Day 3,644 —4th time! Best Time! Part III —

I am sorry for posting this late, but I am still having a good week after finally finishing another 100-mile race on Sunday! Today, was a good run. I felt strong, and I thought about why I was not more sore. I am physically tired, but that is only because I am still not getting a lot of sleep each night.

It felt so good to share my video with people yesterday! I am so happy with how it turned out. I didn’t hate the footage I got from the body camera, but I might need to find a better way to steady the camera in the future. I think I'm going to buy another nice vest.

Lap 3

Distance 52-78 miles 

         I felt so good after seeing my wife and kids, and starting this lap didn’t feel that terrible to begin with. However, after passing the first aid station 5 miles later, it was getting dark, and I started to feel it again. My mind started going to places pointing out that 40 miles left is still a lot of miles. I started drinking Coke at the aid station to get some caffeine. I wasn’t trying to drink a lot but I ended up getting too much at the Roundhouse aid station and after that, I started to feel like I was going to go to sleep.

         I was listening to music and just doing everything possible to prevent myself from thinking too much about anything except what I was doing now. I knew this would happen but it was hard. I hated running. I hated that I signed up to run this race. I thought about how stupid this whole thing is and that everyone who says something negative about these races is probably right. I hated that I was the kind of person who would do this, and I thought about what that said about me. 

        

         I also just felt a little sick and wasn’t feeling hungry anymore. I knew I had to keep eating something, so I had vegetable broth at every aid station and was still eating some bars. I didn’t have my vegan M&M's, though, which I wanted. I still don’t know where those went, or a couple of other snacks that I thought I brought.

         I also tripped a few times, so I pulled back trying to run more. When I finally made it to the end of this lap, I was so happy to get there but also defeated and felt like I just wanted to go to sleep.

         The race director changed my headlamp batteries and got me some water. It was good to be helped because my fingers were not operating normally. Part of one of the straps in my vest kept falling off, so I was spending a lot of time reconnecting, and my fingers just felt so fat. I thankfully stopped falling, but I bent my left finger on one of the falls.

I started the last lap in 6th place, if not lower, and I hadn't seen any other runners in hours. 

Distance—78 miles

Lap Time—7:12

Race Time—18:52

Time of Day—12:52  a.m.