Beach 2 Battleship - Triathlon

I took my time getting through T1. I knew it was going to be a long day. I wore a long-sleeved jersey and kept my shorts on. It was still in the low 50's temperature wise, and was a little chilly.

My legs were a bit twitchy getting off the bike, and I knew that the run was going to be really tough, but I also knew I had plenty of time to finish, and planned on walking a lot. My transition went well, and I was out on the road in a reasonable time.

This is where the wheels fell off. My first 7 miles went pretty much according to plan. I walked most of the first mile, and got my legs back under me, then I started a 2/1 run/walk strategy for the next six miles. At mile 7 the balls of both my feet started to burn a bit and I had to walk more than run. I walked to the waterstop at mile 9 and sat down to look at what was going on with my feet. Both of them had blisters about the size of a silver dollar on the bottom of them, and the on the left foot, the blister was starting to work its way around to the big toe side.
I could not run any more, and started walking. I figured that I would get back to the transition area, check in with the medical folks, get my feet taped up and head back out on the course. Little did I know how things would play out.
I got to the transition finally after a very painful walk. the worst part was the metal grate of the drawbridge we had to cross, it's covered with little metal nubbins that are there for traction, but they made it feel like I was walking on a bed of hot nails. A volunteer handed me my special needs bag, and I put on my long-sleeved shirt and headed over to the med tent. I got taken to the triage section by a very kind young lady who turned out to be a air ambulance nurse in real life. The folks there got my shoes off and were preparing to look at my feet to see what they could do for them.
The next thing I knew I was being loaded onto a stretcher.
I passed out.
The put me on Oxygen and rau two bags of IV solution through me. I managed to call my wife on a borrowed cell phone and she arrived shortly thereafter. Time passes strangely in situations like that. I thought I had not been laying there for more than 30 min. or so, but it turns out that I was in the med tent for a couple of hours. I was finally able to drink three bottles of water, and eat some gummy bears that my wife brought me, and they sent me on my way.

Not pass out.

I said going into this race that I was going to be OK with whatever happened, and that included taking a dnf, and I actually am OK with the way things played out. This is not what I was expecting, but c'est la vie, que sera, sera. Here's a nsaty picture of my foot the morning after. Today is two days post race, and I can walk on it with not too much pain.