Buffalo 100 Mile Run Race Report

Okay so let’s start from the beginning why I even had the desire to run a 100 mile race. Back in 2010 when I was attempting to run my first marathon I read a book called born to run. And in the book they talked about this thing called and ultramarathon, which I had never before heard of. When I found out that humans could run further than a marathon, distances of 50 or 100 miles or even more I said I have got to try that. So that first year after running my first marathon I also ran my first 50 miler. I didn’t know exactly when I would be able to run 100 mile race so I just put it off for the next few years accomplishing other goals. So I finally signed up for this race and decided to give it a go. Going into this race there were a lot of things to be nervous about besides the distance. First of all it was all on trails, and I never run trails. Also it’s so early in the year I had to do all of my training on treadmills which is different from running outside. I was able to do all of my runs on the treadmill including one 50 mile run which took about seven hours at the gym. Which was pretty crazy itself. I started doing all my runs outside about three weeks before the race, trying to run off-road as much as possible to see how my racing flats would do on the gravel and dirt. So I was pretty nervous going into the race especially since the furthest distance I would have ran would be half the distance I would be going during the race, which is something I’ve never done before. So the day finally came, it was time to do this, run 100 miles. The forecast for the race was not looking good snow and 20° weather during the
night

.
Driving to the Race from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.

The race start time was noon so I ate a big breakfast with my family, waited a few hours and headed out. Stopped off for a bean burrito at Carl’s Jr. took some ibuprofen and drove out to the island.


 I showed up at the finisher tent and got all my stuff together. I got out of my car and I was already freezing. I had two drop bags with all my stuff in them. Gu’s, headlamp, extra shoes, extra socks, granola bars, ibuprofen, everything I could possibly need. It was getting closer to race time. I was looking around at all the other crazies that were about to do this with me. Most of the people doing it were real outdoorsy people with long hair and beards and really tan faces.
Pre-Race from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.

Getting ready to start.

It was five minutes to noon so we headed out to the start line, it was really cold with the wind blowing iin our faces. I lined up at the start I was next to Karl Meltzer. Who is kind of a local running legend and usually wins this race every year by about five hours. So the race started and I started off pretty fast. I thought, well let’s see how long I can hang with these guys.

