july 1
day 53
25 miles
total 1,381 miles.
i began this journey feeling like i understood a lot about journey running.
after all. i have been taking vacations on foot for nearly 40 years.
i knew there were differences between my previous long trip of 9 days
and a transcon.
and i am not just talking about the changes in my age and health.
there is still a long long way to go
but i have already learned a lot.
first, for some reason i thought by a thousand miles everything would be under control and i would be getting stronger every day.
i was expecting to be increasing my mileage by now.
the truth has been that i can only stabilize things.
nothing can heal while you continue running 14 hours a day.
and new things can go wrong any time.
it took 1300 miles for my right little toe to decide it no longer wanted to live in the same shoe as the other 4 toes.
so far a big part of the journey is managing issues as they arise.
just finding a solution that allows you to keep going,
and integrating it into the daily routine.
and another discovery is that there is no such thing as an average day.
no matter how solid the plan
something will happen to force an adjustment.
a road turns out to be impassible
your mileage estimate is from outer space
it pours down rain
you get lost…
the thing is,
that is half the fun.
at first it was just frustrating,
because it kept knocking me off schedule.
then i noticed the feeling that came after an obstacle was breached.
climb a fence
wade a creek
detour thru a cemetery.
stop and look back at the barrier overcome.
then you turn your eyes forward and march on.
eyes always on the prize.
there is this sense of another battle won.
and of living to fight another day.
i wanted to walk from ocean to ocean.
it isn’t supposed to be easy.
it is all about living life to its fullest.
i wanted to tell you about my day.
it was a great day.
but there is no time.
there is never time.
i have to go to bed.
and rest up for tomorrow’s adventures.
laz