Absolutely crazy

Fist of all, thank you for the comments. They were incredibly encouraging and it's just what
I needed.

If I look at today, it should've been great. I got 23 miles done. The weather was about as perfect as it gets. The road was clean. And sailing was smooth.
...almost.

Last night I woke up at 1 am to a growling noise. Except it was inside my tent! My stomach was going nuts and I thought, "well, from past experience, I'm either hungry or I'm sick."

Unfortunately, soon after that I made a dash for the exit and barely made it outside before my lunch made a second appearance. Yep! That's right, food poisoning. For the rest of my stay at the "resort au natural," AKA: the woods, I was in and out of the tent all night viewing things fly out of my body I never thought I would. It left me a broken, desheveled mess. I was pitiful. I felt every cell in my body working to rid myself of whatever foreign object decided to enter there unannounced.

I dosed in and out in between spewings and the grand total for sleep for the night was somewhere around 2.5-3 hours.

Realsizing that today's run was going to be somewhere between painfully slow and pretty near impossible, I started very early. I gave myself 7.5 hours to complete the 23 miles before 3 o'clock when I was meeting the Chamber of Commerce of Lake Village.

I started out right after seeing stomach acid and feeling the burn of the substance tear through my esophagus one last time. I had nothing in my body and no energy.

After awhile I passed a convenience store. I got 2 Mt. Dew's for the carbonation and the fact that at 290 calories a pop, this is what I needed.

First on went down smooth and I felt a little better. I tried running a bit. I could only manage a modest pace for no more than 10 minutes before pure exhaustion set in and was forced to walk.

Today was mainly a walking day with a bit of running thrown in for good measure and sanity. I got to Lake Village an hour and a half ahead of schedule. When I got to the intersection, two cops came up. I was thinking, "oh great, this is just what I needed."

They told me they'd escourt me to the ampitheatre. They were expecting me. Whoa! Definitely wasn't expecting that.


A bit later, St. Mary's school came outside and I was able to talk to them. Great kids. One kid could turn his foot all the way backwards. Crazy.


Both of the black shoes belong to the same kid.

-- Patrick