So the day came where all of Dan’s training would pay off…Marathon Day! Dan woke up early to a beautifully sunny Dan and I’m sure the butterflies were flying just as fast in my stomach as in his. As his biggest fan, I too was feeling the excitement, the nervousness and the anticipation. After having his completed his morning routine and all was packed up, Dan and I along with three of our good friends, Enzo, Patti and Chrissi hopped into the CB-F bus and made our way to Kassel.
The roads were packed with people warming up as we entered the city of Kassel. The excitement was already building. After a time of prayer, we headed to the start line with breakfast, snacks and sunscreen in hand to find the perfect place to cheer Dan on. You can see that we had a nice little set up where we could enjoy a nice breakfast and even play a few games while we waited for Dan to make his first round. As the countdown hit zero thousands of red heart-shaped helium balloons were released into the sky and the runners were off! It wasn’t until about 4 minutes that we saw Dan run by as there were so many runners. It was such a great experience cheering on all of the runners. You could tell they were very thankful that we were there to support them, even though we were really only there for Dan, we cheered on every runner as they passed by.
Dan, as the proud Canadian he is, dressed in red and white and even sported a few Canadian stickers that were sent my Mark and Shelley. (Thanks guys!) On one arm was written “Phil 4:13” a reminder to Dan that he can do all things with God’s strength and on the other were his times so he could keep track of his pace. I also had a copy of his times so I had a better idea of when he would be running by and I could be ready with camera in hand. Dan has always been very punctual so I was not the least surprised when Dan ran by a few minutes earlier than expected.
Dan’s “Fabulous Four Fans”, we packed our things up and made our way to the finish line to encourage Dan in the last meters of his 42 km race. With noise makers and jumbo blue blow-up hands we cheered on the marathoners as they strived to pace the finish line. “ Ich seh ihm! Go Dan!” Dan was in sight and we screamed and yelled as he passed the finish line at three hours, fifty-four minutes and seventeen seconds. Dan’s goal was under just under 4 hours so he was very happy with his result.
As most crazy fans do, I ran passed the red tape and jumped the fence to go congratulate my hubby. I found Dan through the mass of people sitting on a bench drinking some water. “Way to go babe.” Snap. Snap. After victory pictures. But Dan was not really smiling. He was happy to be done. He was tired. He actually didn’t look that great. He looked flushed. After about 15 minutes, Dan decided that he better get checked out as he was feeling nauseous so off we went to the Red Cross tent. Only 5 minutes later, he was hooked up to an IV. I guess the 29 degree weather along with the continuous 4 hours of running sucked out a little more fluids than desirable. Dan thought he had enough to drink along the way but he didn’t quite get enough. He was dehydrated. After getting one liter of fluids replenished, the Red Cross team was beginning to pack up. So I thought we would be off too but not to the hospital! Dan’s blood pressure was really low (it normally is) and the doctor on duty refused to let Dan go home and ordered him to go to the nearest hospital for more tests. So the medical fiasco of our life continues. Dan and I were loaded into an ambulance and arrived 20 minutes later at the hospital. Dan was taken in immediately, chest shaved and heart monitor probes attached all over his body. No reason to panic or worry. I couldn’t understand much of the medical lingo that was going on, mostly because it was in German. Right! As the natural worrywart that I am, I was a little anxious to know what was going on. Thankfully 7 hours and a bunch of tests later, Dan was released with the advice to check in with his family doctor the next day to make sure that his white cell count went back down. Dan recovered well and was back running on the following Wednesday. I’m very proud of his accomplishment.
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