Traveling and Running....
From high and dry to down and wet.
It’s like tumbling down the rabbit hole, spinning and twisting with delusions and illusions flashing in front of my eyes. A lifetime of events, condensed to fit through a wormhole, compacted and felt in a flash. What feels like my reality, has been skewed, altered just enough that my instincts of what is up and what is down has been bounced and reflected off my retina’s so fast I can’t distinguish the two. Is that a sunrise or a sunset?
The last 21 days of my life has been a Texas sized helping of disorientation and time fluctuations that my internal compass just can’t seem to align with. Just when I’ve found Magnetic North, I realize my life is functioning on True North and I’ve failed to account for the declination. I’m slightly off course and it’s bothering me like a micro sized metal splinter that seems impossible to remove, or a piece of a Frito chip that has lodged itself into my left lung. One of those two really happened to me, I’ll let you decide which is true.
No matter the turbulence or disruptions to my life, running keeps me grounded and emotionally level. I had a therapist tell me that I could benefit from meditating and once she explained it to me, I responded that I already meditate. She couldn’t believe it. Really, she couldn’t believe that my form of mediation was running. She didn’t believe me, so I fired her and kept on running.
It all started on October 19th when I flew to New Mexico.
This was not ordinary. I’d be working from 6pm to 6am nightly in an area known for UFO’s, in fact there is a historical marker where a UFO once landed not far from my hotel. This wasn’t my first foray into “Reverse Cycle Training” and I’ve successfully become very adept and tweaking and modifying my circadian rhythm to meet the demands placed upon me.
It’s well known in Ultra Marathons that you can and most likely will have hallucinations between the 18hr mark and 24hr mark. Especially when you’ve placed such a large physical demand on the body, your brain has no choice but to start throwing illusions at you.
So traveling into a UFO Air Corridor and then forcing myself into the danger zone of 20hrs of no sleep sounded like a great time to me. Let’s play a game of “Is that UFO real or just a hallucination?”
I woke up at 5am at my house (3am~NM) and started my travel day. After a couple of flights I landed in New Mexico at 10:30am (12:30pm~NC). I had to stay awake until at least 3am in NM to really torque down on the sleep cycle adjustment. So I did. Stayed awake until 3am in NM (5am~NC) and made it a full 24hrs of staying awake.
With time to kill in Albuquerque, I did what any tourist would do.
I visited the filming locations of possible one of the best Shows to ever be written and ate at Gus’s place.
After visiting all the cool places I made the drive to the hotel and realized I had more time to kill, and since I’m a runner, I’ll just do what’s in my nature.
Running is in my nature. Running with my shirt off is not natural. I’ve only done it a handful of times in my life and honestly, I just don’t want to gross people out. I may be a runner, but I don’t have a runners body. Hell, Kobayashi looks more like a runner than me and I look more like an eater than he. It’s just not meant to be for me to run with my shirt off in public, that’s why I do it in the arid, dry high desert of New Mexico where I only get strange looks from the lone car that passed me in 40 minutes of running.
After a run, I head back to the hotel and get all messed up on caffeine and loud music before calling it a night after 24rs awake.
I slept like a baby and woke up at 11am. (8hrs of sleep)
After a morning of sleep, I went to work and thus started a week long experience of overnight shifts. Just long enough to convince my body that working overnight is natural and expected.
A full seven days of overnight shifts really gets you into the mindset of “Moons Out, Goons Out”. In those seven days I only had one encounter with a “UAP”, completed four runs for a total of 14.63 miles and avoided all Rattlesnakes for my duration in the high desert. On my second run under the sun, I was feeling slow, heavy and like I’ve eaten too many Green Chili Cheeseburgers. So I looked at the elevation and I was running at 4,725ft elevation which left me bitter because “elevation training” technically starts at 5,000ft and I was still under the threshold.
On the return trip home, I woke up Thursday at 2pm (4pm~NC) and finally got into my bed at 8pm on Friday in North Carolina. In that 28hr period I got a 2hr nap. Needless to say I was tired.
Time to Race in North Carolina.
I signed up for the Run RDC 10K to be a part of my run clubs endeavor to win $1,000 for having the most club runners cross the finish line. I signed up for this 10K well before all this travel was scheduled and I had planned on turning this race into a new 10K PR on Sunday morning.
Saturday was a battle royale with my sleep schedule. I found myself taking on the Hulk Hogan of sleep monsters during the day and when it was time to go to sleep on Saturday night, my body just wasn’t cooperating.
I woke up early on Sunday morning to the sound of a full on rain storm pounding away above my head. It was early, I was tired and now it was raining pretty heavily. You know what makes a shitty situation better? A friend. In this case I had room for one in the Jeep and I picked up Anthony “The Rock” for the drive to Durham.
You know what makes you run faster? A friend.
For the race, Robert said he’d pace me to a new 10K PR. My goal was an 8’30” pace with an overall sub-53 minute.
You know what makes you run faster? A friend.
Robert encouraged me to step it out and I felt good on this out-and-back course in the cool October air. The combination of will power, encouragement from Robert, seeing a bunch of friends on the course and the weather, I did pretty well.
I set a new 10K PR: 51’21”!
Mile 1: 8’20”| Mile 2: 8’17”| Mile 3: 8’18”| Mile 4: 7’59”| Mile 5: 7’58”| Mile 6: 8’23” Last Bit: 7’32”
Oh yeah I took 2nd Place in my Age Group and so did Robert who is one AG above me.
