Folly Beach Midnight Rescue

Sometimes things just don't go as well as you plan...

The big glow spot is me!

So this past weekend I had planned to run about forty miles (6 Friday afternoon, 13.1 Friday at midnight, 10 Saturday morning and another 11+ miles on Sunday).  Friday afternoon went well, but after that things pretty much fell apart...

Friday night I left my house and drove to Folly Beach (SC) for a midnight half marathon run.  Its a 35 minute drive from my house (without the afternoon traffic).  I met up with about 20 runners who were wearing reflective gear, headlamps and glow sticks.  The two guys that put the run together even had race bibs!

Be Seen shirts are awesome!

The route was pretty simple and we started right at midnight.  We ran together for at least four miles and then some groups started to break off.  I ran the next four miles with Thomas, one of the organizers.  Thomas has lost a ton of weight too.

After the turn around I stopped for a nature break and ran the last part of the run alone.  I could see runners ahead of me and behind me so I knew I was going the right way (well, I hoped I was going the right way).

I had forgotten how cool it is to run on Folly Beach.  I really only run out there once a year for an 8k.  It was amazing running in the dark, on the out skirts of the island, listening to the waves crashing on the beach...

Running on Folly Beach

So things were going pretty well until about mile thirteen.  As I came back into the heart of town (where all the bars and restaurants are located) I turned down the last street to finish the run on the beach.  As I came to a street corner a gust of wind hit me in the face and my contact blew out of my left eye!

You may not know this, but I am blind as a bat with out my contacts!

After freaking out for minute, I started checking my shirt and face to see if my contact had landed back on me.  No luck...


Then I started looking on the ground.  Luckily for me about ten people from a bar (now closing because it was 2:00am) showed up to see what I was doing.

I think that's me in the middle

After a not so brief explanation about running a half marathon and my contact coming out, they all started to help me look.  I can not even imagine how funny this must have looked.  One guy would occasionally yell at the others (in a slurred speech) "don't step on the runner guy's contact".  Then someone came up and said, "you guys look like a bunch of crackheads looking for a rock".


I pretty much knew at that point I was not going to find my contact...


I walked back to my car and changed my clothes.  I thought most of the other runners had left so I decided I would try to drive home.  I drove out of the parking lot and knew within a minute that this was a bad idea.  I pulled into a gas station and parked the car.  Had I gone any further I am sure I would have hit someone.


It was about 2:20am and I was stuck!  I couldn't drive and didn't want to call my wife to come get me.  But after a few minutes I knew I had to make the call...


After 30 minutes of calling, Jen answered the phone.  I could tell I had woken her up from a deep, deep sleep.  Somehow she was able to wake up, pack my son in the car and drive all the way to Folly Beach with my extra contacts and glasses.


We made it back home around 4:30am, I took a shower and I was done!  No way was I going to wake up for a 6:00am ten mile run that morning.

Oh, did I mention that I fell asleep while Jen and I were on the phone (as she was driving to rescue me)?

Oops :)

Oh, big thanks to Be Seen for my awesome shirt!  Best reflector shirt ever!