Day 9

Start time: 4:45 am Central Time
Finish time: 7:04 pm Eastern Time
Finish location: Sand Mountain, Georgia
Mileage: 40
Cumulative mileage: 314 miles (+10 bonus miles)

Mission accomplished! 8 days, 11 hours, 47 minutes and 4 seconds

Treasures: Completed a "bucket list" item, putting money on the ground for Shannon to pick up, seeing cardinals, yellow birds (heather??) and Blue Birds, asking for water out of a hose and being given a liter of icy water, being greeted at every turn by John Price, FINISHING!!! Last but not least, all of the amazing FaceBook messages, texts, emails and phone calls with words of encouragement and congratulations!!!!

Day 9 was my toughest day. Day 8's hip pain got much worse and I had some calf pain too. Whaaaaaa. I awoke to thunder, lightening and pouring rain which delayed my 2 am start but kept me awake. A 16 mile stretch of road was the worst of the entire event (terrible drivers, no shoulder, no water and lots of loose dogs) and my attitude was bad at the time too.

It was a great finish (pictures to follow later in the week), Shannon's parents and husband were there, Sherry, Laz, John Price, Abi and a couple of kids as well. I even did my traditional cartwheel! Unlike many shorter races, there was nothing but a chair awaiting me, no food, no water and no Mylar wrap or medal. Luckily, I had stuff to eat and drink in my car. I didn't have to go far to sleep. Sherry and I set up tents and slept through a really big thunder storm.

Today, I'm exhausted. Somehow, I need to run my mile. A shower would be great but I'm not sure I'm going to get one!

Thanks again for all of the cheering an support. Thanks to AIU for letting me help fundraise. It gave me the opportunity to talk to a few semi-interested people about Adrenal Insufficiency. Pictures and email responses to follow in the next week.