Day 4,468—First Run Back/Race Preview—I thought I was going to be eaten by Alligators—

 

Start time: 11:13 a.m.

Weather: High 80s, wind 4.7 mi/h, Humidity 59%

        I got lost so badly in an area that was so scary that I started screaming, but I am alive today and feel better than ever, except for some blisters on my feet and scratches, and bug bites all over my body.

The drive home should have been maddening, going 14 hours in the car never stopping except to gas every 350 miles, but I was relaxed. My leg wasn’t even bothering me. Did getting scared out of my mind heal me?!  I don’t know, but I know I haven’t felt this good since those special races. I did something that I didn’t think I could do! I had so many reasons to give up. Who has heard of doing 20 miles in 110-degree heat without an aid station? Or getting lost in a marshland thinking I am going to be eaten by an alligator? Not to mention the quicksand, the snakes, and the crazy Florida drivers!!! It is remarkable that I am typing this now, and I am so thankful to be alive.

        I barely ate on my drive home yesterday because I didn’t want to have to stop for any reason, so when I finally made it a little before 9 p.m. I made two Impossible burgers and two plant-based hot dogs. I was still up talking to Sarah until after midnight, and then I was awake at 6 a.m. feeding my cats. I was going to go back to bed, but then I thought, “Why not take a bath?”

I drank six cans of carbonated water while editing pictures from the race. I just brought the whole box of the stuff over. I figured I would drink as much as I could stand. I was researching the place I had gotten lost and looking at the abandoned hotel project that the RDs were calling the Overlook Hotel. It looks like it never got off the ground. During the race informational meeting on Friday night, the RDs mentioned this hand and repeatedly warned against attempting it alone. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but then another runner who had done it before qualified the section as “psychological warfare” and indicated nothing had happened at the place before, so I felt reassured going into the section that all changed when I saw the scarecrow and the toxic waste dumping site, but that’s not even the worst of it! I cannot wait to write about this run! What an experience!