Subject: RE: What do you say to an Ironman?Congratulate them on their day. I think asking "Are you OK?" when someone obviuosly isn't is a dumb question. It's like when I whack my head on something and my wife asks, "Are you OK?". "NO I'm not OK I just whacked my head!!!" I've kidded her enough about that the proper question is now "Are you going to be OK?" I have been high fived by catchers, I've been literally caught, I've been directed to the medical tent, I've had them stay with me until I found my family. Most of the time I've been pretty OK at the finish line. But when I was racing the last few miles of my 3rd IMAZ, sick and falling apart, only force of will kept me going. Five feet after the finish line, that was gone and so was I. Spent. Drained. It was a massive come-down. For more than an hour all I could think about was moving forward. When I was disoriented like that it was a comfort to have the catcher with me. It didn't matter he was a stranger - for a few minutes I had someone looking out for me and just me, and was honestly interested in making sure I was in good hands. It only took me a few minutes to get back to normal and for my wife to find me, and I didn't need medical, but I'm very thankful he was with me. |