70.3 - The Sticker is Mine!!!!!

I have finally achieved Jedi status! After two failed attempts, the sticker is mine.

My wife and I hit the road on Thursday morning. The Austin Ironman Longhorn 70.3 was just four days away. I like to arrive at the destination of a big event a few days early. This gives ample time to relax, enjoy the process and survey the course. When possible, I like to stay a couple of days after the event to further enjoy the relaxation. We took two additional days off after the Ironman Kansas 70.3 and found it very relaxing. Since this was the end of the season and a huge event, we decided to take the entire week off after the event. Neither us has taken extended time off in a long time. We were looking forward to some much needed downtime and some sight seeing in Austin.

I don't know if it was the importance of completing this event or the shock to my brain that I was about to take eleven days off, I was not my usual anal retentive self. I normally start packing for a Triathlon several days out. I didn't start packing for this trip until the night before and didn't finish until about an hour before leaving town. Even more out of character, I didn't test ride my bike with the race wheels. I couldn't help but think I was forgetting some equipment or losing my focus.

Race morning was a typical race morning. Everyone was up early and dealing with the usual race jitters. However, I noticed my wife's race jitters were a bit worse than normal. Parking at was about a half mile from the race site so we had to ride buses from the parking lot. My wife had the expression of kid on her way to the first day of school and she looked terrified. I tried to calm her nerves but was not making very much progress. I deiced to let her sort out her feelings and wrote if off as race jitters. Little did we know about how this day would end. I can honestly say women's intuition now scares me.

The race site was buzzing with activity. There were over 2300 participants, but it seemed like 10,000 people were at the site. I am a very relaxed guy on race day and nothing really bothers me. I can't image what was going through my wife's mind as she organized her transition area.

With this many people racing, there would be sixteen swim waves going off two minutes apart. I was in the fourth wave so I didn't have to stand around long. I am not a fast swimmer, but I am a very strong swimmer. I can maintain an steady pace and keep a fairly straight line. I know I can't swim fast, so I prepare for a long journey of mind wandering and full contact swimming. Tons of people pass me in the swim with several of them having unpleasant experiences. Being a strong swimmer, and a big guy, it is not likely anyone is swim over me or move me around in the water. I had more people attempt to derail me on this swim than any other swim I have done. I had a lady swim all the way up my back and hit her chin on the back of my head. Without missing a stroke, I looked back to see if she was OK. I thought I was going to have to turn around and rescue her. A very stubborn guy decided he was going to swim right through me to get closer to the buoys. Each attempt became more aggressive and I became agitated. I am not easily agitated, but I can be quite unpleasant if you get me to that point. After several minutes of this behavior, I decided to plant my right elbow to his forehead. Needless to say, that was the last I heard from him. The swim was a bit short, but my time would still have been a good seven minutes faster than usual. I had gotten off to a good start.

The bike is where I let the big dog eat and enjoy myself. I have noticed the majority of Triathletes, at every level, are average cyclist. Coming from a cyclist background, I usually have very good times on the bike, even at my higher weight. The bike course was extremely congested. Cyclist were stretched out from the yellow line to the edge of the shoulder, it was madness. One of the worst things about racing with average cyclist are their average knowledge of riding in a pack. You should always be as far right as you can be so you don't impede the faster riders passing on your left. I am a big safety guy. Being the club president, and leading group rides of fifty people or more, safety has to be my main concern. To my surprise, I found myself going over the yellow line to pass the crowds. Even worse than that, was my average speed. Through the first twenty miles I was averaging twenty-two and a half miles per hour. That is faster than I average on the sprints. I must have gotten caught up in the moment and was concentrating too much on getting away from the crowds. I knew if I didn't slow down I would be toast later. The crowd started to clear out at around mile thirty. My speed had started to go way down, much further than I wanted it to. The wind, the rolling terrain and my early pace had already done the damage I had hoped to avoid. My legs were toast. It was going to be a long thirteen mile run.

