'Til I Collapse - Eminem

Immediately after the finish, volunteers grabbed me on both sides and threw a mylar blanket over me (I have to admit, I got a little chilly from time to time out there, and saw a few people on the run course wrapped in blankets to keep warm). They put my finisher’s medal over my neck, gave me my finisher’s t-shirt and hat, and asked me how I felt. I responded that I felt great! My biggest worry was how to get the 5 miles back to the hotel with my bike and all my gear – I thought I would have to ride back on the bike through some pretty sketchy parts of town, exhausted. I was not looking forward to it, but I would do it since I had no other choice.

Then the photographer wanted to get my picture, so I handed the blanket and my stuff back to the volunteers and posed for the cheesy photo you see here. I didn’t realize until now how I was leaning to the left so much.

I passed through the crowd of volunteers that were helping people to either the medical tent (didn’t need it) or the food tent (not really hungry but knew I was calorie deficient). My hear rate monitor, which recorded the calories expended, showed ‘----‘, meaning I had burned over 9,999 calories – I estimated I burned about 12,000.

I grabbed a handful of fries (lots of salt!), and two pieces of pizza. I got most of the fries down. But could barely get the pizza down (and it wasn’t that good). My stomach was hungry, but over the course of 18 hours (the last meal I had was at
4 AM) it had shrunk. I couldn’t put much in.

I finished my meal and made my way to find my warm-up suit from the morning – I was getting cold, even with the blanket on. I got my gear, fished out my cell phone, and called Lisa to tell her that it was all over.

Afterwards, I found my other bags and hitched them to the bike. But just as I was about to climb on the bike for the long, cold ride home, I spotted a familiar face – my new best friends, from Mexico City.

These guys were staying in the same hotel as I, and had a big SUV. I had hitched a ride with them the day before to drop off my transition gear, and asked if I could hitch one more ride. They were more than happy to; so I went with them to round up the rest of their group.

As I was waiting, I grabbed a turkey sandwich that the event was passing out to the crowd, knowing I would be hungry later. We got the bikes loaded into the SUV, I jumped in the other car that they had, and got a ride back.

I got back to the hotel, grabbed a shower, and called Lisa one more time to let her know I made it back, and collapsed on the bed. It felt soooooo good to be off my feet.