Day 4,542—Today and Part IV of the RRR: So Cold—

 

        It feels amazing to catch up on sleep for the first time in forever! I stayed up late last night, but I felt reinvigorated after going to a vision retreat. I didn’t set my alarm, but I was awake at 6 in the morning. I started my day by reading news stories of the Supreme Court decisions over the maps in Missouri. I am shocked that 2 of the 7 Supreme Court justices didn’t agree with the 8th Circuit. Alito and Thomas have made so many politically biased opinions that there is no telling what absurd ruling they might support next. I wouldn’t be surprised if they would support a Trump attempt to remove Congress or dismiss the Senate.

        I mainly ran to the store to go shopping. I wish I could have done more, but it wasn’t in the cards. Even though I only ran 50 miles last weekend, I am still taking a well-deserved break this weekend, but I will be back to focus on training next week. After all, I only have 4 weeks until the Rim to River 100 in WV.

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

 

        It didn’t take long to reach the Long Lake aid station, and by then I was almost at a marathon distance. I didn’t stay long there, and I didn’t eat much because I was so cold. The wind grew increasingly intense, and the rain came and went constantly. I reminded myself it would eventually stop, but I didn’t know when or how long it would last, and I was so focused on making it to the Summit Lake aid station that I didn’t care that I was hungry, cold, and tired. I wanted my warm gloves and my rain jacket. I kept on just thinking about how nice it would be once I got them. I also wanted to start drinking caffeine. I had been putting it off because I didn’t want to start too early. One thing that annoyed me at the aid stations was that they didn’t have name-brand soda. They had fake ginger ale and fake Coke. I feel like there is a huge difference in taste in those products, and it is wild to me that so many local races that don’t cost nearly as much money can afford name-brand soda, but not the Run Rabbit Run, and often they were out of Ginger Ale.

        The course was so much easier at this point, and I was able to run so much faster. I knew it was only a matter of time before I started passing more people, and when I made it to the Summit Lake aid station, I finally saw multiple other runners there. They had heaters set up, and I went directly to a spot I could sit down and put my hands by the red coil of the heater. My fingers still felt numb, but the feeling of circulation in my hands made me feel joy instantly. I went from feeling like I wasn’t going to make it to even an ultra distance to finally feeling like I was still in this and that I could do it, and I hadn’t even put on my rain jacket yet.