Matt, on running long, Citri-Solve incidents and the beauty of Highway 138 in Quebec
Well folks, it is run day #123 and we are running another double marathon. Yaaaaa, the strongest gal I know, Steph, is back in the saddle and looking strong once again! With her doing lower mileage over the last week or so because of a dropped arch in her foot, I have been testing my training and taking my running to the next level, doing everything from a 1st time 60km to a 4 day stint of 40’s and two 50km days back to back. Funny, I still feel like a beginner in the world of ultra running. Gives me a profound respect for guys and gals who tackle long endurance challenges and gives me a good beacon with which to aspire to. Not to mention, Highway 138 along the St. Lawrence River is breathtaking with its vistas and cool turns along the waters edge.
On Sunday I was about to start my last pull to make 50 for the day when thirsty, I downed the last remnants of a Vanessa protein shake and noticed it tasted really bad. Her shakes have become legendary for tasting really good, so this was expressed on my face with which V told me to “drink something to remove the foul afterglow in my mouth”, and a look of “stop your complaining Mr”. I smelled the cup from which I drank and it smelled like sour oranges. I told Vanessa this and she asked me (with trepidation) if the cup was still on the sink in the bathroom which she’d been cleaning. I should have realized from the look of “oh no” on her face when I told her it was nowhere to be found in the bathroom.
Yup, yours truly had drank some organic biodegradable Citri-Solve for de-greasing and cleaning and tried to pass it off on my stomach as a nourishing shake. Reading directions in bold: DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING. SEEK IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION, one kind of panics, especially on a run which is going to take longer than an hour and involves having your insides working properly. “We have to get to a hospital” I said. More like yelled from the expression of shock on Steph and Vanessa’s faces. Into action (of the urgent kind) and remembered I had seen an ‘H’ sign just down the street as I approached the RV.
V sprang into action, navigating the Quebec streets, Steph playing doctor asking me how I was feeling. Into the Emergency we go! Inside, crazy busy (I thought). “You will be next” said the friendly assistant who spoke ZERO English. Picture a room full of people all waiting in some degree of urgency when in walks an English speaking only dude from the west coast, drenched in a days worth of sweat with a look on his face like, “I’m going to die and nobody will understand until I’m dead because I don’t speak French!”
Enter my lovely, Stephanie-I-speak-3-languages-Tait. She translated like it was a high level NATO Summit agreement and the fait of the world hung in the balance. How much did he ingest, when, why, how, vital signs taken, verbage going back and forth between Steph and the doctor. All along I’m gearing myself up for the full stomach pump out action. Not the type of action I was hoping to inspire on this run tour.
Then, as fast as it had began. They smiled at each other and said “Merci”, as Steph told me we could go now. What, no full stomach pump with full throttle force?! Nope, she said. Just drink a lot of water tonight and tomorrow and you’ll be fine, it’s organic and biodegradable and you didn’t ingest enough for even a mouse to be worried about.
So my date with a poisonous death by cousin trying to kill me with a protein shake was finished. And so was my 50km day. By the way, I stopped at 40km and had a cold Corona as we camped beside a great lake with a view!