Another day and not so great at that. Today everyone except 3 people were going to take rest days because of injuries so we ended up just going to the park and doing a team bonding experience day. We started our morning at 4am to get to the park before 6am so we could get in without a reservation. We got to the Yosemite around 5:30 and we were able to watch the sunrise. It was 33 degrees on top of Yosemite, and we ended up turning the heat on because it was so cold – thankfully I put on pants that morning. Unfortunately, the heat and cold, cracked our windshield so now we have to keep an eye on that, but hope it will make it to the end of the week (one week left!) The views were beautiful in Yosemite, but I did take a quick nap after the sunrise. Then we went down to the valley and got some breakfast and looked at the giftshop. We planned to go horseback riding, but the stables were closed so that was sad and then we tried to rent bikes, but they didn’t have enough in our size so we just did some walking around instead. Then we heard from the riders that they were going to stay in Yosemite for a bit so we drove up to cheer them on and then met them at the Village Shop. I was hoping to take a group back to the host so we could get some showers and go to sleep (because we still had an hour drive) but unfortunately people had other plans, which is okay, but there was just a lack of communication for the people that wanted to leave. I ended up being at the park just in the car and walking around for 12 hours… which took away the me time I usually get to recharge. It made the evening very difficult and with some unknown high anxiety I wasn’t able to eat lunch which I think had a huge impact on all of this. When we finally left at 5:30, I got some pizza and then did a wipe shower when I got back. I also did some sink laundry and hope it will all dry by the morning. Finally, I am able to get some sleep which is much needed.
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Today we woke up to rain which isn’t ideal, but the host said he hasn’t seen rain like this during the summer in maybe 11 years, so it is probably actually a good thing. We really did bring the rain with us I guess. We also woke up to our van door opened because a bear got into our van last night (the door was unlocked so he just let himself in). Thankfully it didn’t leave any damage and just took some snacks – including the candy necklace hanging on the mirror. We also found out that the road we were supposed to take was wiped out due to mud slides so we had to change up today. We ended up running around lake Tahoe and the riders biked the permitter. We also ended up having less miles and only did 10 day because of that. Today I dedicated my miles to Sean – someone I used to work with who had cancer and to Bill. Because of the rain, we ran in the rain and I think it got heavier as we went, but as soon as we finished our run, the rain stopped. I ran with Sydney, Dan, and Greta today and it was a nice run around the lake and in the woods. It was nice to be around trees again. After the run, our host from before opened their doors for us to go back and eat lunch for leftovers so that worked out really well. I had another hot dog :) Then we were able to go back to the same place for showers and I was so excited to get a shower because of how cold I was with the rain. I took probably the hottest shower yet on 4k and took my time to get warm. Then I put on pants and a sweatshirt for the car ride to the next host, which was an hour and a half away in Lee Vining. We stopped at McDonalds on the way there for free fry Friday and someone also went to chipotle. We got some expensive gas before hitting the road. We have some riders in our van this time around since they did their ride at lake Tahoe rather than to the host. On our way to the host, we went through the California check in (because we had to go back into Nevada to get to where we were headed) and that was kinda cool. They just let us go past and we didn’t have to start so that worked out. Our host this time is more strict that usual so they provided sheets for us to lay our sleeping pads on. Today was the second to last rest day and it was really nice! I also forgot to share that yesterday we made it to California!! I slept in until around 8 and got up slowly. I had a small breakfast and then caught up on my blogs. After that a message therapist came and I got a little massage, which was so nice. I shared with her what my injuries were, and she was able to focus on them. It felt really good! Then we went to a local coffee shop, and they had an iced lavender matcha latte and it was so so good. Probably one of the best drinks I’ve had with matcha. Originally, we were going to go ice skating because they offered it to us for free, but people changed their mind. Instead, I ended up going mini golfing and looking around some stores with James. I also got some pizza for dinner, and it was really good. It was a fun day. After that we came back to the host, and I laid down for a little bit to rest since it is a rest day! Later after that we had burgers and thankfully hotdogs for dinner. It was very good. It was also a maildrop day, so I got 2 cards and that was exciting! Thank you, mom and Howard and Barb, :) A reporter also came to interview us, and I talked with her as well! I went to bed pretty early for a big mile day the next day and slept very well besides the hip hurting a little bit throughout the night. These hosts were so great and helpful. Today was another tough day on a director level, but a good day overall. In the morning, Patti provided a good breakfast and Sunny D. I haven’t had that in a long time and drinks other than water area always tasty :) I forgot to mention in my post yesterday that they got outdoor bathrooms donated for us so that was really cool. For