Day 4,246—Gloves and a Balaclava Mask—

 

       I wore a lighter shirt and hoodie instead of a heavier jacket, but I wore my warmest gloves and one of my masks with a middle section you can move to cover your nose and mouth. Now the only part of my face that was cold was my forehead. My hands were warm enough. They’re just huge mittens that aren’t the easiest to maneuver. I had to take them off to take a picture, but at least my hands are warm! Yesterday I had a black stain on my hands from the hand warmers I was using. I knew they said not to put them directly on skin, but I thought it was because of burning, not because they might leave an ashen stain.

Also, my leg and hip feel better than they have felt in a month! Who knew that running 41 miles on a trail would be just what the doctor ordered to help me feel better? It was more likely the 6-hour salt bath that I took yesterday that helped. Also, I went slow on the trail and used poles. On the first lap, I fell twice. Once, pretty spectacularly sprawled out on the ground with my hands red and stinging even though I was wearing two pairs of gloves. I am looking at them now, and I see two spots showing some minor scarring. After that, I was decidedly not interested in running fast to a point that I might miss something because of the snow and fall on my face again, so I knew at least being on a trail and using poles wasn’t going to make things worse, but I didn’t think I would feel better afterward.