It was a good weekend. Now it was time to get back to the airport and make my way to the Pacific Northwest, Tacoma, WA.
Time to get wet in Washington State.
Monday morning arrives earlier than expected and I’m grateful I have an afternoon flight, it gives me time to pack my rain gear. On a good note I’m going to a hotel I’ve been to before and will have access to running trails and routes I’m familiar with. I’m also dropping down to Sea Level.
After a full day of flights I get into the hotel late and decide my first run will be the following morning.
45F and Raining
Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Every morning I would wake up, look out my window and take note of the weather. 45 degrees and raining. That’s pretty standard weather around here for the winter. It sucks. I’m not sure why people even live here. I hate it.
I get my runs in when there are breaks in the rain. Sometimes that’s in the early morning, sometimes it’s in the evening. If there’s one thing I absolutely hate, it’s being cold and wet.
So my first run of the week was indoors on the treadmill.
As much as I don’t like the treadmill, it’s still better than being cold and wet. What’s that saying again?
“Comfort is a lie”
It’s true.
So the next morning, when I woke up and looked outside and it was merely a “drizzle” at 45F, I reminded myself that “I ain’t no bitch” and stepped off into the dark, cold, wet morning and logged 3.13 miles.
Even in my 40’s, after all the shit I’ve been through, you can still build toughness. It feels like a callous. It’s built up, created after hours and hours of hard work and effort and if not continuously pushed, will become soft. I’m not going to die with soft feet or hands. Comfort is a lie and the joys in life are sweeter when earned and when you’ve been through the rigors of sacrifice and have the endurance to keep going.
I’ve lucked out! My second day in Tacoma is decent and that allows me to take an out-and-back 5K route down to Puget Sound. When the sun is up around here you must take full advantage and get outside.
It won’t last long.
If you’ve lost track, in the span of 7 days I’ve gone from running at 4,725ft in the high desert of New Mexico to racing a 10K in North Carolina and now a run down to Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.
The good part, my sleep schedule is falling back into a predictable pattern of oscillation. However I’m still three hours behind in time from NC, so that will take another couple days to correct once I’m home.
Vitamin D - Good for the soul.
I get my runs in when there are breaks in the rain. Sometimes that’s in the early morning, sometimes it’s in the evening. If there’s one thing I absolutely hate, it’s being cold and wet. So when the sun makes an appearance, you’ve got to adjust everything else to get it on your face.
With the clearing sky and brighter days I decided to hit up the local YMCA, get in an hour of lifting before taking to the local trail for a 5K run around the lake/marsh. I had everything timed perfectly! I had a plan and was executing it perfectly. That is until the plan was disrupted by Mother Nature.
And no, before you read any further, I didn’t lose my socks. Although I almost did shit myself.
Next to the YMCA was a great, compact dirt trail that wrapped around a lake/marsh and provided a 1-mile loop that I was going to do for a full 5K run. I got on the trail just as the sun was peaking through the trees and the temperature was 38F. With my orange beanie on, gloves and a thicker running sweatshirt I hit the trail.
At 0.30 miles I run, literally, face to face into a fucking Bobcat!
Elusive animals, these little guys. Usually avoiding people and minding their own business, yet very protective of their territory. We were roughly 12ft apart and staring at each other. He just looked at me confused like, “Who the fuck are you?” and I just stared back.
My instincts kicked in and I made myself appear large, hands spread out wide, which at 5’8” isn’t that imposing and I started to yell. “HEY! HEY! GET ON! GO!”
No response.
He literally just stared at me and then took two steps in my direction.
“HEY! HEY! HEY! I DON’T WANT A FIGHT!”
He simply turned his head the other direction and his body followed. He went on down the trail in the direction I was going.
I know better than to mess with a full size wild-cat. I once got all fucked up by a 20lb domesticated house-cat that decided to go feral on me. A full size, wild, male Bobcat would send me to the hospital, something I don’t need in my life right now.
Although, the warrior inside me thought how glorious it would be to walk into the ER all fucked up with a dead Bobcat I killed with my own hands. I blinked and was back to reality. I turned in the opposite direction and made my way back to the car.
I didn’t get a picture as my phone was in my waist band. However, the little guy looked EXACTLY like this.
72 hours of Sunshine.
After a whirlwind three weeks, my last three days in the PNW were incredible! My sleep schedule normalized and the sun was having a direct impact on my emotional state. Endorphins were springing up and flowing through me creating a mood that couldn’t be dismayed. After closing out the jobsite I had time to hit Ruston Point and get a 5-mile run along Puget Sounds.
The weather was incredible, people were out and the cool air made for perfect running in shorts and a shirt.
I even stumbled upon some fisherman and crabbers getting their limit. The crabber was enthusiastic and friendly. It was a great afternoon to run and apparently a better afternoon to catch some crabs!
With a late day flight, I got in one last pre-flight run with the sun rising and Mount Rainier looking down upon me, reminding me of my size and insignificance on this earth.
The mountains and the ocean are good for that. Maybe that’s why so many people feel a natural calling to the mountains or the sea. It sooths the soul, puts things into perspective and makes us appreciate even the smaller things that make life so wonderful.
Major Events in the Past 21 days.
L.A Dodgers win the World Series.
Encountered a UAP.
Set a new (over 40) 10K PR.
Halloween!!
Daylight Savings took effect.
Took 7 flights across all time zones in CONUS.
Donald J. Trump was elected as President of the United States.