what's the worst thing that's ever happened to you during a race

How about severe "runners trots" during my first marathon!

I just about hit every porta john on the course. I must have waited in line for over 45 minutes in all. Not too mention the time in the john.

Ugh, it was miserable and my butt was so chaffed!

I high-sided a rocky switchback in an MTB race on Dragons' Back on North Mountain in the Jefferson National forest. It was a misty, fairly cold (read that there was a very real possibility of hypothermia) April day. I found myself looking at the sky and bonking. My bike was on top of me, and I had lost my gatorade bottle about two hours earlier, my Hammergel was long gone. I managed to get the bike off me and stand up. As soon as I took the first step up the rocks to get back on the trail, the hamstring cramps kicked in, and i slid back down the side of the mountain again.

There's no sag here, and no cell phone reception, and no-one around at all to speak of. I was severely off the back of the race and had to consider the possibility of being in real trouble. Fortuneatly I was able to ride the last 4 miles or so off and on. I pushed all the hills and coasted the downs. I ended up not finishing DFL much to my surprise.

awol - 2005-08-16 4:16 PM

TriComet - 2005-08-16 1:08 PM

How about severe "runners trots" during my first marathon!

I just about hit every porta john on the course. I must have waited in line for over 45 minutes in all. Not too mention the time in the john.

that's bad.

Ugh, it was miserable and my butt was so chaffed!

that's worse!

AND it was Chicago. = too many people, too many in line for the john!

My last triathlon, Olympic distance, last year - didn't do enough (read: ANY) heat training and just about lost it on the run.

Ended up walking 9k of the 10k I think.  Temperature over 100, no shade, no wind, couldn't even jog cause anything faster than walking I'd start getting dizzy and nauseated - some dehydration, probably flirting with heat stroke.

I was DFL by a long way (like almost an hour I think) I'm really, really slow, so I kinda expected to be DFL, but that was just sad.  My run split was way longer than my bike. - the EMT guys were pouring water down me, and then I'd pushed so hard in conditions I wasn't prepared for, I was sick for a week after.  Not fun.

yaqui - 2005-08-17 7:32 PM Last year at IMC I went into the race injured (two herniated disks). Developed an eye infection three days before the race. Kicked in the face hard early in the swim. Disk wheel started making very odd noise while descending at 52 mph. Disk wheel fell aprt - literally - a little over two miles from T2. After 5-10 minutes of trying to make it rideable, I walked to T2 with bike on shoulder (I was under 7 hours for swim/T1/Bike when "wheel fell off". By mile 9 of the run my back was spasming. By mile 10 I had severe pain shooting down my left side and front of hip and leg. Walked limping the rest of the way for a 13 hour finish. 51 weeks later and I still can't ride a bike or run. Surgery on Monday. BTW, lived in Foster City in 1990. Fun place. I'll check out your report. An IM is a long day, a lot can happen. scott

And this is why I am letting my hip HEAL before I get back at it...thanks for the story tho....makes me feel better about all the time off and good luck with your surgery.....You will probably wake up and not have leg pain

1. Missed my wave start by about 45 seconds because I was still in the portajohn.

2. 6 knot currents caused my Olympic distance swim to go from its normal 30 minutes to 57 minutes. (93 starters out of 400 pulled out of the water after 1:15!)

3. Bike course flooded in one part that came up to my bottom bracket.

4. Run course flooded in one section where water came over my knees.

5. Those two flooded sections had to be done twice on way out, and back in.

6. Had an all time personal worst for Olympic Distance.

BUT......

I won my age group because only 3 of us finished, and one of the 3 won top master.

In my first Oly I took a rather solid kick to the boys a couple hundred yards into the swim, became somewhat disoriented and rounded 3 bouys. The swim course consisted of 2 buoys.

On the bright side, I wasn't last out of the water in my age-group, and I went home knowing I can handle the swim portion of a half-IM.