Day 4,541—Today and Part III of the RRR: Rain and Lightning—

 

      It is still hard to get up in the morning. I am also struggling to go to bed on time. This week has been so full. Today I may have something after school from 4-7 p.m., but it's confusing, so while I am on board to do my part, I am also unsure if it is going to happen. None of this stuff mattered when it was all after the race, and I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out. 

It looked like they have been working on Big Bend recently. I love the way the broken signs look when they’re just lying in the grass.

Part III of the RRR: Rain and Lightning

        At first, I felt good about the next section. Some of it was flat, and some of it was downhill, but there were still a lot of rocks and roots that slowed me down, so I ran as much as I could and then walked when I started tripping, because I knew that meant the next trip would be a fall. I talked to a guy for a moment who had gone the wrong way, but then he slowly passed me, and I was alone. I felt like I was in last place, and I tried to put it out of my mind and focus on moving.

        I thought this was another 6-mile section, but it was the 12-mile section, so when I got to a sharp turn, I figured I must be close to the aid station, but I still had at least 6 miles left. This section took me mostly down but through different rock formations. Many sections didn’t look like a path at all, and it was raining; although I didn’t hear thunder, I could see lightning constantly in the background. Sometimes it was close, and sometimes it was far away. The next thing I knew, it seemed like everyone on the course was going the other direction, and that slowed me down significantly. We were on a single-track course, and some of it was slippery, rocky, and dangerous. If I tripped, I would either die or be severely harmed. The other runners mostly didn’t want to give me the right of way, even though I was going downhill and they were going uphill, so I had to run off course, and I spent the whole time trying to stay out of other 'runners' way. Many of them cheered me on, and I did the same. It was mostly positive, but part of me wondered if they were just being nice because I was so far behind them.

        When I finally made it to the aid station, I was only around mile 18, but it felt like forever. I passed one other runner on the way to the aid station, quickly refilled, and started running again. Now it was getting dark, and the rain was off and on. I was so cold because I didn’t bring my rain jacket until my drop back at mile 30, so I was soaked and freezing. I put on the headlamp I was carrying, but I quickly noticed that my light wasn’t very bright. I used my backup light while I changed the three AAA batteries. It was so frustrating because I didn’t have time to waste, and this was something I could have prevented. I meant to put in fresh batteries before I left, but I planned to use this light one more time on my run Wednesday morning and then change them after that. I had forgotten, so now I was doing it in some of the worst conditions, but I didn’t have a choice.

        Then I saw the wild sheep, and it was scary but cool. I saw their eyes reflect my light, so I looked away and pulled out my phone to record a video. This was one of the best moments of the race. The experience was haunting yet revitalizing. It started raining again, but at least the course wasn’t as tricky without all the other runners going the other way, and I finally made it past the rock formation, so I was hoping it would be smooth all the way to the next aid station.

Tomorrow Part IV: So Cold it Felt like my Fingers were going to Fall Off