The last race was a clear awakening to the fragility of the human body's balance.
I typically train before a race, but I didn't this time. And when I pulled into Amarillo I was easily 15 lbs over my race weight, it was already 105 degrees and headed to 108, and I hadn't even made it to the course yet.
That afternoon, I spent much of the time outdoors prepping the truck and pre-running the course, and honestly I felt good. I had a great pre-run, the truck ran beautifully and I genuinely felt this would be a similar race to the Chupacabra 300, meaning we had a great chance against the field of larger more powerful trucks.
In addition, the course favored the Jeep because it was more technical and didn't have many open spaces for high speeds. In fact, the fastest I could get before turns peaked around 70 mph. On top of that, I could run the entire 250 on a single tank of gas and improve my time with less stops.
After the usual morning of butterflies, I downed an energy drink and suited up. About 100 miles into the race, I began to feel dizzy behind the wheel. As a precaution, I pulled over about five miles from the pit. As soon as I got out, I realized I was experiencing heat exhaustion and began getting out of my suit!
Had it not been for TDRAs well prepared response teams, I don't know how long I would have been out there.
To make this already long story shorter, I hit the Ambulance on the course for a cool-down and drove to a hotel two hours later. At that point, even a shower wasn't helping and I began to struggle to stay focused. Knowing my limits, I called 911 and ended up spending the night at the hospital.
Results from my blood test showed virtually no magnesium levels and very little electrolytes. In retrospect, I had been drinking tons of water, but hadn't taken time to increase electrolytes or magnesium, which I usually do in the form of bananas and pedialite.
I was dutifully scolded by the attending nurse, friends, relatives and passers-by and was discharged in the morning to start the 16 hour drive home.
Who's ready to get on to the next race?