Beyond the Blog Day 27 (May 24) - MELTDOWN!

I had to review video footage of this day and my notes because of my heatstroke episode at mile 24.   (Spoiler alert: That is how the day ended.)

Midway through the day, on Holden Beach, I was already toast.  But the burnt toast was yet to come.

 

The day started well enough.  I got to sleep at our condo in Sunset Beach, and Cheryl had returned the day before.   But the truth is, I was nearly spent at this point.   My legs, particularly my knee, ached like nothing before, my energy level was zero, and I had this bad barky cough.  It was a war of attrition and usually I can fight this fight, but my attitude was crumbling as well.  It was hard to stay positive when I felt so crappy.

 

So a few good miles around the condo grounds helped me ease into the day...it was a pretty morning, with the sun coming up over the Intercoastal Waterway, and the orange sky reflected off the ponds outside our building.  A day full of possibilities, for everyone.

 

When I had gotten in my miles (3 to 5, I can’t exactly remember), it was time to pick up on the next beach from where we had left off the previous day, Oak Island Beach.   South of OIB is Holden Beach, which is more accessible to the public and welcoming to families.   I think of it as a “people’s beach”, much like Sunset Beach.   All you need to do is find public parking and you’re good.  This was also the day we met Hunter, Matt’s friend.   It’s hard to adequately describe Hunter, but he is a container’s worth of energy and enthusiasm all compacted into a 6-foot frame, bounding around slightly unhinged. He was refreshing to have around, calling me “Mr. Richard” the whole time, and madly honking his horn or playing music every time he passed on the road.   Youth!

Easy running on Holden Beach.  Just no trees.

 

I ran up and down the main strip of Holden Beach as the sun came out in its full glory, blazing away. We were perhaps 10 miles into the Ruck, and I was desperately trying to cool down with a towel over my head, and what happened next…..I’ll copy straight from my blog post for that day:

On Holden Beach while I was on the outbound section, a woman stopped and asked us what we were doing, in a friendly manner.  We had only begun to describe the event and the mission of champion autism network, when she whipped out a $20 bill and said “here take this please”.  It is amazing, the impact that this event has on people.  I hope we can carry that forward.

Amazing that people would just give us money like that, and it wouldn’t be the last time, either.   But it certainly added fuel to our fire, all of us, when we could tangibly see the impact of this event.

I didn’t even offer to wash her windows.  God bless this stranger!

By this point my knee was screaming in pain, and I gimped another few miles to meet Cheryl, Matt and Hunter at the little park on Holden Beach, close to the overpass for the bridge to the mainland.  It was a nice little spot, but my head was not in the game.   I do remember, watching the video, how terrible I felt, particularly the heat-induced fatigue.   I had a bit of a moment, to be honest:

Please don’t let the camera be running.

 

Icing the knee while Hunter is being a good sport and ignoring my meltdown.

 

After about 15 minutes, and the most beautiful smoothie a person could ask for, I came back to life.  Matt came to the rescue, again, and sacrificed a knee brace he happened to have.   More of a sleeve, it really saved the day by stabilizing my joint.  I don’t normally have knee problems but the beach running two days earlier threw out my stride and the knee paid the price.  Anyway, it was just what I needed, and soon we were back in our car train and headed a few miles down the SR 130 to our next leg.  I’ve ridden this road before and it is very dangerous with the amount of vehicles, hence the hop-scotch over to Shallotte.

 

The day wore on and I was worried about hitting the 4 pm deadline

 

Shallotte is one of our favorite coastal towns, more marshy than actual beach, but full of charm and some great restaurants as well.    We have fond memories of taking the kids to the Chinese restaurant off the main strip or more recently, going to the brewery and playing board games, ordering dinner from next door.   Don’t judge.

 

In any case, the plan was to run through Shallotte to the Inlet Restaurant, right on the Intercoastal, for another 13 miles.  Leaving from the Home Depot parking lot, I remember feeling a little better, having rehydrated, cooled down in the car, and wearing the knee brace.  As I shuffled through the town center, I saw flowers growing in crazy abundance on the sidewalk across from a nursery, like escapees from prison.  I found a dollar bill on the roadside, which almost doubled the roadside fund to $2.30.  Admittedly, I was no longer stopping for anything under 10 cents.   I pressed on, passing the Shallotte Middle School, where workers were changing the sign to say “Thank Your Mr. McLamb”.   I couldn’t help myself and shouted back the same thing to the guys.  Blank stares and crickets chirping.   Was I really making no sense?   I passed a man watering his flowers, and in my notes for that day, I said “I repeatedly tried to get him to wave hello to me”.   I don’t actually remember this because of what happened next, but how many times did I run back and forth trying to get him to wave hello?  No wonder he didn’t wave back at the fluorescent lunatic.

 

In the Home Depot parking lot, Cheryl was trying her best to keep me hydrated and on my feet

 

I turned off of SR 179 outside of Shallotte down to Village Point Rd, which would take me right to the ICW.  Still no shade, of course, but I felt like my hydration was okay.  The guys were doing an awesome job and were so confident that they drove on ahead to the restaurant where we would be meeting, just a few miles down the road to go.  

I’ve had heat stroke and dehydration before, and like most bodily shut-downs, by the time you know it's happening, it is far too late.  My legs started feeling rubbery and my head felt like it was floating off, and at mile 23, I saw the sign: “Inlet Grille Restaurant, 2 miles ahead”.   I just deflated... I thought it was around the corner!  My resolve crumbled and my body did the same immediately thereafter.   Thank God for the walkie-talkie.   I croaked out “help” to Cheryl and that was about it.  She jumped in the car and raced back a mile to find me falling to me knees, and she literally caught me before a total face plant.    Matt got some great video footage!

She put me in the car, blasted the a/c, laid cold towels on my face and rehydrated me.   She is such a pro and is used to bringing me back to life.  I may have freaked out Hunter a little, though.   In any case, after 30 minutes I was back to normal, but done for the day at 24 miles.   My suggestion about finishing the last mile didn’t even draw a chuckle.

What I haven’t mentioned is that was the evening before our 25th wedding anniversary, on the penultimate day of the entire Ruck.  And here she was, putting me back together as always.  The Ruck could not have happened without her, and certainly I could not have gotten this far without her.

Not looking too good there, stranger.