our dedication circle, we had a deeper circle and everyone shared more than just the name of the dedication, but why. I shared about gram and how she became my huge why and that she is the reason I am able to get through it. I also dedicated today to TJ. I have been dedicating a good amount of my days to him, but yesterday he passed away. I was able to talk to him on Facetime and hear about him through a teammate who is close to him so to hear that news was terrible to hear. I also dedicated my day to Carley. If you remember her from 2020, I learned about her through a movie, Kiss and Cry, and reached out to her sister and the foundation. They’re an amazing foundation and dedicating a day is the least I can do besides supporting them through momentary donations. To this day, I still wear the ring that says “Always Smile” which was what Carley shared all the time, even through her cancer fight. (If you want to learn more about Carley and her impactful story – check out the link below). Today was a shorter distance day – only 4 miles! We decided to run together as a team in South Lake Tahoe (our destination for the evening). We drove there first and got some breakfast before starting our run. We were able to have a rider run with us too so that was fun! The 4 miles were really good and its always nice to run with as many people as possible. After the run, we went in the lake and you could walk out for so long before it was deep. We walked out for like 8 minutes and it still was at my hips, which I thought was really cool. For lunch, we had pizza donated and it was delicious. After that time, we went to our host to unload. We’re at a Synagogue for tonight and tomorrow (a rest day!). I got a nice cozy spot to sleep. They are so kind and are providing us dinner and food for all of tomorrow and breakfast the next day! They’re also just so nice and welcoming. We went to a recreation center for showers and they worked out nicely. We decided to later get ice cream because a local place in town gave us 50% off! I got a vanilla waffle cone and then we watched the sunset. When we got back to the host, we had to take the food out of the van because of bears and then I went right to sleep :) Today was a good day and we made it to Carson City, NV (from Austin, NV last night)! We woke up at 4:15 and I did not have the best sleep. There were SO many huge crickets (morman crickets if you want to look it up) at the host and it was a little uncomfortable that they would jump on us. I set up a spot in a corner on a rug for sleep thinking I would be okay, but nope I was wrong. As I was trying to fall asleep, a beetle jumped (or crawled I don’t know!) on my scalp and I felt it and jumped up swiping it off. I turned my flashlight on and found not one but two big beetles moving around. I quickly crushed them and had to take a walk after that. It felt like the middle of the night but it was actually only 9:30, I just went to bed that early. I decided to then switch my sleeping spot to the middle of the gym – because they like corners? I was able to successfully sleep there as far as I know and it worked out okay but it was so hard to wake up this morning. I was in the van today with Dan and the group ran 16 miles, some more. One person actually ran an ultra-marathon which is 31 miles. I have that goal to do some day after 4k too – but just once haha :) Today’s dedication was for TJ and Jamie – two people I learned about through 4k. It was an interesting day of terrain. We passed through the real desert today and it was really cool! We also passed something that looked like area 51 – it wasn’t though, but it was cool to see in the middle of no where. After a couple of legs while we were waiting for one group to finish, Dan, Jane and I had a 30-minute dance party in the middle of the road because we could see cars for miles. It was on the lonely highway so if they came we had a whole mile to get out of the way. It was so much fun and I even laughed. We stopped at a little town on the way through and by little I mean there was a bar/restaurant and some RVs. I got a tshirt there because of the pony express! We passed a sign that said that too but I didn’t see anything else. We also had a water stop with the bikers from a friend of the host we were headed to and she was so kind. It was right next to the shoe tree too and that was really neat. We also saw rocks where people made words with them and that was so interesting. I put one together that said “4k” For lunch we got subway again, but they weren’t able to give a donation so we just got it with our venmo account. Then we treated ourselves with some Sonic and I got popcorn chicken! Next we headed to our host which is about an hour away from our stopping point. It was a lot of miles today so we had a bit of driving to do in addition to our runs. Our host that night was amazing! Patti had done Keys to Keys before (which is another event that Ulman does). She also hosted 5 or 6 4k teams in the past. She was so nice and even reads these blogs too to keep up with us :) I ended up falling asleep early and slept for an hour because I didn’t feel too good before waking up around 8 to go downstairs and find some dinner. I had some chicken for dinner and then went back upstairs to call my mom (notice the time change – she is too kind to talk to me). There were some director things that needed to be handled later that night but afterwards I quickly went to sleep. The mattress was memory foam so I slept really well and didn’t have any hip pain sleeping there. Today I am so tired so this will be short. We ran 10 miles today and I dedicated today to Mrs. McKenzie and TJ. My shins hurt a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad. We were with the riders a lot today so that was fun! Today a few of the riders decided to do naked miles so that was… interesting. I honestly