Day 3/4 Made it to Des Moines!

145 miles done! Yesterday day was so much better than the previous day....although I believe the roller coaster will continue. It is definitely something I've experienced on other endurance events, but this is just the longest one to date!

Yesterday I ran from Adair, IA Van Meter, Iowa. The morning was rough. Imagine running three marathons and then having to get psyched up for a 38 mile day. It didn't help, too, that I got off route a bit and added two miles to my route. Needless to say, the mornings have been daunting. I am so stiff and sore that it is almost impossible to run at first. I try to get psyched up to just walk, but with so much ground to cover, I am super anxious to run. It has been a lovely practice in patience. So, I practiced looking around at the mist lifting out of the valleys as the sun rose. I called upon spirit, ancestors, etc and tried to stay present. I began running miles in honor of different people who were suffering....practicing breathing in suffering and breathing out joy. Somewhere after about two hours, as the sun began to warm my legs, I started to run for real. And, I was running without pain. I continued really running like this for about the next 20 miles until I breaked for lunch. Such a lovely afternoon....the sun was so warm and beautiful!

Later that afternoon, Colin joined me! He drove all the way out from Iowa City to run/hike the last five miles with me. His timing was perfect! Once again, I went three miles further than I had originally planned bringing the days mileage to about 43.

I met up with Ed Fallon in Des Moines and he so graciously got as all settled in at the Catholic Worker house. I continued my evening routine....shower, eat, put legs up the wall and then sleep....this time with an added bonus of a leg massage from Colin!

Then I was up at 4:30 AM in an attempt to get 16 miles in before Yoga in the Park at Des Moines. We were on the road by 5AM....watching lightening in the distance as the sky turned in eerie pink/red color. A beautiful sun rise with thunderheads in the distance! Once again, my IT band was soooo painful, but I'm learning to just keep going anyway....as long as I am not doing any kind of permanent damage! About two hours into the run, the rain started....and then the lightening. At this point I knew Yoga in the Park was off, so I didn't have to rush :) I took a break when a lightening bolt seemed close, and then was blessed to meet up with my buddy Kelly for a cold, wet run into Gray's Lake. Once i started shivering, she actually gave me her own long sleeve shirt to go under my rain coat, leaving her in just a t-shirt! She rocks!

So, now here I sit in the market with Denny Kelly, founder of Yoga in the Park Des Moines, Theresa Opheim, director of Practical Farmers of Iowa, Alisa, Mary, Dave, Kelly, Dan, Victoria, Steve, and Tim! It is practically a party! I am so luck to be surrounded by all these great people. But, after only 4 hours of sleep last night, I am thinking I'll just take a little bit of a nap and hopefully gear up for tomorrow.

Happy Saturday to all!!