Ironman Plans Spoiled: Bacteria - Freebirds, The Woodlands Texas

1640 Lake Woodlands Drive, The Woodlands, 77380 Texas, United States

I was in the woodlands for the Ironman, Thursday, Oct 7th, 2021. I picked them right across from my hotel. I got a large steak burrito with rice, I ate it as I walked back to on my hotel. I spent the rest of the night preparing for the Ironman, all I had the rest of the night was a sealed energy bar. When I woke up the next morning, I felt odd, a little achy. As I walked to the athlete briefing I tried to eat another energy bar, and drink water. As I was walking and eating I started to feel nauseous. As I sat and listened to the athlete briefing, I started to get the clammy lightheaded feeling, I rushed to a area to puke all the water and energy bar I had been eating and drinking in the morning. Major body aches and chills started to happen, with the nausea. I barely made it back to the hotel, and the diarrhea started. I puked again later on in the day, all the pedialyte I was trying to drink. This all happened on Friday, I wasn’t able to eat until Saturday the 9th, just white bread and apple sauce for the next 2 days. I continued to try to drink Gatorade and water. I got a migraine from the dehydration on Sunday the 10th. The runny water diarrhea lasted till late Saturday, early Sunday. I did not eat real food until Monday the 11th, and my first “normal stool” was on Monday the 11th. I have been hesitant to make this public, but not only did I loose my chance to compete it the Ironman (no return on entry fees), the entire last 2 years of training went down the drain. The Ironman had been postponed twice due to Covid. At first I was just bummed, but as time progress, the mental disappoint of years of training reality affected me mentally. I am a teacher, and as I told our culinary arts chef my symptoms, she knew it was the rice bacteria Bacillus cereus. I used to be a huge Freebirds fan, always promoting it over chipotle. I have not eaten at a Freebirds since. | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Dehydration, Chills, Lightheaded, Body Ache, Migraine