don’t know it how it was comfortable haha but I stayed fully clothed. Some runners decided to do topless miles too (since we’re in the middle of nowhere on the lonely highway) but again not me – I was there though behind them! It definitely made the miles go by faster and it was so cool out today that it was almost cold. We slept in until 6 that morning so that was so nice too! Towards the end of the miles, a huge, oversized load came by and of course with that came police to escort it. That means they got a little warning that it wasn’t okay. Since there were multiple groups, the cop must have gotten angrier as he drove because by the time, he got to our vans that were over a mile away just sitting waiting for lunch, we got yelled at. He threated to arrest all of us and told us to grow up – he was talking to the wrong crowd though because we were all fully clothed and not even on bikes! Oh well, maybe he was having a bad day, but that definitely gave me a scare. After, we finally ate our sandwich lunch (probably the same time you sat down for dinner with this time change) we headed to the hosts where the showers were locked at first. I decided to just do a wipe down shower with my body wipes a co-worker told me about and my hair was okay because I got it French braided this morning by Mary. It was my first official body wipe shower so that was exciting – as it can be without a shower haha. Later we had burgers for dinner and I had a hard time eating it again, but a friend shared some mac and cheese. After dinner, they had a “4k wedding” as a social event. It wasn’t real, but everyone was given a part to play for the time. I was the florist and was pretty proud of how the bouquet came out. Unfortunately I didn’t catch the bouquet at the end hahaha but my character really wanted to because of her love of flowers. It was actually a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. My character also wore white to the wedding (which was a $1 dress that I got at thrift shop) so that was fun to wear a dress again. After that I got changed and went to bed. The night was interrupted with a ‘tiny’ creature – check out tonight’s blog to see how. Today was a driving day and it was an okay day. I’m counting down the days until its over honestly. Today we made it to a church in the middle of nowhere near Eureka, PA. At the first pull over point today there was a cool train coming by so I stopped to take a photo and at the same time someone else was taking a photo. He shared that it was actually his friend driving the train and we chatted for a bit before he decided to donate $20 to our run across the country! It was so kind. The team ran 11 miles today and we were able to see the bikers a bunch on the route. At one point (since we’re in the middle of nowhere) some of the guys decided to do naked miles (apparently it’s a 4k tradition) but they held there clothes where you wouldn’t want to see! The last person ended up getting pulled over because of it, but it ended up being okay thankfully. For lunch, the riders were able to get us some lunch from Subway so we met up with them and I had a ham sandwich with chips and a cookie. We later went to the host and took turns showering with the one shower. I was able to set up a spot for bed in a room with only one other person so it was nice and quiet. For dinner, the riders got food again and it was chicken sandwiches and burgers. I tried to eat a burger, but for some reason I was super anxious and I’ve found it difficult to eat burgers on this trip. I eventually was able to eat most of it and enjoyed the fries. There was some director stuff that night but after that I went to sleep with my little fan and was able to sleep in the following day! Last night I didn’t get enough sleep… probably 6 hours and I started to notice a hip injury that I had before in my sleep. I had to go to PT before for this injury so I am on extra caution. I ended up just doing 4 miles today of our 16 mile day and felt a little bad about it, but I really want to finish. I did 10 squats at every stop (we stop often to drop off runners) to get my glutes strengthen and hopefully fix this injury. I also dedicated today to my gram and we made it to Ely, NV. Today an alumni came with us from 2021 (someone on Bree’s team) and she was so nice. She did some driving for us and showed us around town. We also had a rider join us, James, and he is also so great! I ran my two sets of runs today with James and one with the alumni so it was really nice to get to know them more. After the miles were done for today, we drove through an old mining town and it was so interesting! It felt like the real wild west! We stopped at an ice cream place and I got a huge vanilla waffle cone (apparently its national vanilla ice cream day!). It was so delicious and I was so happy! I also walked up through town to a bathroom to look around and on the way back I saw an old mining cabin (photo below). I love museums so it was cool to just see it. There’s also some history from the ice cream place and I took a photo of it if you’re interested too! They even had boarded up mines in town which was really interesting. After that we went to a thrift store and everything was $1! It was cool and everyone in town was so kind. The alumni knew everyone because she works for the paper so it was really neat getting to see it from that perspective. Then, we went to a local church in that town and they made us lunch! We had sandwiches, applesauce, and lemonade for lunch and it was delicious. It was nice to be able to talk with the ladies that prepared the lunch for us as well. We then took the lunch to the riders so they could eat too! After that we headed to the host to drop off our bags and went to an aquatic center for showers. