Timpanogos Half - Crash and Burn (13.1 Miles) 01:27:39, Place overall: 24, Place in age division: 5
This is a difficult report for me to write. Yesterday's experience is still a bit scary to me. I don't remember a good 45 minutes of the day. I experienced extreme dehydration combined with something else that I'm not completely clear about.
I was excited going into this race. I had felt really strong all week. I had lost five pounds over the course of two weeks by cutting out large amounts of sugar (a also cut out large portions of carbs, which may have come into play during the race). I'm coming off a strong 5K, and I had a good 2 X 2 mile tune up session on Tuesday. All signs indicated that I was in for a good race. I didn't taper as much as usual, but my legs felt pretty fresh after the run on Friday. I probably would have tapered a bit more if I had known the Iain Hunter would be running, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that would have made yesterday. Something was just off.
I had about 8 oz of water before leaving my house in the morning, but didn't eat anything, which is not unusual before a half marathon for me. I caught an early bus and listened to some relaxing music before joining Spencer for an easy two-mile warm up. I was a bit over dressed and worked up a little sweat, but nothing out of the normal for a pre-race warm up. I sipped on water before the race, but didn't get through half of a bottle.
I saw Iain Hunter just minutes before lining up at the starting line. We enjoyed visiting for a while as we waited for the race to begin. I wasn't sure if there was going to be anybody gunning for a sub 1:07, which was my goal for the day, and I was honestly glad to see Iain there--it would be a good test for me.
Iain and I jumped out into the lead as soon as the gun went off. I knew something wasn't quite up to snuff when we finished the 1st mile in 4:59--I had run almost 10 seconds faster during the AF half earlier this year. The next mile is usually the slowest in the canyon, but this one was also a bit slower than the previous two times I've run this course 5:04. I started to feel my left hamstring tighten up a bit here and worried about it cramping--that was weird. I hadn't felt any soreness in my hamstring all week. Normally at this point in the race, I've been able to dip comfortably below 5 min pace, but the 3rd mile was 5:05 and the 4th was 5:07.
I panicked a little at the slow pace and the realization that today might not be my day for a PR. I realized that my shoulders were back and I was running pretty erect for this downhill stretch and rolled the shoulders forward. My pace immediately dropped and I began to gap Iain. Mile 5 was too fast, 4:30, but didn't feel out of control. I pulled things back just a bit for mile 6, 4:42--this was similar to the time I ran in the AF half for the same mile. Mile 7 was 4:54 and Iain had made up some ground on me based on the cheers from the people at the aid stations. I had taken a GU right before mile 7 and got a quick drink of water--my pace slowed quite a bit because of this. I was already feeling spent and very confused at why I felt so tired. Iain passed me shortly into the 8th mile and I could tell that this was his race--I could feel the wheels starting to fall off the bus; 5:09 for mile 8.
Things just started to get ugly from here on out. Mile 9 was 5:48. One of my last memories of the race was missing the water at the aid station with a marathoner stopping in front of me and the last young boy didn't hold a cup up for me. I let out a quick yell of frustration, because I felt thirsty, but I told myself no big deal, I had run several other 1/2's without eating or drinking. Things start to get a little blurry here in my memory. Mile 10 was 5:49. I had definitely accepted the fact that Iain would not be coming back and honestly I started to feel fear that I would be passed by Dave Taylor. I wanted to stop and walk. I thought that if I just slowed down a bit, I might be able to recover. I have faint memory of seeing the mile 11 split on my watch; 6:10. I remember thinking just two miles left. I wanted to stop an walk so bad. My breathing was labored. My heart rate felt high. I remember passing a final aid station, but I don't know at which mile and throwing water on my head; I was overheating.
I have no memory at all of the final two miles. Mile 12 was 6:17. Mile 13 was 13:04. I do have a faint memory of seeing the finish line just a little way off and then realizing that I was not going to make it. The world went black.
This next part of my report comes from what my wife and friend told me. I have no memory of these events. I was literally 50 meters aways from the finish line and swerving all over the place. My wife took a couple of photos of me before she realized that something was wrong. Apparently, a couple of bystanders saw me swerving back and forth and were there to catch me before I hit the pavement. I'm so grateful to them whoever they are. My wife and the volunteer medics on the scene rushed to me. They tried to get me to sit down, but I locked my legs and just mumbled about how I needed to finish the race. I was speaking gibberish--no body could understand me. The medics forced me to the ground. I kept talking about the two fast miles I had ran down the canyon, about the fact that I had won this race last year, about Iain running faster than me, about being afraid that Dave Taylor would beat me, and I repeated these things over and over again. Apparently, my ego-mind subconscious was on full display. The medics took my vital signs and my blood sugar level looked to be okay. I was told that I kept throwing up--nearly 20 times. I only have a memory of once or twice.
My first real memory after mile 11 was Toni and Spencer assisting me to the finish line. I remember Spencer saying something about how no member of our group would end a race without finishing--there would be no DNF today. I guess we could call my finish an aided one. I guess the spectators were clapping to when I finished the race. I don't remember this.
Toni and Spencer continued to walk with me. I was so worried about my legs getting too cramped and not being able to run next week. I was still pretty irrational. My wife kept encouraging me to lie down, but I was afraid that I wouldn't get back up. As we started to make our way back to the car my wife drove, I took a turn for the worse. My legs started to cramp and I felt very nauseous. We ran into a doctor who had finished the race and she suggested that we go and get some fluids into my body through an IV in the ambulance on site.
The reality of what just happened started to settle in on me and I felt scared and embarrassed as I was hooked up to an IV. I started to wonder if I could trust myself. What would cause me to push things to this limit? Could I trust myself in future races to know when I had pushed too hard? Why was I so driven by the fear of being passed? I was scared by the prospect of not being so close to the finish line when passing out. I felt like crying.
The medics were awesome. I was very grateful for their service. I put a whole 1,000 CC's of fluid into me and had me walk a little bit. Still unstable and dizzy. They hooked me up to the IV again and put another 1,000 CC's in me. This second bag was enough for me to feel much better. I can't imagine how rough my day would have been yesterday without getting these fluids in.
Lots of things to take a look at here. I plan to go back to eating more carbs. I plan to eat a little bit of food the morning of my 1/2 marathons and drink more water. I have the very clear intention of never experiencing anything quite like this again. I do not like not remembering 30-45 minutes of my life. I get to be okay with the fact that not every day is going to be a PR day. Honestly, I'm a little worried about racing after this experience. I plan to be consistent in my training and to trust that I will learn from this.
I had a lot of friends and family show up in support. Thank you! I really love and appreciate you!
Live and learn!
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