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/
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