The saints push through some hardships over these three days. I work through my own too. My difficulties feel a bit trite in comparison. Still, I am a little worn out. Tomorrow I’ll run a 10k and then the saints stay put for a day. I am looking forward to a day of rest. We’ve averaged nearly a half marathon distance daily for 12 days! We’ve travelled just shy of 250 kilometers (155 miles).
Bartlett’s Report
Monday 10
Came out at 7—Cool and cloudy still—Dinner on a small creek tributary to Platte—came off warm toward night—In camp 5½ PM at Lone Tree—a distance of 20 mi . Very good camping place—The day has been quite dusty. first inconvenience we have suffered from it so far—The surface of the country is gradually changing becoming more sandy and less timber .Tuesday 11
Clear and warm. Came out 7½.—Clouds of dust hide the teams—Dinner near Shoemakers 9 mi. P.M. quite warm—In camp 2½ East of Grand Island City—a distance of 18 mi. Three mule teams from valley. report all prosperous there.Wednesday 12
Clear and cool—come out 7.—roads good—not as much sand as yesterday. soil more fertile—dinner at Wood River west side. A furious storm struck us as we come into camp at Moores on Wood River the most severe I ever knew—hail stones fell the size of a hens egg which pelted man and beast unmercifully. Came up very cold toward morning—
Running Smoothies
Hailstones the size of chicken eggs does not sound very fun at all! I had my own weather to deal with on Wednesday. It was cold, windy, and rainy here in the future too. I didn’t want to go outside and contemplated a treadmill session. But those hailstones made me think that I ought to suffer in solidarity. So, out I went. The rain was a fine mist but relentless. My shoes were soaked through within the first kilometer and my glasses were misted over and useless. In the end, I didn’t cover the full distance. I put in 7k and will do the rest on the treadmill.
Monday was worse but not because of the weather. I woke up at 5:20 am to get a good start on the day. Due to time constraints, I had to split my running up. On Mondays I chat with my daughter on the phone at 7:30 am. So, I’d go as far as I could in 90 minutes and finish the run in the evening. I was out of town again so decided on a simple out and back run. In fact, it would be essentially the same run I did the day before. I was making good time and enjoying the run. I was in that mental zone where you are hypnotized by the rhythm and motion of your own feet. At some point along the return trip I looked up to realize I did not recognize anything around me. I should have immediately turned around and headed back the way I came. I figured I was on a parallel road and my internal compass was saying just cut over when the time is right – that was very wrong. To make a long story short, I ended up adding 8.6k to my intended distance. Two bright spots in that debacle, 1) a Booster Juice materialized out of the suburbs and I enjoyed a Lemon Berry smoothie on the run. This was an essential blessing as I had brought no nutrition or hydration with me. 2) Once again, I found myself running past the local Latter-day Saint church. It is actually my stake centre. I’ve clearly been here before, but I had no idea where I was until I came across it. As soon as I did my internal map redrew itself and I was no longer lost. It feels like my next church talk has written itself.
Catch up
- Lakeland Circuit Review: Gorgeous, Gritty, and Worth It
- Running with the saints: days 56 to 73 and the end
- Canadian Death Race: enduring the suck with joy
- Running with the saints: days 52 to 55
- Running with the saints: days 41 to 51
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