Courtice resident runs the Boston Marathon — while suffering from hypothermia

COURTICE — Through some of the worst weather the Boston Marathon has ever seen, Courtice’s Chris McBride was running with mild hypothermia, wanting to quit.

McBride, 32, started running four-and-a-half years ago after deciding to lose weight. During his weight loss journey, he said he wanted to run the Boston Marathon, one of the hardest races to qualify for.

McBride ran his first race in 2014, competing in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

In the last two years, McBride ran the YMCA Half Marathon and the Mississauga Marathon, in which he qualified for Boston in May of last year with a time of 3:01:46.

His goal for the Boston Marathon was to finish in around three hours, which wasn’t possible for him and a lot of other runners because the “weather was fierce,” he said. According to reports, this was the coldest Boston Marathon in the last 30 years.

Before the race, McBride had mild-grade hypothermia and spent time in the medical tent.

“I got myself to the start line, I mentally was preparing for what may be the biggest battle of my running career,” he said.

Partway through the race, McBride knew something was wrong.

“I started off quite strong even though my shoes were incredibly waterlogged and my body was shivering, I could feel my muscles contracting each kilometre I would pass,” he said.

“I started off quite strong even though my shoes were incredibly water logged and my body was shivering, I could feel my muscles contracting each kilometre I would pass,” he said

His body couldn’t regulate his temperature; he was vomiting and in shock.

“I started off quite strong even though my shoes were incredibly waterlogged and my body was shivering, I could feel my muscles contracting each kilometre I would pass,” he said.

His temperature went down to 93 degrees — he had hypothermia once more. McBride spent half an hour during the race being treated in the medical tent.

“Multiple times I thought about quitting,” but McBride kept thinking about the 16 weeks of “gruelling training” he went through to compete.

“If I stopped now, those 16 weeks were basically a waste,” he said.

He had trained all winter, through the snow, the rain and minus 40-degree temperatures.

“I pushed my body through extreme wind storms, brutal rain and even crazy snow storms where I had my eye lids frozen shut, so why did my body not handle this?” said McBride.

McBride crossed the finish line with a blanket draped over his shoulders. His official time was 4:20:40 — an hour over his goal, but he said he was just happy to finish.

“It felt really good, it was obviously emotional,” he said.

After the race, he went back to the medical tent, warming up and being treated for another three hours.

Many others from the Durham Region competed in the race as well, including, Bruce Beaulieu, Ajax; Sergio Calderone, Oshawa; Peter Leonard, Ajax; and David Heath, Whitby; Jaclyn Clark, Pickering; Cathy Chimenti, Whitby; Steven Fitzgerald, Whitby and more. Beaulieu and Fitzgerald placed in the top 5,000, finishing 4,847th and 4,319th.

As for McBride, he said, “My goal is to run Boston 2019. That’s going to be my redemption.”

Originally published in Durham’s Metroland newspapers/durhamregion.com on May 3, 2018.