· Date: Monday June 17, 2019
· Where: Yuba City, California to Red Bluff, California
· Total Distance Covered: 109 miles
· Running Partner: Leah
The Rooster woke the team up right on time at 4:45 a.m. In the mornings, we split up tasks that had to be done to get the team ready for the day, leave the host site better than when we arrived, and get on the road. The Rooster was the first person up and was responsible for waking up the rest of the team. This was the one job I was dreading. When it came to be my turn at Rooster, I had no idea what I was going to do to get everyone up.
This morning, Luke and I were the food packers. This meant organizing the food into three coolers, one for each run van and another for the host van. We also had to separate the food that didn’t need to be refrigerated and decided what needed to be saved over the next few days. Ensuring that the right food made it to the right van to accommodate the team’s food restrictions was stressful, but I think Luke and I did this mostly right. If I’m honest, as the days ticked by, food packer was my least favorite chore to have to do in the morning.
The host we stayed at was a church community that helped to bring ex-convicts back into the community. They had an entire complex including their church, chapels, school buildings, houses, and more. After talking with the pastor, the night previously, he told me one of the things the congregation prides itself on is the food they grow. Not only does tending their orchards and gardens bring the congregation closer together, but it also gives the ex-convicts responsibility. It was an amazing little settlement they had going. I was amazed at everything this Church had to offer for their community. Having never been exposed to these types of churches back East, I was surprised to see the acres upon acres of land that they had. It wasn’t anything like the Roman Catholic Churches I had grown up in.
After the morning chores were completed, the vans were packed, and the team was ready to start, our dedications began. Every morning throughout the summer, we read a dedication directly from the Ulman Foundation. This was typically a donor who had requested for their stories to be read by a team runner during the summer. Every day, we ran for the people in these dedications and sent them a postcard. Next, came a team dedication. We took turns with this depending on the significance of a day or to further explain who we were running for. It was a special part of the day that grounded us and brought a gentle reminder as to why we were running.
This was also the first day that my partner and I had the first leg of the route. This meant that we started in the same spot we had ended as a team the day previously. As Leah and I stretched, we stood next to the orchards and watched the second van drive away to start halfway on the route. We had loaded the vans in the dark and the sun was only just beginning to rise. The rays of light cast long shadows and snuck their way through the trees. The cool breeze made it relaxing and brought about a sense of peace to the entire area. There couldn’t have been a better way to start the second day of running. As each day started this summer, having the first leg was something that I was always grateful for.
But the peace of the morning quickly left us as we left the church property. There was a large shoulder on the road, but it contained gravel. Given the long straightaway, the gravel flew up every time a tractor-trailer went rattling by. Stones that had found their way into the road would get caught in the wheels and then hit our shins and chests. I think Leah and I both had a few welts after running on this section of the road. We were glad to turn onto a different road after about a mile or so. After that first stone hit my sternum, I pulled my sunglasses over my eyes just in case they flew up into my face. I was lucky I had done this since moments later another truck flew by and a stone hit the lenses. When Leah and I finished our first leg, we quickly made note of the flying rocks. Each van had a paper version of the maps that we had downloaded on our phone. These were in case there was no service and we couldn’t navigate our way on the route using our phones. The paper maps were also to write down any comments or changes that were necessary for next year. Leah and I made sure to note the gravel flying into us. When 4K is over, hopefully, Ulman would go through these binders to read our notes and improve the experience for the teams the following year.
The team ran a few more legs and then we stopped at a local plaza center. We realized we were about to leave Yuba City and wouldn’t be in another town for a while. Since it was only our second day, we also needed some basic food staples. We all decided to split up in small groups and try to obtain food donations from different stores in the plaza. This was something that I dreaded doing. I hated asking for help with anything. The thought of explaining what the 4K for Cancer consisted of and then asking for food donations scared me. But after asking two different stores and talking to two different managers, we were able to score a gift card to a supermarket. We were so happy, and this was the first food donation that I was able to obtain. As the summer went on, I would become more comfortable and successful with asking for food donations. Today and in the days coming, we obtained gift cards and small donations. But by the end of the summer, this would turn into entire grinders for the whole team. For now, just a gift card would have to suffice.
As we got further away from Yuba City, the orchards changed to mountainsides and valleys. It was beautiful to run in this area since I’d never seen anything like it before. Everywhere, there were cows, horses, and sheep roaming the hills. Instead of being enclosed in a pasture, these animals were left free to roam for acres and acres. That’s when I realized we were running through ranches. We ran past large square hay bales the size of cars. Everything was spread all over the hillside. I was amazed that some of these animals climbed these mountains every day. The fact that a tractor dropped one of these bales on the steep hills surprised me too. I couldn’t believe anything worked on slopes like this. Some places we only saw one house for two or three miles at a time. Sometimes there was nothing at all.
After a long day of running, we accomplished nine miles for each running pair. It seemed the scenery was different with each leg we ran. I loved it!
Leah and I had amazing conversations about music, 4K, and what motivate us both to run. Since we were the first van, we had to drive from the halfway point to the new host for that night. We stopped at the same mile marker that the second van had started running that morning. Once there, the drive to the host took a few hours and almost everyone fell asleep in the van. I guess we were all exhausted from yesterday, today, and the heat of the sun. Running in ninety-degree weather without any shade wasn’t something I was used to either.
Once we got to the host that night, we had a community dinner and talked with the host community for a bit. Then we called it a night. We all were beginning to realize how exhausting this trip was going to be.
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