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo but it was what you would expect and nice and warm. I also hand washed my clothes while I was there and took advantage of the bathing suit dryer to get my clothes close to dry. Then we finally made it back to the host for good and I set up my sleeping spot in such a cozy spot – I am so excited for bed! We have dinner with the church now (so I’m typing quick) and they already seem so kind. I ate some cheese and crackers earlier and now I’m ready for the big meal! They also have been giving us so many donations. It was a good night and I am more than ready to get to sleep!! Quick note from after dinner - an ultra biker came to talk with us and encourage us and he did 930 miles in 3 days from California to Colorado. His next goal is what we're doing, but in 13 days! It was inspiring. Today was an unplanned rest day in Vegas! We didn’t originally plan to go to Vegas, but since we were close, we figured why not (and also because the van needed to be fixed). I slept in until 8am today, but because of the time change yesterday, it felt more like 9am. After waking up slowly, I went to breakfast with some friends at the pyramid café. After that, I had a lot of director things to do with the van. I was on the phone pretty much all day, but we got it figured out so it was worth it. I was on the phone with Ulman, Firestone, and Enterprise trying to figure out not one but two van situations. This morning after breakfast, I drove to Firestone to drop off our van to get the problem fixed... hopefully. We got a ride back so we were able to go back to the hotel and go swimming. When I got back, I enjoyed cooling off in the pool (also for an excuse to take a quick break from phone calls). I was in the pool for about a half hour and then later went to exchange the current ride van with another van (because their current one was temporary and wasn’t able to rack their bikes). Thankfully that was successful and after moving everything out of the one van into the other we were done with one van. After that we went to find some dinner while we waited for the other van to be finished. I got some chick-fil-a! Then we were finally able to pick up the van! The person who worked on the van was so nice and he even stayed a couple of minutes after closing to let us pick up the van. Then we went back to the hotel and picked everyone up to head back to our campsite. The beginning of the ride home was crazy – similar to our ride here, but a little more nerve racking with the weather. The person at the firestone told me a monsoon was coming and yes indeed we drove though it. The lightening was on top of us with wind pushing our car off the road and making it sound like the window was opened. To add to it, we had some crazy crazy rain. Both times in this van, the drivers told me that it was the heaviest rain they ever drove in. They both did really well driving in the rain and I felt very confident in them. We got back to the campsite around 9:30 and I immediately set up my sleeping pad and went to sleep for another day tomorrow. Yesterday we had a route change so we could take a rest day today in Las Vegas! We ended up running a little more with 14 miles, but it was my navigation day so I only ran half and helped out in the van for the rest of the day. It worked out because there was a lot of director things that I had to work out with our van slightly falling apart and the host was a little confused with our change in plans. The run was really good and I always enjoy a light mile day. The van started to not sound too good the day before and we didn’t realize the great problem until we were on a Nevada road and realized the wheel was about to fall off. We passed some riders at the same time I stuck my head out the window and realized we needed to pull off! Thankfully the road wasn’t too busy and after about 10 minutes of looking for the tools, we found the wrench. Some people worked on the car a bit to see what the problem was – not good – so we called road side service and they were not helpful. Thankfully the team was able to tighten the bolts on the wheel and we felt it was safe to drive to the appointment we made for the following day in Las Vegas. I also talked to my step dad, Brian, the whole time who helped us through the situation. We stopped at a gas station after driving about 20 miles to check out it and it seemed better and I also got some hot pockets. It was a little sketchy how they were already made and just in a dish, but worth it. On the way to that gas station, we made it to the Nevada boarder and the last time zone change! We were in contact with Ulman throughout the day and made the best decision with what we had. The only Firestones in the area for a long time were Vegas… so to Vegas we went. After the runs and rides, we left our stuff at a campsite (with some people who didn’t want to go to Vegas) and headed to Vegas with a small bag. I went for the van and for a bed – that was about it since I was just there! On the way to Vegas we drove through insane rain (with our wheel slightly unstable). We had to stop every once in awhile to tighten the bolts, but thank goodness we made it to Vegas around 9pm. Since our van is so high, I didn’t want to deal with crazy garage parking so I just split the valet parking with my co-director so we could go to bed. Shortly after I made it to my beautiful hotel room (it was this or a tent for that night), I took a wonderful shower and then went right to bed! We stayed at the pyramid hotel – next to the one I stayed at just 2 weeks before starting this trip and it was really nice. I was so happy to be in Vegas again – I didn’t realize how much I just really like Vegas (and yeah definitely not for the reason everyone else likes Vegas haha). This blog is a little late because I was so tired to write that day and then because wifi was tough the following night! |
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