Day8

The plan was to ride out at dawn to the start of the Hawaii State Championship TT (held out on the north end of the QueenK highway), then bike home, run and swim.  Iona and i rode from our hotel (hey T, next year make the hotel at least 15k away so the commute could equal a bonus point ) but i had to make a pitstop and the epic gals rolled out w/out me.  (Yes, my GI issues had not abated; if anyhing, it seemed like they were getting worse; i was up all nite for the third nite in a row, at the whim of my GI tract…)  So i hammered down to the start of the TT solo.  Seemed like i barely got there (and had time for another potty stop) before we were lining up to start. 
 
The actual course was quite perfect—smooth with rollers and a bit of wind—but l was literally on empty and afraid to totally blow up and not finish, so i rode at about half-IM pace.  Turns out, i also had only 50pounds of pressure in my rear tire (which i discovered at the finish); hadn’t had the time to check them before we set out.  Everyone rode so well and did the Epic camp proud—And T is now the Hawaii Women’s State TT Champion! 
 
Rode back home with Iona, who was kind enough to wait for me to make another deposit to madam pele in the lava fields (behind a shrub)….definitely light-headed and dizzy.  So we decided to stop at Target to get some pedialyte as per Eric’s suggestion.  While i was there, i spoke with the pharmacist on duty and explained my situation to see if there was anything OTC i hadn’t yet tried.  The expression on his face when he heard what i’d done, activity-wise, since the onset of this GI nonsense spoke volumes; i didn’t dare tell him what i’d put my body thru the four days prior to that!!  He said politely (but loud and clear) that i needed to see a doctor and even handed me a brochure for the Urgent Care clinic nearby.  So i finally decided to pull the plug on the camp, forgo the final run+swim, and got a lift to the clinic (after riding home, so i did get the bike points ;)
 
The doc at the clinic just shook his head.  Turns out that i need to try clear liquids only for a few days–with no exercise–to see if i can allow my large intestine to heal.  Since i’m leaving the island tomorrow afternoon, i’ll reassess when i get back to the mainland to see what (if any) further treatment is involved.  Oh, and i got a prescription for lomotil to get me thru the long plane rides, if things don’t naturally settle down by then.
 
So my epic week is over, and i’m getting teary as i write this.  It was not the week i’d hoped and planned for, but i guess that’s the way things go in life, eh?  As a wise man once said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you might just find, you get what you need….”
 
Many thanks to our amazing support crew—we absolutely could NOT have done this without your dedication and patience, not to mention looong hours of work!  It has been a pleasure to get to know everyone involved and an honor and a privilege to have had the opportunity to share this week of training in Kona.  And big thanks and hugs to Tara, my hero!  (Despite what i said earlier this week, i may just have to come back next year if you hold this again here—i have unfinished business…..)