We were doing about a seven minute pace which is way too fast for an ultramarathon for somebody Like me. The beginning of the race have some pretty good climbs and some tough wind blowing but I kept pushing it up the hills staying with the lead pack. I didn’t even stop to walk until the sixth mile or so. Two or three guys had pulled ahead of me but I was still pushing it and going way faster than I should have that I was okay with it. I figured let’s get some good speed in the beginning because later in the race I’m going to be tired either way. I ran with one guy I named the ponytail Mexican for a few miles finally he died off and I kept moving. I came to the first aid station and just blew right through it when everyone else stopped. After that aid station I hit some nice down hills. I was cruising and having a lot of fun I was in like fourth-place I even hit a 7 minute mile. There was a smile on my face, I knew it wouldn’t last but I enjoyed it while I could. I finish the loop and a short out and back and I was at mile 13 and the wind and snow really picked up at this point. It was blowing hard and real hard to run against. I was talking to someone for a while but then I couldn’t hear anything . Pushed on for a few more miles getting a little more tired, crossed the start line aid station at mile 19. I headed out to the other side of the island. This is about the point where I started to run out of steam.
Mile 20 update from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.
Switching over to survival mode. Also came across a spot of wet cold mud which was really hard to get through. I had to keep my feet dry I didn’t have socks on and it was cold out there. I hadn’t been eating a whole lot of real food just some Gu’s and Gatorade. Made it to the lower Frary aid station, at about mile 27. This was the point where in 50 more miles I would be meeting up with Jimmy Joe. That seems so far away, and it was. The next 6 miles were pretty miserable, my stomach was not feeling good at all and I was real tired, I decided to call this the cryin’, dyin’ stage. It happens in every ultramarathon that I do. It’s the point where you start to question your sanity and start to agree with everybody that said you were crazy to do this. There wasn’t much running at all during this point. A lot of people were passing me and I did not feel good. After six long miles I made it to the ranch aid station. Mile 33. Only 67 left ugh! I was able to eat a little bit of food but nothing that set really well on my stomach. The thing with ultramarathons is, the eating is almost more important than the running, you have to really figure out how to keep your stomach under control. Six more tough miles back to the lower Frairy aid station. On the way I took one more gu and I almost threw it up, so I knew I could no longer eat those and would have to eat something else and drink something for caffeine. When I got to the aid station the nice volunteer offered me a wide variety of food I ended up drinking some chicken broth and ate a canned baked potato. And chased it down with some Coke. This combination of food was heaven sent. It completely settled my stomach and I had a few miles of just awesomeness after that. I also switched from sunglasses to headlamp at this aid station. The sun headset and it was getting dark. I knew that this was when the real adventure was about to start. It was cold and windy already and with the sundown it was getting bone chilling cold. And without my sunglasses to protect my eyes and the wind and snow blowing in them it was real tough. It was past 8 o’clock by now so I knew my little brother Jimmy Joe was on the island somewhere.
10pm update. Jimmy Joe waiting in his car. from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.
He was going to be my pacer once again and the gate To get in to the island closed at 8 PM. So that was giving me some energy knowing I was getting closer to running with him. I made it to mile 45 and had to head around Buffalo point. This was a real hard part of the race, the trail was hard to see, it was hardly even a trail at all, but Luckily they had it marked well with reflectors. But I was all alone with no one in sight. It was a complete blizzard blowing straight into at me. My eyes were burning from the cold and snow. They were even starting to blur. Kind of like how it feels when the eye doctor dialates your eyes for an eye exam. I made it around the mountain and hit one more aid station, the volunteer there told me great job on making it through the first half. He said “remember the first 50 is physical the second 50 is mental, don’t tell yourself you can’t do it”. Which was so true. I had to constantly keep telling myself that I could do this. I made it back to the start/finish aid station where Jimmy Joe was waiting for me. He had been there for hours. Talk about the best little brother in the world. I ate some more potatoes, chicken broth and Coke which were sitting so well on my stomach I was just loving them. I told him to go take a nap and that I would be back at this point in 19 miles, probably like four hours or so. The next 19 miles I don’t really remember a lot of, my GPS died at 56 miles and it was dark and freezing cold. With the wind chill it was easily in the teens. The snow kept coming and going. I just kept trudging forward. 4 ½ long, hard, cold hours later I made it back to the finishing tent at mile 69. Jimmy Joe was there and it was so good to see him. He had originally planned on meeting up with me at mile 77 but I convinced him to start sooner.

My eyes were glossed over from the cold.

 
Mile 69 Uodate from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.

