Day 4,436—Link to the Complete Mohican Write-up and Finishing Touches on the video—

 

Start time: 6:18 a.m.

Weather: High 60s, wind 2.5 mi/h, Humidity 86%

I felt good on my run today. I enjoyed seeing the familiar faces as I finished my fastest 10K since the St. Louis Marathon. I finished editing the write-up yesterday, but I am still making the final touches on my video. I wanted to include part of the write-up here. If you want to read the whole thing, check out the Strava post or just read it on my blog. I published it today. I included specific reviews and details on aspects such as food and hydration. Go to the address below:

virtuesruns.blogspot.com  

Days 4,423-4—the Mohican 100! My First Ohio 100-Miler: Through Mud, Hills, Raccoons, and the Enchanted Forest—

Start time: 5:00 a.m.

Weather:  50s-70s, wind 5-10 mi/h, Humidity 83%

The Mohican 100 Part: Before the Race

     The drive time prediction on my phone was for 7 and a half hours, give or take 30 minutes. Including stoppage time, it took me 9 hours to make it to Mohican Adventures Campground and find my campsite. The roads were winding at the end, and I noticed that the area was about 30 minutes away from civilization. I walked to packet pickup. It was close, but I had to pass a busy road to get there. They found my name immediately and handed me a plastic bag. I walked back to my campsite and found someone setting up next to me. Because they were traveling alone, I assumed correctly that they were here for the race like me.

    A little after 7 p.m., we walked over to the information meeting together. She told me she was planning to run her first 50-mile race tomorrow, and before this, she had only hiked. She said for the past several years she has done a 100-mile hiking trip in a national park. She recently talked about hiking in the Grand Teton. I thought about how hikers, in many ways, are doing it the right way because they have more time to experience the environment and take pictures. Running is much better than driving, but you miss a lot more when you run than when you hike. It was satisfying to drive there, park, and not have to use my car again until the next morning. I bought a blow-up armchair that I relaxed in before bed, watching TV on my VR headset. I was determined to create the hotel experience in my tent.

   I woke up several times before morning. I went to bed, leaving a lot still not done, and I only had an hour before the race started at 5 a.m. Ohio is an hour behind my time in St. Louis, so for me it felt like getting up at 3 a.m. for a 4 a.m. start, with no coffee and only 5 hours of sleep. I managed to get up and drive my coolers down to the start/finish. Set up my area next to a picnic table. Driving my car back to my campsite, using the bathroom, and walking to the start of the race.

10 Minutes Before the Start of the Race

I sat down on a picnic table and felt relaxed because I made it in time. The guy next to me recognized my voice and said that he had watched my Potawatomi race video! He said that he tried my technique with the overshoes, but they were too small. I felt bad because I ran into this problem too, but I bought a larger pair after trying the one I initially used. Still, he said he ran 150 miles, that’s a tough course, but it was nice to hear from someone who watched the video that I didn’t know, and so random, I was sitting next to him at the start of this race. He said he was going to enter the Western State lottery.

5 Minutes Before the Start of the Race

The guy started talking, making the regular announcements about how much time we had left.

      “Perfect conditions today! The finishing rate should be the highest ever! So please, everyone, finish!”

    It was in the mid- to high-50s at the start of the race. The warmest it got was in the 70s, and the coldest was in the high 40s. The temperature was ideal, and this was my 4th straight race with similar conditions, ideal for running. What I find remarkable about ideal weather conditions is that they don’t seem to make much difference in how many people finish the race. My theory is that when the weather is too nice, it can cause runners to take unnecessary risks and get dehydrated, so it might be the best weather in theory, but it usually doesn’t benefit all runners.

 

Day 4,435—Almost the End of the Week and New Updates—

Start time: 6:25 a.m.

Weather: Mid 70s, wind 8.1 mi/h, Humidity 90%

I am surprised by how quickly I am recovering. Maybe it is all the sleep I have been getting? It is unusual for me to sleep an average of 7 hours this week, and I cannot say it hasn’t had a positive effect on my body. I have been lazy with my pushups and stretching recently, and I have promised myself that I will add both back to my routine soon.

      I am listening to five different books right now, and I have been trying to pace them so that I will finish them all on the same day. I like this one a lot, that is just letters, and as much as I have never been a huge John Green fan, I am finding that we have a lot in common as I have been listening to a collection of his essays. For example, we both love the song “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton” and the movie Harvey. We’re also both married to women with the same name and grew up in the same general area.

      I was looking forward to seeing the people who have become part of my morning routine today. I saw more people waiting at the bus stop than I usually do. I could smell the perfume of one of the people, and I thought about how certain perfumes can seem so familiar even though it might be brand new. I saw the affectionate older couple waiting at the bus again. The guy with the long white hair and beard was sitting at the bus stop. I saw two women with a small child waiting for the school bus, which of course reminded me of my own small child who would be waiting for the bus when I got home.

Both of my kids ran to me when they saw me approaching them. They all had glasses on, and Felix was in green with his Batman sunglasses, and Vivian was wearing shades of pink with her cute glasses that have sparkles. I know that pick-up and drop-off aren’t everything, but to me, being there for the transitions in my kids' lives seems so important. The reminder that we’re here.

I finished writing the write-up for the MO 100 yesterday! Now, I just have to edit it! I am confident I can publish everything tomorrow, but it will be a crunch: I feel  motivated to finish it. I have still been getting stuck in feeling that the video lacks any meaning, but so does everything when I take that approach. 

Something John Green said resonated with me, just thinking about how we all learn to make meaning out of things that don’t inherently comprise meaning, but we have to find it, create it, make it, so I will keep plotting forward, doing my best to believe in the value of things even when I don’t see it.