Day 4,539—Hard to get up and Part I of the RRR—

 

        I wrote the start of the story below on Saturday while I sat around waiting for my drop bag. It was difficult to get up today. It was hard to run. I am still tired, and it is taking forever to do the simplest tasks, but I am slowly getting back into the groove, and I am ready to start talking about the race. I am also planning to make a video.

Day 4,534-5—DNFed the Run Rabbit Run 100 Part I: Before the Race—

The night before the race, I looked up the parking garage the race recommended and found nothing but bad reviews, so I frantically started looking for alternatives. I learned the free shuttle drops you close, but since I'd never used it before, I hesitated. I decided to take the bus there in the morning and left to take a shower. The shower was surprisingly nice. It was a heated bathroom, and the water pressure was better than at the hotel I stayed in the night before. I felt refreshed and ready to go to bed as I walked back to my tent. When I got there, I realized I couldn't find my keys. I tried not to panic and started to search the path I took to the shower. I also planned to search the shower. When I got there, I couldn't remember the door code, so I searched the path two more times until I made it back to the shower. Unfortunately, someone was using the shower. I debated leaving, but I was desperate.

“Sorry to bother you in the shower, but did you happen to see some keys? I lost my keys, and I just used that shower.”

“No, I haven't seen any keys.” My heart sank, and I was starting to apologize again when he continued.

“I did find this red jacket.” I completely forgot about my jacket! I frantically searched my pockets and found my keys.

Waiting at the bus stop in the morning seemed absurd. A free bus?! What is this, and will it really come? The ride down went quickly, and I chatted with a guy who was running in the tortoise division. I felt a million times better taking the bus back to the campground. I slowly started getting ready, but then I was suddenly out of time and missed the 11:37 bus, so I had to wait for the 11:52. In the rush, I felt like I left the lights on in my car. I dismissed my intuition and waited at the bus stop.

The driver arrived close to noon, but I still had plenty of time. The bus driver pulled into the station when the drivers changed, and the new driver was something else. He spent 5 minutes setting out the local papers and another 10 minutes adjusting his radio. Imagine a guy with slicked-back brown hair and aviator sunglasses, preparing like one would for surgery. I was so tempted to ask him what was going on. Once he finally started, I figured now it wouldn't be long. Then he pulled over and said a truck had clipped his mirror, and he had to wait for his supervisor.

I looked at the mirror, and I saw no issue. I told the guy I was trying to get to a race. He told me I should have given myself more time, “It is like taking a bus for air travel.”

15 minutes later, the next bus came. It was nerve-wracking to watch the time get closer to the 1 p.m., start, and he kept making other stops. When we pulled into the bus stop for Gondola Square, I had less than 10 minutes until the race started.