Jimmy Joe starts running with me from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.
It was really great running with him. In there I also saw the ponytail Mexican guy that I ran with it the beginning of the race, and I said what are you doing in here, and he said I’m finished. He had to drop out of the race. I told him that I would finish the race for him. As we headed out of the tent he pulled Jimmy Joe by the arm and said in a very serious voice “make sure he finishes”. As we headed out it took a long time for Jimmy Joe to get his body warm. He was running and shivering for the first three or 4 miles. We were getting into a nice pattern of running and walking over the next 10 or 15 miles. My eyes were getting real blurry by now, I told somebody at the aid station about it and they said one guy had gone completely blind in one eye. But I have a lifetime guarantee on my LASIK surgery so I figured I’d risk it and keep on going. The long road from lower frary to the ranch aid station was a tough one. There was snow on the ground but my feet were okay. We were getting closer to sunrise so they started having some different things to offer at the aid stations. We were eating quesadillas, they had bacon and waffles and tons of great stuff to eat. Everything tasted so good.
Mile 78 update from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.
As it started getting closer to morning I was quite surprised that I never got sleepy tired. My legs had been tired for the last 60 to 70 miles. But I never felt like I needed to fall asleep. At one station they said one guy was in the back and they were supposed to wake him up in 20 minutes. I thought that was pretty funny. Also at the aid stations I started seeing bib numbers hung up. Which were from people that have dropped out of the race, they had a little notes on them like IT band or something like that. It was like they were casualties of war. I came to find out later that 40 of the 90 people in the race weren’t able to finish it. The sun came up at about 91 miles.
Mile 90 update (phone died) from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.
It was a beautiful sunrise. We were so excited for the sun to warm us up but it took a few more hours before it started to get warmer. Finally by mile 95 it started to get warmer and we just had the five-mile stretch around Buffalo point. The buffaloes are roaming free all over the course. We only saw them a few times. Once at night, and once in the day. Our survival instructions were, if you see a buffalo don’t look them in the eyes and if they charge you had for rocks. There was one we saw during the night that was about 10 feet from us we did look it right in the eyes but we had our headlamps on so it couldn’t see anything. It was just blinded and we got out of there pretty quick. Then coming around Buffalo point there was one directly in our path and started coming towards us. So I went ahead of Jimmy Joe I made a big circle around it, it kept walking towards us and there were no rocks around so I was kind of scared. It started coming towards us so I just started running away and I remembered that I don’t have to run faster than the buffalo I only have to run faster than Jimmy Joe. Ha ha just kidding but not really.

The buffalo that was in our way.

 We made it the long journey around the buffalo point and stopped off at one last aid station. Had some fig newtons and we were on the home stretch. The last few miles were great. We ran more than we did over the last 20 miles. I was excited to be done with this journey. I saw the finish line. I saw my family. I stopped for a second and waited for my kids to run me across the finish line. What an amazing feeling to know that I had just completed 100 miles. It’s always such an unforgettable feeling to see your family at the end of the race. My beautiful wife was there who I am so thankful for her support through all my craziness. She is the best. My mom and dad also made it out there. Who have always supported all my racing. I got my finishers belt buckle, had some great buffalo stew, and a massage and it was over. I took 17th Place in a time of 22 hours and 49 minutes. One thing I want everybody to know is that they can do anything. There is nothing special about me, I just set a goal and did what it took to complete this goal. Most people may not have the desire to ever run a 100 mile race but hopefully I can inspire some people to get out there and do something, do a 5K do a half marathon, a marathon or triathlon do something. Get out there be healthy! You can do it. You never know what you can achieve until you try it.  As for me it's time to start training for the Vineman Ironman in July.

Finishers Buckle

 Buffalo that gave us some trouble

 Swollen hands and Feet.  But no Blisters.

 Me and my pacer Jimmy Joe

Fat Hands

 Tools of the Trade

 The potatoes that saved my stomach

 My Super Wonderful Awesome Beautiful Wife

 Playing around with my fat hands

 Enjoying some Buffalo stew.

 Zade Helping out with the Massage

This is some guy who was throwing rocks  and rattling a fence during the race.  He could have been killed.  Glad that wasn't us.

