2012 MR340 Part 3

2012 MR 340 Part 3

 

 

Day 3 – Wednesday, August 1st

 

Glasgow, MO     Checkpoint 4

141 miles into the race

 

View from the crew (as observed by Karen)

     We made it to Glasgow quickly so we could catch a few hours of sleep before Shane came in. .  Shane seemed off pace, and didn’t have a spot tracker, so we had to guesstimate when he would come into each checkpoint.  I calculated that the earliest he would get there would be 6am.  Michael smiled and said, “You can start looking for him at 6.  I’ll look for him at 7.  Betcha he won’t be here till 8.”  We settled in for the night, Michael under a tree on a sleeping pad and me in the front seat of the car. 

                                                Michael  (crew) crashed out catching a few hours sleep 

 

 

    I woke up at 5:30 and put all the supplies together as Michael continued sleeping, then headed down to the waterway right at 6:30.  There was a guy with binoculars there, and I asked him, “Have you been here for awhile?”  He shook his head no.  I turned to some others next to him, “Have YOU been here for awhile?”  They nodded.  “Have you seen the guy on the stand-up paddleboard?”  Before they could answer, the guy with the binoculars said, “He’s coming in right now.”  WHAT??!?!?!?  Panic set in.  I ran back to the car, screaming, “Michael!  Michael!!  MIIIII-CHAELLLLLL!!!!!!”  He popped his head up, “What?”  “Shane’s coming!”  The next scene was out of a cartoon.  Michael literally jumped off the pad with stuff flying everywhere. 

 

 

  Shane was in rough shape and decided to stay for a bit.  This was the beginning of when his bad gastrointestinal issues would start.  Actually, they had started earlier at Glasgow and on the river, but now Michael and I were really seeing it start to take its toll.  He took a rest on the pad that Michael had been occupying not too much earlier and dozed off.  That’s when I remembered I had bought a stuffed animal just for this occasion.  I put the little horse (dubbed “The Horse with No Name” by Michael) next to him. 

   

 

Shane

36 miles from the Miami Checkpoint to Glasgow. 36 miles doesn't seem alot but after paddling 105 miles already, it wears on you. I definately was feeling the effects of 100+ degree heat all day and now paddling through the night being sick beat me up even further. I don't know what it is about this leg of the race, but I ended up being sick on the same stretch last year. This year was pretty bad. Not trying to be too graphic, but imagine standing on a sup. Now turn and face perpendicular. Bend down and grab the right side of the board with one hand, and hang your ass over the other side and do your business. Now do it for 3 hours. Sound easy? It's not. It's like holding a yoga pose while peeing out your butt. Not pretty.

 

 

Karen:   

After he woke and went to the bathroom again, he came over to us and asked for some Neosporin.  I squirted some on his finger and he put his hand down the back of his pants and … I will let you figure out where he put the ointment.  Needless to say, I put a big dab of Purell on that finger since he wanted to eat now.  After a decent amount of food, Shane seemed to be doing a lot better.  He set off down the Missouri as we set off for our next goal: Katfish Katy’s.

 

Shane:

     Nothing worse than a raw Heiney. 

One thing I've learned in life is that a man can get by with 2 things: Neosporin and duct tape! In this case, Thanks Neosporin.

 

 

 

Katfish Katy’s, Lupus, MO  Checkpoint 5

 187 miles into the race

 

Shane:

  From Glasgow to Katfish Katy's is a long stretch at 46 miles.  It happened to be at the peak of the heat which was nasty.  Every hour  I had to jump off my board and wet my clothes to make things bearable.

 

   Karen:

The next issue to tackle was the checkpoint, as there was some confusion over this stop.  Was it mile marker 180?  Or further down at 170?  Some documents said one thing, some another.  We decided it was 180, which actually was a good choice.  It was a barren area down a winding road, past the Katfish Katy store down to the river.  The heat was unbelievable.  I really worried about Shane since he was dragging at the last stop.  This was another long leg of the race  (46 miles) and he would arrive right at the peak of the heat, somewhere around 103 degrees. 