I started the run with some surprising enthusiasm. Even though my legs were toast, I had several celebration points. I had a good swim and a descent bike time. More importantly I had not had any cramping and my energy levels were good. By this point of the Ironman Kansas, I couldn't bend over to put on my running shoes. The current pain I was experiencing was child's play to that pain. The run course was a tough six mile loop with two miles of dirt trails on each loop. There was a huge hill, Quadzilla, on the trail section. The pain of running up that would only be surpasses by the pain of running up it a second time. The run course had its good points. The rest stops were awesome and had live bands. I have never seen as many spectators at a race as this race. The run course was lined with hundreds of people. It seemed like everyone was cheering you on and handing out wet rags to throw on your neck. It was by far the best supported run course I had every experienced. I never really relax at a run course until my wife passes me. I always worry about her making out of the swim. She is small thing, so she is like a small fish in a big pond of piranha. She passed me at mile seven. I gave her a high five and told her to finish strong. I had started my walk run procedure so it would still be a while before I crossed the finish line. I was very happy at this point in the race. My wife was safe and I was going to finish. My only remaining goal was to try to run enough to finish in under seven hours. I would have to some painful running, but I thought I could do it.

I ran the last one hundred yards to the finish line. I mean, hey, you can't walk across the finish line. I looked at the clock and smiled. I had finished in under seven hours. I hobbled across the line over to the section where they take your timing chip off your ankle. It is really great that they have people to do this for you. Bending down would be a big mistake. I had my medal around my neck and a big smile. I looked around for my wife. I knew she had finished before me and would be waiting at the finish line. I looked for a few minutes, but didn't see her. She must have got tired of standing around and went to the team tent to rest her legs. I reached the tent to receive high fives and congratulations from the crew. I took of my shoes and slipped on my flip flops. One of my friend then ask me a question I was not prepared for and made me feel a bit sick to my stomach. "Where is your wife"?

I looked at them in disbelief. I quickly pointed out that she had passed me at mile seven and I had not seen her after that moment. She had surely finished at least thirty minutes before I finished. One of our friends, Gary, immediately took off in a mad dash for the medical tent. I grabbed a bottle of water and started to gather my thoughts. Moments later, I could hear someone yelling my name. Gary was running at me in a full sprint waving for me to come running. My wife was in the medical tent and was in bad shape. They were preparing to put her in an ambulance and get her to a hospital. I hobbled as fast as i could after Gary. I could hardly walk, I was in pain and very hungry and thirsty. It is amazing what adrenaline will do for the body and mind.

I arrived at the medical tent and nearly went into shock. My wife was laid out on a stretcher surrounded by medics and a doctor. She had an IV in each arm and an oxygen mask covered her nose. I can't tell you how pitiful she looked. I quickly bent down by her side. She looked up at me with those big eyes that were full of fear and tears. It was all I could do to stay calm. I grabbed her hand and calmly told her it would be all right.

I could hear them calling out her blood pressure numbers and had to ask them to repeat those numbers because they couldn't be real. Unfortunately, they were real, sixty-six over forty-four. That wasn't the worst part of the problem, her oxygen saturation levels were low and were not rising. I had recently seen this problem with my mother, who had a bad lung infection. I knew this was bad. The doctor informed me they were waiting on an ambulance.

Our friends were now around us figuring out what they could do to help. Jo and David were going to load up our bikes and gear and get my Xterra back to the hotel. I have mentioned this several times but it is worth repeating, you can not underestimate the value of great friends. As we stood around waiting on the ambulance, I heard the doctor say my wife's blood pressure was rising and so was her oxygen saturation levels. We were not out of the woods, but this was great news. As the gang heard this news, we all started to relax a bit. Gary leaned over to me and stated this will be really funny in a couple of months and someone should get a picture. I looked at him like he was crazy.

The ambulance arrived and they loaded her onto another stretcher. At this point her vital signs were looking good, but they wanted to play it safe and continue with the planned visit to the emergency room. I looked to the left and saw David snapping off several pictures of Rebecca on the stretcher. What was I saying about friends? The paramedics were very nice and accommodating. The driver would relay me information from the guy in the back. We were looking very good now. Her vitals were really looking good. We stayed at the hospital for around four hours. The visit wasn't all roses and made me very glad they sent us to the hospital. Rebecca received almost four bags of fluid. The diagnosis was a heat stroke.

Rebecca had finished the race and was waiting on me at the finish line. She decided to run to the ladies room and felt dizzy. She had walked over the medical tent to get some help. Luckily, she made it there before she passed out.

We arrived at the hotel that night and ordered pizza. We were all hungry and exhausted. Rebecca and I stayed in Austin another three days and relaxed. We tasted the local flavor and and some fine dining. I awoke in the middle of night several times that week. I couldn't help but stare at my wife sleeping peacefully beside me. Life will beat you up on occasion, but in the end, Life Is Good!!!!!!