Ogden Valley 50 miler 2012 race report

Ogden Valley 50 miler 2012 Race Report

Even though this would be my 3^rd year running this race, I was still pretty nervous for the race.   As in the previous two years there were some unpredictable factors this year.  The biggest thing that was different this year was I had talked my two brothers into running the race with me this year.  I promised them if they ran the race, that no matter what I would stay with them the entire time.  About a month before the race we did do one long run together.  We were able to stay pretty much together.  I did notice that my older brother John did tire out quite a bit towards the end.  He had put in by far the least miles between the 3 of us.  Also come to find out my little brother Jimmy Joe had been getting these dizzy spells where he’d almost fall over.  He was guessing it was due to stress.  Then about a week and a half before the race I had a couple of great fast runs in a row and I must have done something to my ankle cause it was hurt real bad.  I was limping and could barely move it.  So I stopped running until the race.  Doing only one short run the  Monday before the race.  So going into the race we had Jimmy joe, on the verge of falling over randomly.  Johnny, who was way undertrained for the race who  also got very sick  the two weeks before the race.  And me really not knowing what to expect with my ankle.  So Now onto the race.  We drove out the night before to pick up our packets.  We had a great dinner at olive garden.  Went back to the hotel and had a great time swimming and soaking in the hot tub.  A very relaxing night.  Finally we got our number pinned on.  Jimmy joe realized he hadn’t cut his toenails so he made an emergency run to walmart to buy some toenail clippers.  Finally we all said a prayer together and headed off to bed.  I slept great the whole night.  Which is very rare for me.  I always sleep horrible.  Jimmy joe and Johnny said they weren’t able to get much sleep.

 The alarm sounded at 3:30 am and it was time to get going.   We all ate some breakfast. 

 When we got into the van the temperature said 22 degrees.  It was a short 10 minute drive to the start line in Mountain green.   The temperature dropped quickly to 18 degrees by the time we got there.  We got there and there were  a few runners huddled around the fire.  

We got all geared up.  I was shivering as I prepared to start.  I can’t believe how cold it was.  There was so much snow up there too.  There had never been any snow up there the previous years.  After a short pre race meeting it was time to start.  Right as we were about to start some lady lost her glove and went back by the fire to find it.  While she was over there we found it and I ran over to give it to her and the race started.  So I caught up to Johnny and jimmy joe and just as we started going I reminded them to turn on their gps’.  Neither of them had done it yet so they had to stop and do that.  Nobody started off fast but we were already in last place.  It was a rocky start.  After a half mile or so we headed up the canyon.  With headlamps on and rear flashers going the 21 of us ventured up the canyon in the sub freezing temperatures.  The  first few miles were slow.  We were still in  last place.  Not that it really mattered but it was hard to watch the rest of the pack leave us behind, as last year I led the way up the canyon.  Then Johnny had to shed two layers of shirts, he had compensated a little too much for the cold weather.  So that slowed us down even more.  Up the canyon we went.  At a nice steady pace.  After a few miles we joined up with a very talkative lady.  She talked with Johnny quite a bit.  I had to go pee so I said I’d catch up with them and said I needed to go pee.  The lady we were talking to got so mad that I was able to pee standing up.  She was genuinely jealous. It  was kind of funny.  So I caught up to them after and we had some other things slow us down so we stayed at the end of the pack.  It was nice running back down the canyon.  It was real steep.  Like an 8% grade.  It’s hard to enjoy downhills when you know you are going to have to run up them later.  At the bottom of the canyon I really need to go #2 so I told my brothers I was going to run ahead and use the bathroom. Which I thought was coming up soon.  I never saw one so I slowed down and waited for them.  Finally around mile 12 or so we had an aid station and it was by a chevron gas station.  I said I’d go inside but the race director lady said there was a portapotty just a little ways up the road.  So I took off and told them I’d wait for them.  It was about 2 miles away( a very long ways when you gotta go)  Finally I made it and went.  While my gloves were off I got so cold started shivering.  It was still below 20 degrees.  I waited like 10 minutes or so and started wondering if I’d missed them.  Probably another 5 minutes went by and finally I they came around the corner.  I guess Johnny had chosen to use the restroom back at the chevron and took a really long time.  So jimmy joe left him and didn’t know where I was.  Jimmy joe later told this this was probably his lowest point of the race.  Not really know where me or Johnny was. He said his run kind of turned into a cry/grunt with each step he took. 

