GOLD COAST AIRPORT MARATHON
Through the eyes of Matt Phillips
Page 4
I staggered
upright and continued weaving a path toward the finish line only
to go down again!! At this point, I was later told, my brother
was leaning over the fence less than a meter away and offering
his hand in support and yelling at the top of his voice, but I
couldn't see or hear him and only had my eyes on the finish
line.
Finally, I made it
Again I
staggered up, now aware that hundreds in the crowd were really
behind me and urging me to the finish line. I ambled over the
last few metres barely noticing the clock said 3:12 something
and collapsed gratefully into the arms of two angels who
supported me straight into the medical recovery tent where I was
dumped like a slab of meat onto a hard wooden bench.
A volunteer
doctor checked my vitals and told me to start drinking water. I
tried to comply over the next 20mins but could only manage a
pitiful 500mls as my stomach was queasy and I was feeling
nauseous. At this point an IV drip was called for and I slowly
started to recover but had to endure cramps to both calves and
quads and get volunteers to stretch my legs for me.
My support
crew and friends endured some worrying times wondering where the
hell I was but eventually climbed a fence and gate crashed the
medical tent to find me!!! At this point, I noticed that my two
toes next to the big toe were bright purple and one toenail was
on the verge of falling off - the least of my worries at the
time I can assure you.
Just under
two hours and 2L of IV fluid later, I staggered out of the
medical tent and accepted more water and bananas for recovery
and then headed for the massage tent to end my time in the Race
Precinct. About five hours and five litres of water later my
recovery was complete when I felt that I was capable of going on
a 5-10km jog should I desire to do so. Naturally, I had no
desire to do so!!!
My disappointment was short lived
I was quite
downcast with my time for most of Sunday afternoon and evening,
but as reports from other race finishers started to filter
through in the evening and on Monday, I started to come to the
realisation, that it wasn't meant to be on the day.
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