As I write this, my friend Parvaneh is past mile 81 according to FB but not yet checked in at 4th aid station miles 90 according to Adventure Corps. BadWater is 135 miles. That is a long day at the office.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I've had my own strange day. Lets go over this again. About 6 weeks ago Parvaneh said she was having a marathon along the BadWater course. I told her I couldn't go to Death Valley, but I would run a marathon in Seabrook that day. She said fine. I paid an entry fee. She gave me a medal and a t-shirt the last time I was in San Antonio.
Last night, I was anxious. I didn't feel good about my heel. I didn't feel good about the weather. I was sure no marathon was going to happen today. I didn't make it out of bed with the alarm. I listened to a down pour. I listened to my brain tell me what a slacker I am. Finally at 7:30, I got up.
I still didn't think I was going to run a marathon today. Finally, about 8:30, I decided to run for 42 min in El Lago and then do a series of 42 minute cross training intervals. ( A marathon is 42.2k. thats where the 42 came from).
Well, things went pretty well in El Lago. At 42 minutes, I hit the lap button on the Garmin and decided on another 42 minutes. That went well too. I had to go home for a pit stop because there is absolutely no place in El Lago to pee. I had no water with me so I had to go home anyway. As I got home, I could imagine walking 42 laps of Brummerhop. So I gathered up my water bottles, a couple of Vibrancy Bars, several gel packets, hit the start button on the Garmin and headed over to Brummerhop Park.
The rest is more or less history. I thought of Parvaneh the whole way. I don't know if My energy helped her or her determination helped me. But for sure, once I got started, it wasn't that hard to keep going. I was blessed with a cloudy and rainy day, or it wouldn't have worked.
So, thats my BadWater story. I'll keep tabs on Parvaneh. I know she'll make it.
2 comments:
re: 42
if you're a "hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" fan, then you know that 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. :-)
another nugget of wisdom from that book:
“This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Stan, I sort of think a marathoner would agree with Deep Thought. And either way, its all pretty senseless. Which is as it should be.
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