Day 4,573—Today and the Rim to River 100 Part II—

 

Start time: 4:46 a.m.

      This is the first day I have woken up without struggling to keep my eyes open! So, good news on top of good news. I don’t want to brag, but I didn’t have to attend parent-teacher conferences yesterday! So I had a much easier night. I got to unpack and spend time with my kids. My son was so sick the other day, but he seems to be feeling a little better finally; he still needs a lot of attention. I hope he can go back to daycare today. The weather was perfect this morning. It is in the 50s, and I love seeing the leaves. I am trying not to put too many expectations on my running. I am getting up at my usual time, but it's taking me longer to get out the door. I had fun this morning, and I liked the decorations that I photographed. I cannot wait to share more photos from the trip, but I just started working on them.

        Rim to River 100 Part II: Positive Energy Abounds  

The first aid station was after 7 miles, and it was called Concho Rim. At the start of the race, I wore my rain jacket, hat, gloves, and disposable hot pouches. All that gear felt good for the first 15 minutes, but it wasn’t long before I was sweating and taking off my hat and gloves, and thinking about taking off my jacket. In this section, we were still running in the Ace Adventure property, so it wasn’t as scenic as the other sections, but there were some nice rolling hills, and although we had some elevation, nothing to write home about.

        I immediately started talking to people in that first section, and I met a runner who was telling me about Eastern State in Pennsylvania. I haven’t checked the results yet, but I am pretty sure she won the overall women's division in the race. When I was talking with her, she told me her goal for this one was not to think about time or how she was going to do, and I remember championing that kind of thinking. We exchanged names, and she told me my name would be easy to remember because it was her husband's name. Later in the race, when she was running ahead of me, she would shout encouragement as we crossed paths.

        When I fell and busted my knee, both runners behind me stopped to make sure I was okay. I bounced up, embarrassed that I had fallen, but the other runners' kindness didn’t go unnoticed. When I filled my hydration and dropped my rain jacket at the Concho Rim aid station, the aid workers were amazing, helping me quickly while multiple people asked if I needed anything else.

        My hands were still cold, so I put on my black latex gloves, but I didn’t put on my bike gloves. I knew it was still early in the race, but the sun was out so that I could drop my handheld light, and I was glowing from all the positive energy engulfed in this place.