June 18, 2017 – The Madagascar Marathon
I spent the night with a clammy, nasty undiagnosed fever. I was cold, with blankets pulled tightly around me; then I was hot and would kick off the layers.
I thought it was dehydration or a low-grade dysentery or malaria or food poisoning. I almost typed “mild” instead of “low grade” but there was nothing mild about it.
But at the same time, I can’t discount the detox drug withdrawal theory. As anyone who knows me can attest, I’m a coke fiend… or more accurately a Diet Coke fiend. This often happens to me in foreign lands wherein I’m out of larger cities. Diet Coke and/or Coke Zero are simply not available. Whether they weren’t big sellers or just weren’t introduced to the marketplace, it’s regular, fully loaded, 140 calories per can Coca-Cola or nothing at all. Regular Coke these days is much too sweet for me so I opted to go with nothing. And after a few days cold turkey, my head ached, my hands shook, and I was seriously jonesing for that sweet, sweet nectar of the diet soda gods.
Whatever the reasons, I couldn’t sleep. I just felt awful… to the point where I thought maybe I wouldn’t be able to do the marathon at all. But somewhere in the 3 am band of time, I felt a bit better, like a corner had been turned or maybe as though I had crossed the Rubicon and there was no turning back.
I was lying down and struggling but simply unable to fall asleep. By the time my alarm went off at 4:45, I had accumulated minutes of REM sleep but no more than an hour. I was exhausted but I’ve done races before in little to no sleep… just as I’ve done races with food poisoning and undiagnosed tuberculosis.
So I figured I could handle this… and for a time, I did. And then times changed, stomachs revolted, and the wheels came off the bus. But more on that in a moment.
***
In the morning, post breakfast, the runners gathered outside our hotel and snapped photos in front of the banner start line and milled about nervously.
A lot of folks complained of similar GI symptoms and lack of sleep. Misery loves company, but I selfishly wish I could’ve felt better and had some schadenfreude instead! That makes me a petty, small person but judge me by the context and, well, I’m still a small and petty person… but at least my Mom loves me!
The half marathoners were bussed out 2.5 miles to their start line and we marathoners waited for our 7 am allons, allons. Turns out we were started by the Joint Mayor… I don’t know if that means he works weekends and Tuesdays and Thursdays while the other mayor works Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My French isn’t good enough to order an omelette let alone to ask serious probing political questions.
In the opening miles I went out a little faster than I should have… well, a lot faster than I should have. I thought I could bank some time for the supposedly tougher closing 10 miles… not only did we have cooler temperatures earlier in the day, there were more stretches on flat and blacktop in the opening mileage.
It *seemed* like a good strategy… and was for about 11 miles… and maybe even for 22. Then it turned, well, ugly.
I lead the whole pack until mile 5 or 6 when a local runner picked up the pace and sped away from me. On the plus side, because I was leading, Jeff of MT was shooting photos now and again from his marshaling ATV post and I think got some great shots of me.
By mile 11, Innez, who would go on to win the whole thing, passed me. By mile 12, my stomach was churning and, not to get too TMI, but I needed the first of my bush toilet pit stops.
With that break, I fell behind another runner … but I was able to catch back up to him and take the third position back.
At mile 15 or 16 we headed into rougher, ever more sandy terrain. There were 3 large water crossings, some as deep as my knees.
And yet I was able to hold onto my third overall position (second male after the local runner, and as I would find out later, way behind Innez who lead females and the overall by an ever increasing margin).
I enjoyed a lot of hand waving and a few cheers from the locals in the 3 or 4 small villages we passed through…
…and I snapped a pretty good selfie with the crowd at one.
At mile 22, my stomach had had enough. Once again I fell behind a runner but this time I had nothing left to catch back up to him. Whatever is beyond fumes, that’s what I was running… then walking on. Part of it was the GI symptoms and part of it was the heat, and part of it was the cumulative mileage running through sand, but I think the biggest factor was lack of sleep. I was just flat out exhausted. My mind wanted to run but my body wanted to curl up in the grass and take a nap. I feel like this was how the rabbit lost to the turtle in Aesop’s Fable. Only the folks I lost out my standings to weren’t turtles… they were super speedy rabbits. And the title “the rabbits and a silly hare” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it!
Shuffling through the closing miles, I tried to figure out where I’d gone wrong but that’s a fool’s errand, especially during the race. I actually kept trying to shake myself out of the “man, I really blew this” mindset which only makes things worse during a race. In my head I kept hearing the dulcet tones of Mr Kenny Rogers…
You gotta know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
Know when to runYou never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done
Unfortunately I kept counting my money, knew I needed to run but couldn’t, and felt like the dealing was a long, long way off.
But I eventually made it back around to the finish line. My stomach was a mess, I was a mess, and I stumbled across the finish where my mom was waiting to award me my medal. I was relieved to be done but bummed about those final miles. It wasn’t necessarily about my place in the standings (there was a little of that, I’m not going to lie). But it was mainly the mental and physical breakdown that disappointed me. Ah, well.
I had a couple of cokes trying to replenish some sugar and more importantly caffeine. It was as expected too sweet and empty calories but desperate times…
The docs asked if I was ok and if I needed an IV as they knew I had voiced concerns over dehydration and GI symptoms. I declined but thanked them for checking on me. In retrospect I should’ve asked for a caffeine IV.
We hung around cheering people over the finish line for a spell. Mom had been doing that all morning – her cowbell was a big hit!
The best news is everyone finished – not a single DNF and though we were a bedraggled, dehydrated lot, there were no serious casualties.
Whatever else is said, some amazing people did an amazing thing today in Madagascar. They ran 13.1 or 26.2 miles (or maybe more if they got lost!) and accomplished their own personal goals in a communal, supportive environment… set against a natural backdrop that was many times breathtaking. And for me, the breathtaking was quite literal in those rough final miles!
At the awards ceremony in the evening, it turned out as I expected when I crossed the finish: I had placed fourth overall and third in the male category.
Everybody was beaten out by Innez from the female division. Wonder Woman indeed!
Post awards, we were treated to a dance group performance by the staff. They called themselves “Bara,” after a tribe of Madagascar. I don’t think my photos really do it justice but hopefully at least the umbrella twirls are clear — they were a highlight for me.
I couldn’t stomach dinner and feel guilty about having ordered and then ducked out before the entrees arrived. I needed to try and get some sleep to make up for the previous night… but seeing as how I’m typing this up at 1:45 am on June 19th, I think it’s safe to say things are not going well.
All in all, it’s been a crazed adventure. I’m sorry there weren’t more “Mom’s knee friendly” excursions and I’m heartbroken I failed to get her a lemur sighting. But I’ll make that happen through other means back in the states.
For soon we will return home. As with many trips, despite good times, good people, and great memories, I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed… if only for a few days before embarking on the next big adventure.
Onward!