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| Somewhere around mile 45 of a 65ish mile day! Let's eat! |
Diane started on May 10th and is on a quest to
better the current 24 day trail record-perhaps by almost 48 hours? Time will
tell as she at this writing (Wednesday at 8pm EST ) has around 80 miles in
front of her and a storm to deal with.
Because of Diane’s brain surgery years ago, she had relief
from awful seizures, yet the removal of part of brain left her directionally
and sometimes detailed challenged. To assist with these challenges, she has had
a companion runner(s) for most of the whole cross-state trek. I am happy to say
that I have traveled with Diane for most of the last 3 weekends. See previous
posts for details of the first two.
I joined Diane this past weekend on Saturday afternoon.
After driving to Raleigh, awesome Amy picked me up and drove me to somewhere north and east of Raleigh where I met up with Diane in a church parking lot. We ran /walked/trotted and
scampered about 37 miles together (Diane did 50 that day) and crashed in a
church parking lot (me in a tent) Diane in back of the traveling aid station
(awesome box truck) and crew in car and hammock. We had full support and
kindness from the local pastor. After 2.7 hours of sleep, we rose at 2:35 am to
prepare for a 3 am start.
Diane is dealing with the heat and humidity of eastern NC,
so an alpine start, seemed the most sensible…especially with still tender feet
from her earlier blisters, several foot cooling/icing breaks would be needed as
we traversed the hot pavement of the roads. I think we did around 65 miles on
Sunday…What was sooo crazy-we hardly saw anyone outside-only lots of dogs
barking and running around –a few after us-very scary.
Next time I run in the
eastern part of this state, I will carry pepper spray! The cats we saw were
smarter: lounged over porch railing or plopped in tree branches. As far as wildlife?
Lots of dead snakes on the road and some pretty crazy driving Sunday night from
likely holiday partiers! In fact, this traffic and the encouragement of local
law enforcement made up quite 3.7 miles short on Sunday (to stay alive) and add
those miles to the generous ones mapped out on Monday! Good call!
All of us slept for almost 2.5 hours in a Hampton Inn. We
got to shower and charge our electronics and drink coffee and eat oatmeal
before being back out on the road from where we stepped off it less than 5
hours before. Diane and I were solo during the wee, dark hours. We stalked the
roads, checking map and constantly being checked on every 4 miles by the
awesome mobile aid station. In the earliest hours we wandered and weaved on the
road-falling asleep to be sure. We moved forward, wobbling.
I thought, “How lame am I after only a couple days of
mileage and lack of sleep? And Diane has been living a similar lifestyle for
how long?” Yet concentrating on perceived lameness does nothing to invoke
success, so the funky singing started (both of us at fault) and we made our way
through the welcomed first light of day to Chuck and Sarah and breakfast and COFFEE at around 14 miles in.
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| A dark reflective start leading to a great day for Diane! (Me on the right am wearing my new cool MH skort...wish you could see it!) |
Well…talked about hitting a funk and waiting an hour to see
what happens! Wow! This morning was the reminder of precious patience! I don’t
know if it was the syrup from Diane’s pancakes or the 3 packets of sugar in my
coffee or just awesome connection to attitude, yet we went nuts in a great way
after breakfast!
We mostly power
hiked with some real running thrown in to be sure. We used my Garmin for pace
guidance (accurate on flattish non-tree covered terrain) and she rocked! It is
such a difficult balance to figure out what pace will lead to success and not
breakdown. At this point pushing too hard could have awful consequences, we
just had to trust her perceived effort. We got into a great groove and made
some good miles.
I had to leave Diane at mile 28 that day-I felt sad to be
rightfully “left out” of her remaining miles, yet so proud and pleased to call
her a “trail kindred spirit”.
Leaving Diane in great company of her crew and other fantastic peeps as
pacers, I jumped into Amy’s car as she drove me back to Raleigh so I could
reunite with my Echo and creep the 3.5+ hours back home to be ready for work the
next day. Truth be told, I was exhausted both emotionally and physically and
had to stop for 2 naps on my way home.
My own running goals have been on hold due to the privilege
of these past weekends and to some
weird bio mechanical issues I’ve been dealing with. I have seen a local PT 2x in
the last month, yet as wonderful a human the PT is, she is not a good fit for
me. I have an appointment with
awesome Greg at Mountain Physical Therapy in "far away" Asheville on 6/13. I know he’ll give me good
direction. I am grateful my issues didn’t get in the way of being a companion
(except for having to switch packs) to Diane and her mission.
I will say there has been some fun bantering as a North Face
Runner drinks out of Montrail water bottles and a Montrail runner sleeps in a
North Face Tent. I love it! Despite the lack of photo documentation-this
mission is about supporting the greater good and what Diane is doing is more
than certainly that! Go! Diane, Go! Thank you to The North Face and Great
Provisions for Supporting Diane’s expedition and also to Montrail/ Mountain
Hardwear for encouraging my participation on her grand adventure!
To learn more about Diane’s race to the finish and her
adventures check out these sites: http://greatoutdoorprovision.com/mst-blog/
Don't wait too long to follow her: She'll be done in the next day or a little more! Go Diane! North Carolina is Cheering for you!