 

The waiting continued. .  Dwayne showed up first and decided to stop awhile.   Shane finally came in not too much later in the late afternoon.  I was very pleasantly surprised that he was in pretty darn good shape.  He wolfed down two pulled pork sandwiches and we convinced him to sit in the air-conditioned car for a bit.  He left together with Dwayne, beginning a long stretch of them paddling closely to each other.  Nothing like hanging out with a friend during a tough challenge.  I was glad they had a chance to be together, knowing it would be encouraging to both. 

 

 

Shane:

    This leg of the race will always be the highlight for me.  Dwayne Vanhoose is a guy that I admire dearly.  He is that friend that you want to have who would do anything for you and expect nothing in return.  He's been a mentor for me and has helped me figure out many things in my personal life.  If I have somehting I'm having a hard time with, I give him a call and we talk..
  In 2011,  he was my crew for the mr340.  Alot of the reason why I finished that year was his advice and encouragement throughout the race.

                                                 Dwayne (grey shirt) with his crew Ben Mcnabb
                                                                              at this Year's MR340

     Dwayne paddled an Epic 18' kayak in this race.  He was way faster than I was. As we left Katfish Katy's he hung back with me for 2 hours.  I yelled  at him to paddle his ass off and go. He would tell me, " I never get to hang out with you, now's a good time."  He was making excellent time for his first endurance race, but chose to hold back and just be a friend.  Amazing!  You won't find a more quality person than this man.

 

Karen:
   After they left, Michael and I dawdled a bit, and we decided at the last minute to take a shower at Katfish Katy’s.  

 Next up:  Jefferson City.

 

 

 

Jefferson City, MO       checkpoint 6

 223 miles into the race

 

   We found our own way down to the checkpoint, which was pretty crowded.  Ben (dwayne's crew) found us immediately and said hello.  We went down to the boat ramp, which was lit up with tiki torches. 

                                                          Jeff City Checkpoint at night

 

  Off in the distance, the Capitol building was illuminated in the night. Several of us commented how pretty it looked all lit up like that.

 

I wandered around a bit, as did Michael, killing time during our wait.  We set up a little area on the sand, watching the other boaters come in.  Dwayne came in and headed up to the parking lot where Ben had some Imo’s pizza and toasted ravioli (the St. Louis treat!) ready.  Dwayne didn’t want the ravioli because dipping it was too much work.  We laughed, but I actually understood that.  Shane came in shortly after him, at almost exactly midnight, looking rough again.

 

 

Well, he wasn’t laughing in Jeff City.  He collapsed on our area on the sand and said he wanted to sleep for about 25 minutes.  When we looked at him, he was playing with his phone.  “What are you doing?” we asked.  “I have so many business messages …”  “Put your phone down!”  He obeyed and immediately fell asleep.  When we woke him up, he hesitated getting up.  “I think I need to sleep some more,” he said.  Michael later told me that was the first time he heard that from Shane.  We moved him farther up the beach away from the noise and lights.  He ate a little of the Imo’s that Ben and Dwayne shared with us along with a few other things, then collapsed again.

                                                          Shane Out cold at Jeff city

 

 I got his pillow and horsey out of the car for him.  He could barely lift his head for me to shove the pillow under it.  Another half-hour later, he got up.  Still half-asleep, he left the checkpoint at 1:45am.  This second night of racing was proving far more difficult than the first, for all of us. 

 Shane:
      This was a tough year for this race.  The heat was really sucking it out of me. With temps between 102-106 I was a constant sweat box. I lost alot of fluids through sweating it out.  Every hour or so Jumping in the Missouri river was helpful to wet my clothes and cool off.  I was drinking mass amounts of water and maintaining my electrolyte balance with gatorade powders and camelbak elixir tabs.  It just didn't seem enough ever.  At Jeff city my body needed to shutdown.  Usually I can paddle 24 hours and only need a 20-25 minute nap.  But at Jeff city I woke from my 25 minute nap and could feel that I just wasn't in good enough shape to get back on the board.  Another 30 minutes nap and I felt I could manage it.  So water bladders loaded up and food resupplied I was back on the water and plugging away.  Only 117 miles to the finish, sort of the final stretch.