Day Three

Day three of this journey started on a hilarious note. As we were loading our cars with my equipment and gear, happy as clams that the forecast for lots of rain went directly against the complete blue sky on the horizon, I turned to Will with the Oregon Beef Council and said,

"Check out that beautiful rainbow!"

Will saw the spectacle and said "We really are lucky."

*cue the hail*

Not quite sure where it came from but for the next 30 seconds it fell and soaked everything.  Fortunately we were in the cars and driving to where I had stopped running then night before. I swear it had been at the TOP of the hill but the map said otherwise. So getting ready to get the first run of the day underway, I was once again dressed in rain gear. Fortunately, this time it lasted just a few minutes and I was soon running without the rain jacket.

With no scheduled school speech, today figured to be a slightly easier day and one where I could play around with how I decided to run. Of course, both Day One and Day Two had been completely different from each other so it is not as if my schedule was set in stone. So after cresting the monster hill (finally), I knew it was more or less a downhill run, or flat, to a place that every runner knows (or should): Coos Bay. The birthplace of Steve Prefontaine, was also the place where I stopped my first run, some 15 miles in, to get some food. It was a tough go this first portion and when I finish this run I will talk more about it.

(Update: There was some serious contemplation about whether I would be able to finish this as I was 125 miles in and still had 225 miles to go.  For the first time the enormity of the situation was taking hold. In addition, after eating some food which did not agree with me, I left half of it in a parking lot a mile or so later after a puking fest.  What bothered me most about that was that was wasted energy to eat and wasted calories left behind.)

After less than an hour reprieve, I was running again. The weather had been extremely odd all day with rain, cold, sun, heat and sometimes seemingly all at once. But what really brightened my spirits is when I pulled over to get a drink and a guy asked to get his picture with me. My crew had stopped at his coffee stand simply because it had parking. He had heard about my running on the news and thought it was the cat's pajamas. I had actually been feeling a little tired and low but this really nice gesture bolstered my spirits. (I had to ignore this psycho stalker guy who has had it out for me since the days when I ran my 52 Marathons and to say it was a bit unsettling to see him also waiting for me here would be an understatement.If you had about seven hours I could tell you about this sad man. I sure hope he gets help.)  After the picture, I pushed my finishing point for the second run back and ran until I didn't feel good any more. Which was a while. Surprisingly.

After our next break, which included my first actual sit down meal since Sunday, I was able to finish off the day strong. Tomorrow I am fortunate enough to have my first "guest runner" to do the first half of the day with me.  An awesome chap I met for the first time at the Hartford Marathon where he went under 3 hours for the first time, Dave flew all the way to Oregon just to run the coast. Hard to explain how flattering that is. Today was a good day filled with good people.



Starting weight: 175
Ending weight: 174
Total miles: Just shy of 150