and more energetic.

Finally we left to go home, Peter felt a sick on the way home so we had to stop and pull over. We made it home and he laid down for about an hour. We both got really hungry, and we all knew it was a good sign that Peter had an appetite. We finally tracked Dean down after he disappeared with his Crackberry and left for downtown. Peter told us his urine was discolored and had a little blood in it. SHIT. So we got to the restaurant (after Peter again got queezy in the car) and I had one goal, get Peter drunk off water. I even found the pitcher the staff used and kept his glass full to force him to drink. About halfway through the meal I realized I hadn't gone to the bathroom in about 7 hours and was feeling the effects of the sun. I realized I also needed to get wasted on the H2O. So after dinner we went to Lava Java and continued taking shots of water. FINALLY, Peter said he needed to go to the bathroom. We came out and gave us the thumbs up, what a relief. We kept giving him water to make sure we walked completely out of the woods.

We made it out of the woods and I slept great on Sunday night and on Monday morning the humor began, Peter trying to walk. The laughing continued as we trekked through airports on our way home. It reached the pinnacle when we finally landed in Greenville. We were walking off the plane and Peter was a few people ahead of me. We start to walk up the ramp. And I notice this short very old lady in between Peter and myself. She was walking fine, she was just old so it is quite slow. However in the length of the ramp thingy she walked Peter down and passed him. It was classic.

Thanks to all for reading. Thanks to Jim at Beyond Fabrications for the great bikes that had no mechanicals. Thanks to Blue Seventy for giving Peter a sweet suit to help keep him cool yet fast in the swim and for goggles so he could see the rocks that didn't move in the current. Thanks to Rudy for the many glasses that were worn. Thanks to Joe Towson for supporting Peter and his racing.

BACK AT HOME

Well - we arrived back at home late evening on Tuesday - everybody is EXTREMELY exhausted. We'll have one more entry from the running portion by Brooks, who spent with me close to 3.5hrs - this should be very interesting since I was so delirious that I can't remember most of it.  Also - I'll write my thoughts about the race - day by day within the next few days.

Thanks for following the race!

PK

For now - there is one more interesting article on Slowtwitch:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Features/Kipling_s_Ultraman__631.html

DAT'S DA WAY DEE COO-KIE CRUMBLES!

Well, today was a big day. We had a 52.4 mile run that started in a town called Hawi at 1500 ft. The run descends to sea level that provides some magnificent scenery and then some areas that are not so magnificent.

We decided to stay in Kona last night, which meant we were up at 345am this morning and had to be on the road by 415am to make the meeting in Hawi at 530am. We got Peter in bed early but he had a rough night sleeping with a lot of sweating and lots of bathroom stops. His body was obviously trying to recover from the 2-days of pounding leading into the run. After morning espresso, we packed in the van and jammed to Beastie Boys and AC/DC to the start line of the race. We had not Techno for Peter, so had to go with heavy metal and rap...!

Once arriving in Hawi, we had a quick meeting and a pre-race hawaiian ceremony outside near the start of the race. All the racers and crew members held hands and a blessing was given before the race.

The 36 runners set up at the start line and began running at 6am sharp. Ribiero (Brazil), O'Keefe (Canada), and Kregar (Slovenia) took off like a bat out of hell and Peter fell in behind them at a comfortable pace around 6m45s pace.


He let them go and sat back about 30 seconds behind the lead pack. It's a very long race (double marathon), so Peter let them push the pace thinking that he would attack in the later stages of the race. O'Keefe dropped off and the half marathon split was a blistering 1hr26s when Peter caught the lead group. Ribiero greeted Peter with a "Well Good Morning Peter" and then Kregar and Miro took off again and broke away. Peter decided to stay at a steady pace and not chase.

With O'Keefe out of sight, Peter and the pair of Ribiero and Kregar left the rest of the field in the dust. These guys were flying!


Once again, it is remarkable to see these guys push after the first 2-days of racing at this pace. There is no question that Ribiero and Kregar were not going to give this race to Peter and somebody was going to need to have the race of their life to win it. All three of these guys and O'Keefe where trying to win the race. As Peter said "Its not over until is over."

