Day 4,412—8th Grade Graduation—

 

Start time: 4:45 a.m.

Weather: High 60s, wind 4 mi/h, Humidity 92%, scattered rain

It was strange, I woke up thinking that I had woken up late, but it was still early, so I smiled and went back to sleep. I think that waking up early and knowing you can go back to sleep is one of the greatest feelings in the world. The only problem is that it disrupts your sleep and makes it harder to sleep efficiently.

     Yesterday, I felt like I was still out of it, and I woke through the day as if I was half there, half somewhere else, but today I feel like I have regained most of my focus, and I am just happy we’re at the end of the year. 8th grade graduation is today, and I am open to seeing kids and parents happy to see their child move on to high school. I think I am going to wear a tie today because some of the kids told me they're all dressing up for graduation.

    When I started running, I didn’t want to look at my watch at all to check my pace, so I focused on my foot placement, taking in the sights and listening to the birds. I noticed the red light from the top of the radio tower to my left. You could barely see it with how dense the clouds were. I heard the birds talking about the rain clouds, and within ten minutes, the rain started coming down quickly, but it was soft. When I was over in Blackburn Park, I thought about how difficult it was to see that far ahead of me with all the rain, and I considered that this was in an area I know well. No wonder the rain can be so disorientating on a trail in the woods!

   I spent yesterday trying to solve my hydration problem for Vero Beach, and I came up with a few ideas. I am going to start training with a hydration bladder and a handheld flask to see what that’s like. My goal will be to drink roughly 101 ounces (3 liters) in each section, so that’s what I want to start training for. That might look like a two-liter bladder and then carrying a liter with handhelds, but I still have some work to do. I bought a new collapsible water flask yesterday, but I also want to buy a new water bladder. I want to find my old one first. I need to organize all my running equipment. I have so much stuff that I have forgotten about it, so I risk buying new versions of it.