Daily
Medical Note 09/29/2005:
And the winner is… the glowsticks. Today marks the
second of the two day, 80 kilometer stage of the race. Surprisingly,
the wind kept the heat of the day from becoming completely
unbearable and the runners progressed through the course
in good time. For comparison, I was at check point 19 for
both the Gobi and Sahara races. I closed the Gobi CP19 at
approximately 01:30 of day two, but I was able to close
Sahara CP19 before 17:00 of day one and go on to help out
at another CP. There were still plenty of runners who needed
to rest in the shade to escape the heat, and the blisters
continued to torment the athletes, but there was no need
to start any IV’s. A cool spring for dunking near
the midpoint of the course was key in maintaining the bodies
and spirits of the runners. The one medical emergency during
the night prior to starting this leg was a case of acute
laryngeal spasm- which luckily self resolved prior to the
athlete suffocating and he decided to go ahead and run this
long leg of the race.
The course was lit for the night run by glowsticks which
were placed along the second half of the trail by Racing
the Planet staff members just prior to dusk. In pre-race
testing the glowsticks lasted 12 hours. Well, the desert
had other plans for us. Just before sunset it became clear
to us at cool spring (several kilometers prior to the glowsticks)
that the last two competitors would not reach us before
dark- meaning the course from their point to us would be
essentially unmarked because the daytime pink flag markers
can’t be seen at night. So I dropped my medical bag,
grabbed a handful of glowsticks and set off with my check
point teammate Beth to back track along the trail and place
glowing marks for the back of the pack to follow. Now, in
the real world I am the most “directionally challenged”
person I know and I would never be the one called upon to
set a directional trail for anyone who actually wanted to
get where they were headed. But the soul of the Sahara inspired
me to miraculously overcome my lack of directional sense
and blaze a trail. OK, well perhaps the assistance of my
handheld GPS device with the trail downloaded to memory
was a bit of a help.
At the same time, Dr. Brian was at the finish line noting
that instead of 12 hours glow time, the sticks were going
dim after about 5.5 hours. Apparently sitting in sweltering
cars in the hot desert sun has some effect on the chemicals
in the sticks. So he dropped his medical bag, grabbed a
handful of glowsticks and set of to back track along the
course (about 5 kilometers) and light the way to the finish.
Basically the entire second half of the course needed re-glowsticking
(which is the medical term, if you’re wondering) and
because the athletes were not in need of medical care, the
med staff jumped in to help keep everyone on the right trail.
After all, if half of the runners got lost in the desert
we wouldn’t have any blisters to pop or bloody toenails
to drain.
At this point (14:00 Friday) all of the competitors have
completed the course and can rest until tomorrows last 10
kilometer run to the finish. Our runners with kidney stones,
laryngeal spasm, gaping open foot blisters, and 21-73 year
old bodies all made it through the 80 K march. It never
ceases to amaze me what the human body can do- with or without
glowsticks.
Dr. Brandee signing off…