The race hit 26.2 miles and Peter came in at 3hr02m and about 4 minutes behind the leaders. Peter was looking very comfortable. We had a great plan for hydration, and Brooks did a great job as we leap frogged in the mini-van every 1/2 a mile to give Peter the needed nutrition and hydration to keep him moving.

Around mile 30, we started to see the first signs of trouble for Peter. He was starting to get uncomfortable. He had already changed shoes once and by mile 30 changed shoes a second time.



He started having severe stomach problems that required 4 separate private moments behind the car door as he emptied himself out and at one point he had to send the photographers away to let him go! Things went down hill from this point forward and by mile 33, the wheels completely came off. It was at this point when Brooks and I realized that we were totally in survival mode, and Peter was broken--the lights were gone. Long and short of it, his body was shutting down. We had gone beyond dehydration and were now dealing with heat exhaustion.


For those of you who have ever bonked or worse, had your body shut down as Peter did today, clearly you will understand that this is the worst thing that can happen to you in a race but with 19 miles makes the remaining race seemed like a century run. Peter was cramping severely in his legs, was clearly getting dehydrated, and was sick in his stomach.

Because of his unbelievable split up to 30-miles, Peter had plenty of time to get into the finish without losing too many positions, so we started breaking the race down into small increments. We knew Peter would not quit, so it was our job to keep him well enough to get to the finish line. It should be noted that none of this is an excuse. Issues were ran into today that couldn't be overcome but Peter showed huge character, tenacity, and will and soldiered on. Tony O'Keefe stated that he respected Peter because he went for it but unfortunately sometimes when you go for it, you pay. But we noted to Tony that he was ballsy too because he went for it as well. All of these guys are GREAT competitors and Peter and his crew have great respect for all these athletese. But back to the race.

We were also prepared to pull him out if it got dangerous. We focused on 1/2 mile sections and either Brooks or I paced Peter (1 person could pace with the runner at anytime during the race). Brooks did an unbelievable job pacing Peter and carried most of the load running on the last 20 miles. We walked, we ran, we jogged, crapped, threw up, cussed, and every once in a while laughed our way to the finish line. We tried everything to keep Peter moving from Nuuns electrolytes, red bulls, vitamin c powder, bubble gum, gels, "Pivo", gatorade, Ultragen recovery powders, salt tabs, bananas, EFS gels, Alka Seltzer and sports drink powders. Pretty much all you can eat on the Queen K highway on the way to Kona!!

O'Keefe caught Peter on his way to secure his second place overall finish, and a Brazilian named Conceicao who held a consistent pace from the start and finished 3rd overall in the run. He moved from 11th to 5th place overall for the 3 days.

So after a 3hr02m marathon and posted a total 52.4 mile time of 7hr33m. He maintained 5th place in the double marathon and took 4th overall in the race.

Post race was ugly. Peter was very sick. He was in total heat exhaustion and began vomiting. We had some help at the finish and got Peter stabilized with ice to try and cool down his body temperature, and propped his feet up. He spent close to 2-hours on his back, and we started getting him to chew on some ice, then drink some water, then sit up and by 3 hours we had him back on his feet! It's at this point that we realized Peter has blood running down his race shorts from the chaeffing he incurred inside his legs.


After the race, the reporter from Slowtwitch interviewed Peter and I think said something that summed up the day. This guys has followed Peter since 1997, when Peter did the world record double marathon time in 5hr33m and his opinion was that although that was an incredible day, Peter's 2008 double marathon will go down as his gutsiest performance ever.

We are tired here in Kona...Peter is getting hydrated here at our favorite watering hole again and we ate an awesome Thai meal...Brooks is quite exhausted as he posted a good 15-20 miles pacing Peter and keeping him upright...He is going to post some of his thoughts from today tomorrow.

In retrospect of the day, Peter had 1 simple statement.... "well boys... dats da way dee coo-kie crumbles..."

Congrats to all the athletes, their crews and their families. It has been an unbelievable experience to witness this race from the sidelines and see the toughness of these individuals. The 3-day swim/bike/run challenge is not just a test of endurance, but a test of the will and resolve of each and every competitor. All of these athletes are winners!

Race Results:
http://ultramanlive.com/2008-ultraman-world-championships/2008-results-page/