 Not gonna lie.  The whole first part of the race from mile 5 to mile 25 was pretty miserable.  My stomach was upset.  I had to use the bathroom a few times.  It was sooo cold. Jimmy joes hair even frosted over it was so cold.  There wasn’t much conversation going on.  I seriously wanted to just quit.  I started to believe all the people that called me crazy for doing this.  This was crazy.  This was not fun.  By mile 18 or so.  The sun finally started to come up but it was still freezing.  We were still in last place.  There was one pack of 3 guys that we kept catching up to at the aid vehicles but they’d leave when we’d get there.  I really was ok with last place but would rather not be.  

Around mile 22 we skipped the aid station and passed the 3 guys.  It was good to be out of last place.  At mile 23 there was another aid station and we saw the leader on his way back .  He was on about mile 32.  He was cruising.  We continued on.  Trying to eat what we could.  I was taking tums and pepto bismol tablets but just could get me stomach under control.  Which really makes for a miserable run.  We finally get to the 25 mile marker in just under 5 hours.

  That is a very nice place to get mentally.  When you have less miles to run than you’ve already gone.  A few more miles later at mile 27 we get to the station with our drop bags.  Where we ditched most of our night time gear and got ready for the warmer part of the day.  Even though it was still real cold I needed to get my pants and jacket off asap.  I was roasting.  The last two years at this stop they had a nice warm chicken broth that I ate that really calmed my stomach. They didn’t have it this year.  Just as we were leaving the aid station jimmy joe’s  high school friend showed up.  He brought some supplies with him including some hot chicken soup.  This was the turning point for me in the race.  Chicken soup never tasted so good.  From then on out my stomach felt great.  It was a life saver.  Zach ran with us for about 5 miles or so.  It was nice to have some new company.  Kind of gave us a nice change of scenery.  Not that I was tired of my brothers but it was fun having someone else there.  Around mile 30 some guy came flying past us.  We figured he was in a different race.  We looked back and saw a pack of people coming up.  At a turn in the road we followed our marker arrows and someone in a truck told us we were going the wrong way.  We shouted back “for the 50 miler”?  and they said oh never mind.  Then we saw that guy running back towards us.  And we told him he went the wrong way.  We looked back and saw the majority of his race. Probably a 5 or 10k passing him.  He didn’t seem to happy about it.   Around mile 31 or so we saw a runner sitting on the ground and one of the  volunteers talking to her. We stopped as we passed her and she said she was just feeling horrible and to just keep going.  We felt bad for her but were kind of glad that there was another person that would keep us from being in last place.  Zach headed back to his car and it was just the 3 of us again.  It was finally starting to warm up.  Reaching mile 35 we were feeling good and finally starting to have some conversation.  Which up until then had been minimal.  I was surviving on the caffeinated jelly belly beans and pretzels.  And a few snickers bars.  I was just so relieved my stomach was feeling better. Getting to mile 35  was good to have that many mile behind us but then realizing we still had like 3 hours of running was a little daunting.  Rounding the eastern part of the lake around mile 37 April finally showed up.

  It was so good to see her.  She is such a great support for me.  I was also excited that when she first  saw us we were actually running.  Usually when she finds me I’m walking.  She would pull over and take the occasional pictures. Rounding mile 41 it was time to head up the canyon again.  It’s a steep climb up this canyon. The steepest mile was mile 43 with 425 feet of climb. 

 I had tons of energy running up this part.  Johnny and jimmy joe were pretty worn out but I stayed back with them.  There was no reason leaving them now. I’d been with them the whole rest of the race.  I think I had so much energy. Partly because april was there. But mostly cause we took it so slow the first part of the race.  I just felt so good.  It took quite a while to get up the canyon.  We were pretty excited though that the group of 3 guys were still way behind us and we couldn’t see them.  So we knew we were not taking last place.

