Day 5: Santa Barbara, CA, to Bakersfield, CA (Thursday, June 19)
Distance traveled: 143 miles
Personal running distance today: 11 miles
Total personal miles to-date: 42 miles
Today's dedications: Arleen Shadrach and Rose Carey
My running buddy: Hannah
Weather: Sunny, mid-90s
Today's day started veeeeery early. After not getting to bed until after midnight, 4 a.m. was not quite the time I wanted to climb out of my sleeping bag. However, we had a big day ahead. We all woke up, did our chores, did our dedication circle and were heading out of the church by 5 a.m.
I was in Team 2 today, and we had about a 1 hour 45 minute drive to start our portion of the run. Our running started around 8:30 a.m., and it was already pretty toasty out. I reapplied sunscreen multiple times today and wore my hat to make sure I didn't get burnt. I actually think I'm starting to get a decent tan!
I ran with Hannah today and we had quite the time. Today's route was....well, unattractive, to say the least. We ran through fields and fields and fields of dirt. Some had orange or lime trees or grape vines, but many were barren and empty. We were really in the middle of nowhere, but it was kind of fun. Hannah and I found a couch on the side of the road next to some grapevines that we naturally had to take a photo on.
As we were running in these country roads, a man in a pickup stopped to see if we needed water (much like most of the field workers or construction workers we saw along the way). We told him we were okay, explained what we were doing, and he shared with us that his mother is a breast cancer survivor. I will definitely be thinking of his mother Alma on my run tomorrow! He even snapped a picture of Hannah and I and told us he was going to put it on Facebook, so now we're famous amongst strangers.
Distance traveled: 143 miles
Personal running distance today: 11 miles
Total personal miles to-date: 42 miles
Today's dedications: Arleen Shadrach and Rose Carey
My running buddy: Hannah
Weather: Sunny, mid-90s
Today's day started veeeeery early. After not getting to bed until after midnight, 4 a.m. was not quite the time I wanted to climb out of my sleeping bag. However, we had a big day ahead. We all woke up, did our chores, did our dedication circle and were heading out of the church by 5 a.m.
I was in Team 2 today, and we had about a 1 hour 45 minute drive to start our portion of the run. Our running started around 8:30 a.m., and it was already pretty toasty out. I reapplied sunscreen multiple times today and wore my hat to make sure I didn't get burnt. I actually think I'm starting to get a decent tan!
I ran with Hannah today and we had quite the time. Today's route was....well, unattractive, to say the least. We ran through fields and fields and fields of dirt. Some had orange or lime trees or grape vines, but many were barren and empty. We were really in the middle of nowhere, but it was kind of fun. Hannah and I found a couch on the side of the road next to some grapevines that we naturally had to take a photo on.
As we were running in these country roads, a man in a pickup stopped to see if we needed water (much like most of the field workers or construction workers we saw along the way). We told him we were okay, explained what we were doing, and he shared with us that his mother is a breast cancer survivor. I will definitely be thinking of his mother Alma on my run tomorrow! He even snapped a picture of Hannah and I and told us he was going to put it on Facebook, so now we're famous amongst strangers.
As the day wore on and we got into the afternoon, the temperature heated up even more. By 1:00, it was into the 90s. Running in direct sunlight in that temperature was incredibly exhausting, on top of me already being tired. Luckily, everyone did a great job of hydrating yesterday and today, and we had no real issues with dehydration, which I'm very proud of! Sadly, one of our teammates fell and sprained her ankle today, so we are hoping she'll have a speedy recovery.
Today was THE day of all days for host sites because we were very fortunate to be able to stay in the Hilton Doubletree Hotel tonight! So this post is coming to you live from a cushy clean white bed that I'm just about to fall asleep in. One of our teammate's moms had connections at the hotel and was able to secure several free rooms, then offered to pay for the last few so that our entire team could stay here tonight. We had a team dinner at a pizza buffet place just across the street where I'm pretty sure all of us ate entirely too much. We couldn't help it; it was a long, hot day!
After dinner, we knocked out making tomorrow's running route in record time. Now it's about 10:15 p.m. and we get to sleep in until 5 a.m. tomorrow, which I'm excited about! However, I'm still exhausted from having only gotten about 8 hours of sleep from the last 2 nights combined, so I've got to head to bed now to try and get more shut-eye.
Run happy,
Natalie
Today was THE day of all days for host sites because we were very fortunate to be able to stay in the Hilton Doubletree Hotel tonight! So this post is coming to you live from a cushy clean white bed that I'm just about to fall asleep in. One of our teammate's moms had connections at the hotel and was able to secure several free rooms, then offered to pay for the last few so that our entire team could stay here tonight. We had a team dinner at a pizza buffet place just across the street where I'm pretty sure all of us ate entirely too much. We couldn't help it; it was a long, hot day!
After dinner, we knocked out making tomorrow's running route in record time. Now it's about 10:15 p.m. and we get to sleep in until 5 a.m. tomorrow, which I'm excited about! However, I'm still exhausted from having only gotten about 8 hours of sleep from the last 2 nights combined, so I've got to head to bed now to try and get more shut-eye.
Run happy,
Natalie