Day 24: Arapahoe, NE, to Fairbury, NE (Tuesday, July 8)
Distance traveled: 90 miles
Personal running distance today: ….none, but 2 hours worth of pushing a van out of mud
Total personal miles to-date: 165 miles
Today's dedications: Vernon “Bud” Jones and Tim Crossnoe
My running buddy: Michelle
Weather: Sunny, 80s
Let me just start with last night into this morning. So, there were 4 of us that decided to sleep in the basement of the church in Arapahoe. There was also a really creepy painting in this room, which sparked some discussion about how people could potentially be killed down in there…I’m sure that has never happened, but exhausted runners have wild imaginations.
Anyways, we all go to sleep in this basement room and it’s pitch black, perfect for sleeping. Until Mo wakes up with night terrors. She starts screaming, “THERE’S A MAN IN THE CORNER, THERE’S A MAN IN THE CORNER!” At which point, my mind goes crazy and my heart beat triples. Stephen woke up, turned on his phone flashlight and told Mo nothing was there so she could go back to bed. My heart continued racing and I continued being paranoid, so I couldn’t fall asleep for another hour. So much for a good night’s rest in a pitch black room.
We all wake up, pack up, circle up and head out. I was on Team 2 today, so we were supposed to drive to the halfway point first. After driving about 1.5 hours, we discovered that the highway we were on wasn’t too safe for running since it didn’t have shoulders. So, we figured that there were plenty of country roads on the sides, so that would be the perfect place to run.
We pull off onto one and realize they’re all dirt roads. No worries, we can handle it! The vans off-roaded through the Mojave Desert on ATV tracks, so after that, they can basically handle anything.
Me and Michelle were supposed to run together today, but we had the first driving shift. As we were driving to drop off our runners, we came upon some mud. No worries, we think. We beginning to trudge through the mud when we came to a standstill, wheels turning up mud, creating holes in the sticky brown goop.
Distance traveled: 90 miles
Personal running distance today: ….none, but 2 hours worth of pushing a van out of mud
Total personal miles to-date: 165 miles
Today's dedications: Vernon “Bud” Jones and Tim Crossnoe
My running buddy: Michelle
Weather: Sunny, 80s
Let me just start with last night into this morning. So, there were 4 of us that decided to sleep in the basement of the church in Arapahoe. There was also a really creepy painting in this room, which sparked some discussion about how people could potentially be killed down in there…I’m sure that has never happened, but exhausted runners have wild imaginations.
Anyways, we all go to sleep in this basement room and it’s pitch black, perfect for sleeping. Until Mo wakes up with night terrors. She starts screaming, “THERE’S A MAN IN THE CORNER, THERE’S A MAN IN THE CORNER!” At which point, my mind goes crazy and my heart beat triples. Stephen woke up, turned on his phone flashlight and told Mo nothing was there so she could go back to bed. My heart continued racing and I continued being paranoid, so I couldn’t fall asleep for another hour. So much for a good night’s rest in a pitch black room.
We all wake up, pack up, circle up and head out. I was on Team 2 today, so we were supposed to drive to the halfway point first. After driving about 1.5 hours, we discovered that the highway we were on wasn’t too safe for running since it didn’t have shoulders. So, we figured that there were plenty of country roads on the sides, so that would be the perfect place to run.
We pull off onto one and realize they’re all dirt roads. No worries, we can handle it! The vans off-roaded through the Mojave Desert on ATV tracks, so after that, they can basically handle anything.
Me and Michelle were supposed to run together today, but we had the first driving shift. As we were driving to drop off our runners, we came upon some mud. No worries, we think. We beginning to trudge through the mud when we came to a standstill, wheels turning up mud, creating holes in the sticky brown goop.
So there we are. On a strange, nameless country road in the middle of Nebraska, our giant white van stuck in the middle of it all. Luckily, we were able to flag down our second van and prevent it from following us, but the damage was already done.
Ironically, this was van #4, which we affectionately call “Scar” because it was the van that got a gash in the side of it on Day 1 from side swiping a fire hydrant. It was fitting that Scar was the van that got stuck in the mud.
