Top photo: before. Middle: after. Bottom: read below.The results are in, and everyone had a really good day, in spite of the incredible cold wind.
Lester, 1.29.59
Allen, 1.39.31
Ben, 1.57.32
Maddie, 3.14.51
Rebecca, 3.14.51
Everyone beat their goals. Lester beat his by a whole second.
Why is there a picture of me in front of the medical area? Well, it's because I spent 45 minutes in there. It probably was not the wisest thing to do only two weeks after a really tough marathon, but I decided to push things today. I wanted to salvage my months of training with a satisfying sub-1.40 run. So I pushed and pushed and pushed.
When I got to mile 12 I knew I was getting in trouble. I felt out of control. I was talking to myself out loud, "Stay straight up, stay up!" I could feel myself leaning, not sideways, like in the Louisvile marathon, but forward. I couldn't slow down. Long story short: I fell flat on my face about a 100 yards from the finish.
I heard some of the crowd of literally 1000s shouting, "Get up! You're almost there!" Of course I knew that, but I was in trouble. A couple of kind runners stopped and helped me to my feet, and honestly I am not exactly sure what happened after this. I think they put their arms around me and helped me finish. Once I crossed the line I gently went down to the ground. I remember medics saying, "get the stretcher!" I was too zonked to be embarrassed.
The stretcher ride, which I faintly remember, seemed like forever. Once in the medical tent they drew my blood and hooked up an IV. Then the cramping started! A physical therapist came in and worked with me for about half an hour. After rubbing them down, he wrapped both of my legs, from the knee to the ankle, with tight bandages to keep them from swelling and cramping.
Finally they released me. As I was walking back to the Indiana Running Company hospitality tent, I met Jim Sowders. He was looking for me; he walked me to the tent to meet Kedra, Lester, Luke, and Ben. As he walked he told me that one of the guys who picked me up and helped me finish was Ryan Roberts, a person I know very very well. I was amazed that I was so out of it that I didn't even recognize Ryan or know he helped me. Ryan and I talked later, and he told me that my eyes rolled back in my head. He was pretty sure I didn't know much of what was going on. He was right!
Even though I had the collaspe, I thoroughly enjoyed the day. It was so much fun running with so many good friends and family. A lot of people had really good runs today, including John Heatherly and Rand Hammel. Both of them ran the Louisville marathon also.
I think the most impressive time might be Maddie and Rebecca's. That's a pretty fast walk! Ben had a great run for his first time, and Lester's sub 1.30 says that he has a great future ahead as a runner.
3 comments:
Oh, wow, I looked worse than I thought. I found This Video of the finish. You have to scroll over, at the bottom, until you come to segment labeled, "1-38-57 to 1-48-10." About the time the clock gets close to 1.40, you'll see me being drug by two guys. Literally.
hey at this point you were still some what putting your own feet in movement. about the time you got off the screen, you were done and we basically carried you across the line.
i forgot to tell you the other guy turned to me after you got on the stretcher and said; " i hope that old guy is ok" I laughed and said "that is my minister!"
if you saw how you looked from my point, you would be shocked. we even had a conversation. you kept telling me to go on because i was going to break 139. i told you "anthony" was setting a pr anyway. :)
Thanks, Ryan for helping me! Surely it is no coincidence that out of 35,000 people you were there as one who helped me. Mind-boggling!
Old guy?? Well, hey, what can I say? I wonder what he would think of Larry Hammersley, in his early 70s, still running these things? I hope I can keep running for another 20 years. If I do, I need to stop falling down.
Post a Comment