Same old story: stomach goes south at FANS 24

I could lie and say that I was happy with my latest 12 hour race (45 miles in 11:44) in very hot, muggy conditions.

Ok, I was happy with that; in doing that I overcame some heat and felt great; I mean outstanding for the first 42.5 miles. Bruce Leisure (the Centurion RD) walked the lap between 42.5 and 45 with me.

But I was signed up for the 24 hour, not the 12 (stupid me).

My stomach turned touchy and when I ate 2 small slices of watermelon and a few orange slices, they didn’t digest.

So I tried to walk a slow 2.5 mile lap; no avail. I had to keep stopping.
I tried a 2 hour nap. I felt good when I woke up, but then I got sick almost immediately.

So 1 hour after that, I retired from the race (47.5 miles) and drove to my motel; I threw up (slightly) in the parking lot.

It was amazing how quickly I went from feeling downright great to getting sick.

The problem? I really think that I was a couple of months short of being ready for this one (lost a month due to the &*%$#!! flu, and a week due to a head cold) and I am simply too heavy to do much more than 12 hours. I have been weighing between 190-196 and I really need to be in the low 180’s as I was when I did my best ultras.

So, my taking a break from these for a long, long time seems to be the way to go.

On the upside: I still met John Green, Ray Sharp, Barb Curnow and will have breakfast with them in an hour or so.

It turns out that it rained and is still raining though I missed all of that. I’ll have more to say about the race later.