We spent the next 1.5-2 hours attempting to maneuver this van out of the mud while some of our runners ran about 6 miles. It took 6 of us to be able to help get the van out. One of our greatest breakthroughs came from Stephen, who suggested we pull out a lot of hay from the sides of the roads and put it under the van tires to create a hay road. After shoving, digging and throwing mud everywhere, the van was freed. Scar had seen better days:
Ironically, this was van #4, which we affectionately call “Scar” because it was the van that got a gash in the side of it on Day 1 from side swiping a fire hydrant. It was fitting that Scar was the van that got stuck in the mud.
We spent the next 1.5-2 hours attempting to maneuver this van out of the mud while some of our runners ran about 6 miles. It took 6 of us to be able to help get the van out. One of our greatest breakthroughs came from Stephen, who suggested we pull out a lot of hay from the sides of the roads and put it under the van tires to create a hay road. After shoving, digging and throwing mud everywhere, the van was freed. Scar had seen better days:
Once the struggle had ended, everyone was sort of beat. We mustered the energy to climb on top of some hay bales in the field next to us to celebrate our van victory.
When we regrouped, we decided to drive to our host church in Fairbury and figure our lives out from there. We arrived 45 minutes later and sat in the parking lot, scraping mud off our bodies and shoes. I decided not to run today, partially because I was exhausted from the mud escapade, but also because I figured my sore hips could use a day off. Once all the vans had arrived, we unpacked all our stuff and shared stories from our day. Needless to say, our group’s day beat the other group’s day.
We hung out around the church for a bit, then a group of us headed to the local pool that we were allowed to use. It felt so good to put on a swimming suit, hop in a pool and a hot tub and feel like a normal person. We were able to shower afterwards, too. When we returned to the church, a couple of the girls cooked a yummy pasta dinner for the team.
After dinner, the "beer-in-every-state" group of girls headed to a local bar to see if we could find any Nebraska brews. As it turns out (which I'm not surprised about), I don't think Nebraska actually makes beer...so we settled for Angry Orchard. We had a nice, relaxing time getting a drink, then headed back to the church.
When we got back, my teammate Sydney really wanted to do some team bonding, so we all circled up and complimented the teammate on our left and right. We also played a "hot seat" game where a person sits in the center of the circle for 4 minutes and you can ask them whatever you want. Tonight, Zack, Mo and Sydney went. It's a fun way to get to know someone! I also shared with the team that we're going to do a really cool activity where everyone buys a composition notebook, then each teammate writes a note inside. However, nobody can read their book until the night before we run to Baltimore. It'll be awesome to have memories from all of us!
For now, things are about to wind down in the church. My sinuses are bothering me a bunch, so I just took a Benadryl and it's really starting to kick in. Gotta head to bed!
Run happy,
Natalie
We hung out around the church for a bit, then a group of us headed to the local pool that we were allowed to use. It felt so good to put on a swimming suit, hop in a pool and a hot tub and feel like a normal person. We were able to shower afterwards, too. When we returned to the church, a couple of the girls cooked a yummy pasta dinner for the team.
After dinner, the "beer-in-every-state" group of girls headed to a local bar to see if we could find any Nebraska brews. As it turns out (which I'm not surprised about), I don't think Nebraska actually makes beer...so we settled for Angry Orchard. We had a nice, relaxing time getting a drink, then headed back to the church.
When we got back, my teammate Sydney really wanted to do some team bonding, so we all circled up and complimented the teammate on our left and right. We also played a "hot seat" game where a person sits in the center of the circle for 4 minutes and you can ask them whatever you want. Tonight, Zack, Mo and Sydney went. It's a fun way to get to know someone! I also shared with the team that we're going to do a really cool activity where everyone buys a composition notebook, then each teammate writes a note inside. However, nobody can read their book until the night before we run to Baltimore. It'll be awesome to have memories from all of us!
For now, things are about to wind down in the church. My sinuses are bothering me a bunch, so I just took a Benadryl and it's really starting to kick in. Gotta head to bed!
Run happy,
Natalie