This story is only partially true.
Yes, I did go out onto the course and help the last place finisher, but did not do the entire final 12K.
He was having major stomach issues and had been able to take anything in. Doing tris for 21 years teaches you a few things about nutrition and tryiing to “bounce back”. Allen was in bad shape. I suspect his blood pressure was getting low as he was really light headed. Really bad shape, so I had him lying on the ground with his wife right there on the course. She looked really worried.
First thing, the guy was wearing a fuel belt and guess what…he has a pouchful of endurolyte salt tabs. So basically I forced him to take a few to try and settle his stomach which was pretty well on empty. With 2 hours to go to the cutoff, I told him…OK we have a decision to make. You have 11K to go. The fastest walk is 5K an hour, so you have to start walking now and not only do you have to do that, but you will also need to do around 2-3K of shuffling. So we start off walking for a few K and by now we have pumped around 5 more of these tabs into him in anticipation of the aid station. Allen is feeling better and so now I say…OK, shuffle to one lamp post, walk the next…back and forth. I tell him, “if you want to finish, you gotta do it…what do you want to do ???”. Allen says, “I’m here to finish”. Meanwhile the paramedics pull up beside us and I tell them that he is OK to “boost his confidence”, but out of earshot, I tell them, “just keep an eye on things” as I am still unsure how Allen will make it.
We get to the aid station and he does not want to eat, so I tell him, “here is your choice…eat and risk throwing up, or don’t eat and DNF…what do you want ???”. Allen says, “Eat and finish !”, Good man, " I reply" and we proceed to stuff him with coke, pretzels and more salt tabs. I walked on beside him for another 20 min at which point, I realize, that all I am bonking pretty badly myself. I was up at 6 am had breakfast, did a “not so great half ironman…faded on the run” and my stomach was in nots the rest of the day. All I managed to down between 6 am and 9:30 pm was prerace breakfast, 6 gels, a powerbar and a bowl of pasta post race and I was starting to feel the day. By this point, I was unsure if I could make it to the run turnaroudn, without becoming a liability myself. So I left Allen and gave him instruction on what he needed to do, turned about and walked back to the 40K aid station, sat down and chowed down on all the cookies and pretzels.
After waiting for a while, I decided that I needed to get back to the finish to ask the race organizers to extend the 16 hour cutoff. We could not get through to the RD on the cell phone as there was too much music at the finish (note to all RD’s keep your cell on vibrator mode). I see Allen’s wife and she has this huge look of concern seeing me, without him. I assured her that he was doing great. Moments later, he appears, “RUNNING” and challenges me to run with him. Now, all you guys know how cooked you are at 10 pm after a half Ironman, but I figured if he wanted the company, I needed to run. So I ran with Allen for the final 2K. This guy is about to join the Ironman club…“our club”.
So at 10:06, with 24 min to spare before the cutoff, Allen becomes an Ironman.
So Steve’s story is partially true. I did not have it in me to run a full 12 from the finish to the turnaround and back…but I ended up doing around 8K.
Folks, thanks for the good words, but seriously, I think any of you who have toughed it through an Ironman would do exactly the same thing. You’ve been there in the guy’s body yourself, and you know how bad he wants it.
Sue, as for skijumpdeathsuffle, I have tried to take it out of my vocabulary. My friend Barry, “Konaexpress” Dmitruk, tells me, that you have to think positive. The guy turns 45 the same weekend in Oct that I turn 40 and he gets faster every year. Aside from hard work, he removes all negative thoughts from his mind in training, in taper and on race day. No wonder he goes to Kona whenever he gives it a go. Seriously Sue, you and I both have more talent than Barry, he’s just got the full package, mental and physical.
