Yesterday I did my fourth Devil's Challenge... and apparently I wasn't feeling nearly as well as I thought I was.  I've been trying to kick a cold that I picked up in California, and have been having lingering congestion.  This is pretty standard for me after a cold... but I didn't think it was that big of a deal.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The roads were wet from early morning thunderstorms, and it was pretty cold in the morning, but other than that it was great weather.  The water was very shallow again this year, and extremely cold.  I was glad I had a wetsuit, but still got a big shock the first time my face hit the water.  The waves were also hard as their was a strong cross wind.  I was able to time my breathes pretty well though, and was breathing during the troughs, and let the waves come over my head.  Miraculously I had the best swim time in the 1/4 mile I've ever recorded during a race at 7:21.

Then came the bike leg.  I didn't do as well as I did last year, which was disappointing.  During the climbs I was simply running out of breath.  Not energy, but breath, which hasn't happened to me since my first year doing this race, and was very discouraging.  At one point I was seeing spots in front of my eyes, which is never a good sign.  I was closing to greying out.  I really just wasn't feeling great, and didn't even feel like drinking as much as I normally do.  I wasn't dehydrated by any means, but just felt like my stomach couldn't handle the extra fluids.

When I finally got into transition again, I thought I was going to have to DNF.  I have never not finished a race, and sure as hell didn't want to start now.  So I took an extra few seconds, grabbed an extra squirt from my bottle, and got my ass running.  I was going for a little bit, but then started getting pretty bad side stitches, on my left side.  This never happens to me.  Side stitches for me are always on my right.  I started walking for a little bit, and suddenly felt like I was going to throw up.  I fought it back for a moment... and then thought... why not?  So I crouched by the grass at the side of the road and let it all go.  Then I walked a few more feet and did it again.  Both times I realized that everything coming up was every single drop that I had drank during the bike leg.  It was all sitting in my stomach.  No wonder I felt like crap.  After that I felt like I had new life, and finished the run leg.  I didn't post a good run time... but at least I finished.

So does willing throwing up and feeling good about it later put me on the road to modeling?  You can find everyone's results here.