  Finally at mile 45 it was time to sail down the canyon.  We kept a pretty good pace down the canyon.  I was pushing them pretty hard.  My mom and sister were there cheering us on as well as jimmy joe’s wife.  It so great to have so much support from my family.  Heading down the last few mile of the canyon was so much fun.  Yeah we were tired.  But I was so proud of my two brother for being able to complete this distance. Something probably 99% of the rest of the world will never do.  We excited the canyon with about a half mile to go.  Approaching the end of the race we all had huge smiles on our face.  We could see our family off in the distance and could hear them chanting our names.  

You can’t help but relate racing to when we get to heaven and we have all our ancestors that went before us just cheering us on.  Pulling for us.  With us every step of the way.  Such an emotional thing to be pushed to your limits physically and mentally and have your loved ones there waiting for you.

 Just an amazing thing to go through.  We came in at just over  10 and a half hours.We crossed the finish line, hands held high in the air.  What an amazing day.  So hard but so fulfilling.  An experience we will never forget.

 

 Oh and the guys we were neck and neck with. We ended up finishing about an hour ahead of them.  And the lady that was sitting down and I thought would probably drop out.  She finished too.  

3 brothers + 50 miles + 10 hours + one awesome day.

My number one fan.  Love her so much for putting up with my craziness.

 Kiddos having fun waiting for me to finish.

Thanks for reading.  On to the next adventure.

Utah Half Iron Man 2012

Race Report

It was the usual night before the race routine.  Slept horrible.  Super nervous.  Kids woke me up a few different times.  Probably on got a couple hours of sleep.  Finally it’s 4:30 am.  I had prepped and loaded everything the night before so once I woke up all I had to do was eat some toast  and get my water bottles out of the freezer and head out.  Took a couple of pepto bismol tablets to slow things down for the rest of the day.  Headed out to Utah Lake State park.  Found a place to park and got all my stuff out and headed over to the transition area to get set up.  I wasn’t sure where to go but I’ve found whenever you arrive at a race, all you have to do is walk towards the bright light and that’s usually the right way to go.  Found a good spot on the racks in the middle of the  transition area.  Got all my gear set up.  This is triathlon #3 for me so I’m getting used to setting my stuff up.  Took my time.   Headed over and got my body markings and timing chip.  Used the restroom.  Listened to a little music and finally it was time.  After a short pre race meeting we got our wetsuits on and headed towards the water.  It was a super calm and peaceful morning.  The water was smooth.  ( a good thing for swimming in open water)  as we are waiting to start we are all looking at the buoys making sure we know which way to go.  The race director tells us it will be a deep water start. 

