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.
No comments:
Post a Comment