And They Said I Was Vain - Breaking Up On Re-entry

This was at 8:49 AM on Saturday morning. As you can see, my heat shield cone has failed and I am starting to lose pieces of my heat-shield foam on re-entry into the atmosphere at the Finish Line. Small children should probably look away...



Brilliant camera work by Justin Callison shows that even 60 sunblock and the best hat that NASA can provide can not stop my facial distintegration with less than 100 metres to go to the Finish Line.

Although I did stop to pick up a hat, and I did promise my friends not to kill myself, I was a full seven minutes slower than last year.

Momemts later, Patrick, Hugh and Luisa (who picked up a bronze medal) kept me from fainting and hitting the ground. They also fed me.

I vaguely remember someone driving me home. And then sleeping the rest of the day.

Skin cancer is not pretty.

Wear sunscreen.

Wear a hat.

I never once had a tan that made the above pictures worthwhile.