  The waves will start every 3 minutes.  First the elites, then the 29 and under then it’s my turn.  We swim over to the start area.   Soon enough the horn sounds and we are off.  It’s a little crowded at first but we thin out quickly.  I’m so thankful that we got to use wetsuits.   Last week they told us the water was 82 and not to plan on a wetsuit.  Which freaked me out to say the least.  Luckily the water temp cooled down so we could all wear wetsuits.    About .2 miles into the swim just after we round the first buoy.  I go to tread water to rest a bit and I feel the ground.  Very good news.  I look over and notice a few other people touching the ground to.  So I continue to walk a bit and swim a bit.  We round the second buoy.  I’m still able to touch the ground.  I try to swim as much as possible but it was very nice to know I could touch if I needed to.  I still have a long ways to go with  my swimming endurance.  Around the next buoy and we have completed the first swim lap.  The sun is peaking up now making it hard to see exactly where I’m going.  The first lap took a while but I knew I could do it again.  I successfully make the 2^nd lap with intermittent breaks of walking and back stroke.  Finally I head towards the water exit.  Veered off the wrong direction a few times.  The water was deep during this last stretch but I just kept moving.  Took a second to go pee in the water before getting out.  Made it to the boat ramp.  It was super slippery and mossy so baby steps up the boat ramp and headed over to the transition area with a huge smile on my face, happy the swim is over.  The swim took me 48 minutes which wasn’t too bad for me.  T1 took less than 2 minutes.  I took some time to put on some sunscreen.  Brought a bucket this time to sit on while taking off my wetsuit and changing shoes.  I thought that worked good.  After a quick mount I was off on the 56 mile bike ride.  There were lots of turns at the beginning.  In the first 5 miles I saw like 6 people with flats.  I kept praying I wouldn’t get one.  I started off with a pretty good pace, keeping it to around a 3 minute mile.  The entire bike course was real flat.  So it was easy to keep a constant pace.  Every once and a while I would hear what sounded like a car coming near me, and it turns out it is a real fast bike cruising by me with what seemed like very little effort.    About 15 miles or so into the ride they had an aid station with drinks.  I passed by it.  I had enough on my  bike to get me thru the entire ride.   The ride took us way out south towards Spanish fork.  Made it to mile 28 and we turned around and headed back.   The out and back is nice cause you can see who is ahead of you and who is behind you.  A few people in my age group passed me.  Which surprised me cause I really thought I was the last person out on the swim in my age group.  The 2^nd half of the bike course was hard.  Mostly because my rear end was getting real sore.  Had to keep standing up and giving it a break.  I tried munching on a clif bar.  It was real hard to get it down.  I took a caffeine gu when I had an hour left on the bike.  The last  5 miles of the bike were kinda fun.  There was one guy in my age group that we kept passing each other.  He finally ended up beating me  into the transition area But I knew I’d pass him on the run.  I ate one more caffeine gu just before finishing. . I did see April and the kids at the end of the bike which was great to see a familiar face. The bike ended up taking me 2 hours and 55 minutes.  Which I was pretty happy with.

Quickly transitioned into a runner.  Applied some sunscreen. 1 minute 28 seconds later I was off on the run.  Legs were pretty heavy to start out but had a pretty good pace.  The first mile took so long to finish.  Finally I completed the first mile in 6:35.  The next mile was 6:45.  I was flying by all the people that passed me on the bike.  That’s always the funnest part of tri’s for me is passing people on the run. 

  I saw Jimmy Joe and he ran with me for a half a mile or so and gave some good motivation.  Each mile seemed to get longer and longer and I started losing steam.  I had my hand water bottle with me full of Gatorade. But water was the only thing that sounded good.  A few more miles later I saw my brother and his wife again and they gave me some more motivation.  After starting the second loop I was getting real tired. By mile 7 I had slowed to an 8 min mile pace.  Around mile 9 my brother ran with me and stayed with me till the end.  It helped so much having him there and keeping me moving.  My body was shutting down.  I know I needed another caffeine gu or I was going to bonk.  I was on the verge of throwing up so all I could take in was water.  All the aid stations were great.  They had ice cold water, ice and Gatorade.  I ended up emptying out my handheld and filling it with ice water.  Which worked out great.  I kept spraying my face and dumping it on me.  The temperature the whole day had been great.  But it was really starting to heat up on the run. 

  My stomach was getting worse and worse. Finally during mile 12 I had to stop and pause and throw up gatorage for a while.  As people ran by me they’d shout out things like “you’ll feel better in a minute”  which I did.  We started moving again.  I passed most of the people that passed my while throwing up.  I was so tired though. All I wanted to do was fall over and cry.  But I had to keep moving. The finish line was so close but felt so far away.  Finally we round the bend, entering the park.  As I head towards the finish line I can see my family.  A sight for sore eyes.  There really is nothing better than seeing loved ones and the end of a long exhausting race.

  I called out for Zade to hold my hand and he runs me across the finish line. 

  What an amazing experience.  I am so happy to have completed this race.  Only last year completing a triathlon was only a dream.  Now I’m living that dream.  You really can do anything you set your mind to.  You just have to get out there and do it.  Even though at the end of the race I couldn’t have taken another step.  I still have this desire to do a full Iron man.  I know I’m  not ready for it right now.  But I will do it.  Oh yes I will.