Day 10: Hello Mississippi!

I can hardly believe it, but my run is over! In some ways, it feels like the whole experience went super fast (other times it definitely went excruciatingly slow)....I truly can hardly believe that 10 days have past.

Since the heat index was forecasted to be near 110, we decided to get on the road by 4:30AM. My poor family and poor Victoria:) I think almost everyone in my "entourage" would have been more likely to go to bed at 4AM than getup at that time! But we all did it. We had a bit of a drive to get out to the Wilton area, but I think I was running by about 5:15.

Yesterday was a pretty emotional day for me. I would love to say that I was so excited to be finished that I just started running free of pain with tons of enthusiasm straight to the finish line. The first couple of miles may have started that way. The sun came up as a bright red ball of fire against the hazy sky....and that moved me to tears. So much beauty and I was feeling all that emotion of running on my last day. However, after two miles, my course turned to gravel. The majority of the next 16 miles were all gravel. With my feet blistered, a swollen/discolored left foot, shin splints on my left leg, and IT bands that were still on fire...gravel was not my friend. I tried running a bit and even switched back to those trail shoes that had blistered my feet so badly on day 2. My feet and knees were just too unstable to run....it almost felt like trying to run in sand. So, I walked....and walked...and walked. I tried to tell myself "Ah, it is the last day...and this is what your great grandfather did...now you can walk for him". But, as I must have said a million times on this run, I am a runner not a walker!! And now, I wanted to be done!!! This walking was not only slow, but it was still super painful. Once again, even on my last day of running, I went into the mini-depression and just could not wait to be done. All I wanted at this point was to not be in pain any more. So many lessons for me on this journey.

I actually ended cutting my route short. All day long, I knew that if i turned south on just about any road, it would take me to the Mississippi. If you check out a map of Iowa, Davenport sticks way out there, and Muscatine is much further west. After walking on the gravelly, uneven shoulder of highway 61 (a 4 lane highway) for about 3+ miles, my sister said, "hey, if you turn here, you can be at the Mississippi in 5 miles". At this point, i know my mom was getting worried about me due to the rising temperatures. (although I must add it really was super pleasant all morning...thanks weather gods!) I had made it well past Muscatine but wasn't quite to Davenport; it seemed like a good compromise. And, honestly, I was totally and completely ready to be done. I did not want to be in pain anymore.

Four more miles on gravel through beautiful countryside surrounding the Mississippi and then one final mile on pavement. As we neared the finish, a flock of pelicans danced in the sky for us! And for the last two miles, a butterfly sat on my shoulder! Thank you, Nature, for your guides and companions! Victoria accompanied me for almost the whole walk on Friday and my sweet sister Erin was with me for the last five. Meanwhile, Mom and Dann continued to make sure that water, food and ice was available every mile or so. What awesome support! In that last mile, Mom and Dann drove off so that they could hold up a make-shift "finish-line" for me to break. Erin had made a crown of black-eyed susans for me (a perfect native Iowa flower!!). So, I jogged down that final hill and that was it. After 10 days, I was finally done. Like some of the other really hard races I have done, I actually didn't even feel excited at this point. My overwhelming feeling was one of relief and exhaustion. I was so happy to just be able to take a break! But, I knew that feeling of excitement would come once I had a chance to rest a bit...and it did :)

At the point where I stopped, I couldn't actually get to the Mississippi...too much thick brush, and with a pretty strong poison ivy allergy, I wasn't about to go bushwhacking in shorts :) We made our way down river to a beautiful little park where I got to stick my feet in the Mississippi, which felt sooooo good on many different levels! We got out a bunch of food and had a lovely picnic right by the water. Afterward we drove up to Davenport, where we went straight for ice cream! Then it was back to the Mississippi River by about 2:30, and that is where I stayed for the next four hours. I sprawled out under a tree, enjoyed the shade and the cool breeze coming off the Mississippi. At some point a news station stopped by to do an interview and eventually a group of friends from IC and some of the Slow Food community in Davenport came out for some yoga and a picnic. I was sooo thrilled to see a lovely group of people drive down all the way from Iowa City! I love you guys so much!!! I know that none of my group was especially excited to do any kind of yoga that involved moving much (and it was still in the mid-90's), so when my mom suggested that I just lead a yoga nidra practice, I jumped on it. It really was quite lovely to do a deep meditative practice right next to that Mississippi River that I had been chasing for 10 days.

In all, it was another hard day, but still full of so much beauty and so much wonderful love and support from friends and family. I still cannot get over just how much people have been giving me all week. I am so grateful that I can't even find words to describe.

And now I just need to heal! Looks like I will be taking it easy for a couple of days :) If anyone has any good book suggestions, let me know. "Taking it easy" has never been my strong point, so I better come up with something to entertain myself...haha. I'll write more tomorrow with some final reflections and even more thanks! I truly couldn't have done this without the support of so many people!!

In the end, I feel that my heart is full and I cannot give enough thanks to all the people and spirit that carried me through. Big love to you all!