· Date: Thursday June 27, 2019
· Where: Pocatello, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming
· Total Distance Covered: 170 miles
· Running Partner: Rizwan
This morning, Rizwan and I were the first runners in van one. I was so happy because this meant we were starting at the church we had slept last night. Throughout the summer, starting first in the morning always had a sense of accomplishment. Like I have said before, being a part of the peacefulness of mornings always made me enjoy morning runs. However, completing the first miles for the day also made it seem more realistic that we were running from coast to coast. Since the last running pair ran into the host the night previously, and we were starting from their front door the following morning, there was a clear connection between the days. This continuity always improved my mindset for the day.
The peace and beauty I look forward to so much were quickly taken away. Riz and I had no idea that we were the first pair of runners until about a half-hour before. This was our oversight as it had been posted the night before on the team whiteboard. It was also led to the unfortunate and brutal beating we gave our stomachs. Having needed to finish an absurd amount of yogurt as well as milk, our stomachs were yelling at us to stop running. I was regretting the yogurt eating competition I had with Tyler last night and I was regretting eating anything in the morning. Riz and I complained in good nature the entire way. We felt like we were going to vomit. Our first two miles were an eleven-minute pace! The rest of the team in our van were waiting for us and were relieved when we finally arrived. Typically, Riz and I would have run much faster and probably could have run three miles in the time we ran two. I wasn’t surprised everyone was worried we had gotten lost. I would have been worried myself especially since there were multiple turns in our route! Navigating out of Pocatello is certainly a memory for the record books. It certainly was a memorable morning!
Running with Riz was fun and completely different from running with anyone else on the team. Riz carries a speaker and plays Beyoncé. He lives and breathes Beyoncé. Sometimes we danced and cheered, but most of the time we pushed each other to go faster. Maybe it was because we felt like we had to redeem ourselves after the first two miles, I am not sure, but our next three were the fastest leg I had done on 4K so far. We were both capable of faster, but still were not feeling the greatest from our indigestion in the morning. We were beyond surprised at the splits we had once we arrived at the van.
Today was also Evan’s twenty-first birthday. This meant that he was now allowed to drive the van. I was Evan’s first navigator in the front seat, and we made a big deal that he could drive the van now.
As we finished up our miles, we had to drive the remaining eighty-five miles to the host site. We drove where the second van had run, and it was fun to see their route. For some reason, I wasn’t placed in the first van for a while and had forgotten what it was like to drive the second half rather than the first half of the day’s route. The scenery was beautiful though. The next few days would bring us through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. Throughout the remainder of the day, we could see the mountain ranges looming in the distance. We all prayed we wouldn’t be running over them.
At some point, we crossed our fourth state line and continued driving into Wyoming. The round was a switchback up a mountainside and then finally back down and into Jackson, Wyoming. This town was the stereotypical tourist town but was one of my favorites of the entire trip. There were tourist shops everywhere with restaurants, hotels, bed and breakfasts, and countless site seeing companies and opportunities. Jackson Hole, Wyoming was also extremely well known for its skiing and this was evident anywhere you looked. I’d love to come back here in the Winter to see all the ski shops open, the mountains covered in snow, and especially to enjoy the ski trails. I wished we were here on a rest day so that we could go explore the trails in the mountains nearby. Running them would be fun! This was the first town where I told myself I needed to come back at some point.
However, we only could stay the night. Near our host site, Rob and I found a park with a public bouldering place. Bouldering is like rock climbing except there are no ropes, no harnesses, and you climb boulders instead of cliffs. Bouldering has more technicality than rock climbing, but the climbing routes are much smaller. My brother Kevin had taught me how to boulder during the few days I spent visiting him before 4K. I wanted to try it again with Rob since I enjoyed it so much and we were both excited to. Rob is much more experienced than I am and was able to do a lot more. But we were both tired and running shoes were not the best to boulder with. It didn’t take long before we gave up because we couldn’t finish most of the routes. Rob and I still think it was so cool how this structure was placed in the middle of the park and was available for free to the local climbing community. We didn’t know of any place that this was offered on the East Coast and wished there were places like this near our hometowns!
That night after dinner, we all explored the town. We looked around the tourist shops and bought some food. Rob, Caroline, and I went to go see the Antler Arches, something that Jackson Hole, Wyoming is known for. These are massive arches or real Elk Antlers from the National Elk Refuge which was close by. A sign there informed us that around 7,500 elk wintered on the range each year. The antlers fall off in the spring and are auctioned off at the town square where the arches are each spring. I thought this was amazing and found it remarkable just how many antlers there were.
The crowds of people and tourists quickly tired me out. I wasn’t used to all these people congregating on the sidewalks and I wanted my own space. I realized that I was used to the team environment and the isolation that I had felt before receiving the mail drop yesterday. It felt strange to be with so many people. I also wanted an early night since we had run a lot of mileage and I needed quality rest. Between our miles today and yesterday, we had each run twenty-seven miles. Most of the team went to a bar for Evan’s birthday while a few of us stayed back. I took advantage of the quiet and called it an early night. That night, I got the best sleep I had since 4K began, I think the exhaustion was setting in.
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