Day 2 - Day 3

Day 2
Time finished: 6:30?
Place: Parker's Crossing, TN, mile 82
Treasures: seeing Tim and Kathy Dines, petting a baby mini pony, flipping Laz off when he offered me a ride, having lunch paid for by some locals who thought I weighed 100 pounds.

Day 3
Time started: 3:30 am
Time now: 9:30 am
Location: Chesterfield, TN
Treasures: seeing Naresh's smiling face, chatting with the amazing Fred Davis, finding a quarter and being propositioned by a toothless man named Stanley who was buying beer at 9:30 am (he lives behind the Pentecostal church.

I felt pretty awful this morning. Couldn't get a decent breakfast. Feet hurt badly last night. No blisters, the bottoms hurt. I massaged them and iced them as per Bogie's instruction. I will live. Legs are sore and tired. I have no idea why but I thought I'd wake up and feel fresh as a daisy!

What was I thinking? Why did I think this would be fun?

Time to go catch John Price. He was leaving this stop as I was pulling in.

Day 1 - Day 2 of Vol State

Day 1 start time: 7:38 am
Day 1 finish time: 8:30 pm
Official Mileage: 41
Unofficial (getting lost): about 50
Treasures: 60 cents, cool overcast day, Stu Gleman

Everyone is amazingly, incredibly nice! I was given water by 2 people, as I passed through neighborhoods people asked me questions and said, "Good luck!"


Day 2 start time: 3:30 am
Time now 8:30 am
In McKenzie taking shelter from the rain and putting my feet up. I pepper sprayed 2 dogs and then touched my inner arm to the nozzle. Owwwwiw. Got stopped by a cop because someone told him a "young girl" was walking down the road at 4 am! I ain't young! My arm is on fire. I'm feeling pretty good. Onward to Huntingdon, TN before noon!

The Last Supper

I'm not sure how this will work because I've never blogged from my phone.

After a surreal drive down a 2 track, in fog and drizzle, lead by John Price, 14 of us met at the finish to be transported to the start of the race. The ride was 8 hours long and much hillier than I had anticipated. We got here to the motel and had dinner with all of the runners. This dinner is called The Last Supper. The pictures are from dinner. We take the short bus to the start tomorrow morning at 630 am.

Psyche is my roommate tonight. I'm exhausted from the laughter. John P gave us detailed course info that I'm sure will prove to be helpful if I can remember it! Rich L is full of email encouragement.

Thanks to Paul for making this possible. I forgot to thank Bogie D in my last post for thaw training plan that got me here. Thanks Bogie!

Bizarre things I've seen during Vol State training

This one is for Wanda who loves the weird things I see when I run.  Some of these may not be bizarre but they are to me since I'm new to Florida.

Never seen one of these before.

Statues having a pool side conference.

Always finding these.

Fish on the sidewalk.

This turtle was sticking everything out of its shell, big time.

By someone's mail box.

Not only did I find money but a completely undeserved 24 hour AA sobriety coin.

Oh yes!  And there's a bird on top of her head.

For Allison.

Tin man.

Dolphins doing nasty things

24 inch machete, I didn't take it home.  I was afraid I'd get arrested if I carried this sucker the 7 miles home.

Ever wonder where the sidewalk ends?  The corner of Tamiami and Olean in Port Charlotte.

I was feeling fear and dread about Vol State.  It was like a sign of things to come.  Sorry if I offended anyone with this one.  

Training and Inspiration

Wanted to give thanks to those who constantly support me and listen to me when I tell them I'm going to do something dumb...again.

• My husband, Paul, for everything and for putting up with me.  For not making me work so I could finish house projects and train for this (and Barkley) and for supporting me financially so I can eat and stay in a motel room while I'm doing this run.
• Kim and Wanda for worrying about me and wanting to follow me to make sure I'm OK.
• Bridget Lyons for having her yoga on line so I can keep doing yoga with her from 2,500 miles away and for getting me to love yoga in the first place.
• Colleen W for getting me started streaking 2.5 years ago.
• Steve Tursi for getting me to change my streak from walking a mile a day to running a mile a day.
• Ashley for helping me love handstands and giving me excellent instruction as well as being very helpful with AI stuff.
• Meara for her enthusiasm and for making me get my bikes in working order and for teaching me Turkish Get Ups.
• Heather for being my tiara pusher and cheerleader.
• Rich L for making me feel like a freaking Super Star.  Lora too.
• All the people on AS Forum who cheer me on and who get out and do because I've inspired them.
• A BIG THANK YOU to the gals at www.runningskirts.com for their generosity and fantastic fun skirts and running clothes.
• THANK YOU BOB at www.drymaxsocks.com for socks that have changed my life and have made my feet happy for the last four years.
• Jennifer and Jean, thanks for supporting me and letting me fund raise for AIU.

• If I've forgotten anyone, I think of you often and thank you in my head.

Thanks to all for the support you've given me.

Dusty

Updates and Gear

Please don't expect much from me as far as updates go.  I promise I will try to do my best.  

Apparently it will be like this:

it was fucking hot. all day. i hurt. my stomach feels like shit. i need to sleep. it hurts too bad to sleep. gotta go.

I'm not good at posting updates when I'm not tired.  We'll see how I do when I'm exhausted. 

I posted some links to where you can get updates on the race in the right hand side bar.

Everything is packed.  I'm ready to go.  Sweating and shaking and nervous.  I will hit the road tonight and stay with Heather and Dave.  Tomorrow, see my Aunt and Uncle and 100.5 year old grandma in Roanoke, Virginia.  The day after that, get close to the finish line.  Wednesday morning at 7 am, the short bus will take us to the start.  Thursday morning at 7 am we will pretend to be on the ferry for 20 minutes and at 7:20 am, July 12, the race starts!

If you're interested in seeing my gear list, here's a link to it.  I've ditched the umbrella (8 oz), bug spray (2 oz) and some unnecessary food items that weighed 5 oz.  There's potential for me to get rid of the flip flops (5 oz) but I'll wait a day to do that.  One thing I'm a little resentful about is that I need so much salt, pills and the injection kit.  Total weight of those items, nearly one pound.  Thanks to Mike Clelland for the spreadsheet idea.  It really helped my decide if I really needed something or now.  One of his books is called ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKIN' TIPS.  It's a great book for anyone who wants to have a lighter pack.