30km in total this week. Came back late from Schiphol - nothing to report on my KLM trip today as the service was pretty average - staff all a bit grumpy and a lady pilot (nothing wrong with that, but just throught I'd mention it) but as I say, average - and went out straight away when I got home for a 6km run. As it was cold and foggy, not that pleasant but I may as well get used to it as I am sure it will only get colder and foggyier (is there such a word?) as we go thru' the winter. Once you get going however it's not so bad.
My Chicago experience deserves a mention as it goes some way to explain why I was less than enthusiastically waiting to hear about whether I'd got a London FLM 06 place. Let me say that the Chicago marathon was a fantastic experience - brilliant crowd support and a good flat course (as well as superb medical staff at the end). I had trained well with my friend and running mate Neil, and pushed myself during the race for a sub 4 hour time which was well within my grasp. All was going well until around 35km. I had not stopped, had ran thru' but drank at every water station but at 35km the legs really felt heavy. To cut a long story short I finished and collapsed 5 meters after the finish into the arms of a medic. I remember her saying to me "Hey, are you OK?" to which I replied "No, I don't think so". The next thing I knew it was 20 mins later and I was looking up from a camp bed at 3 nurses, with a saline drip in my left arm thinking "Ummm. I'm in trouble here" My problem was that I had suffered heat exhaustion and was told that my temp was 108 degrees (42.5). As I now know this is pretty unpleasant and marginally dangerous to say the least. To this day I do not know what caused it - the ambient temp was around 16 and I was well hydrated and had taken good carbs and gels during the race. Anyway, the medics, who were absolutely fantastic literally covered me head-to-toe in ice - you name it and they stuffed ice down it, around it and practically in it! Now normally, put your hand in a bowl of ice and 5 secs later, you wish you hadn't. But to me, this was pure heaven!. After 20 mins they got my temp down - from 108, to 103 then to 100 and finally to 97. Phew! I remember cramping up badly and they called a pysio for me. In summary after around 40 mins I was ready to go back to the hotel and get my flight home. I must say again that whilst I do not remember the names of any of the staff that helped me, they may remember me as I was told that I held the Chicago Marathon 2005 record - for body temperature at the end of the race. They were superb. All of them deserve a massive thanks and for all of us who run these races, we never really think of all the support staff around the course who make the day possible. If any of you guys who worked on me in the medic tent at Chicago read this, my number was 6142, many, many thanks for what you did.
And my time? 4 hours and 21 secs!! Dammmmmmm......
As we got the airport to fly back to Amsterdam I turned to Neil and said, " that's it - I've run two marathons and after today's experience I have run my last. I bet I now go and get a place in the ballot for London!" (you have to apply for London well in advance of October) Sure enough here I am with a place in London and planning to run......I must have a very short memory. Or perhaps there's another reason......
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