Mohican 100

I wound up taking the day off on Friday and headed to OH with Dave to support him in his attempt at running 100 miles! On trails! The temperature for the weekend is going to be hot with a chance of rain on Sunday so that means some humidity will be heading in sometime during the race early Sunday morning.

Ahh, the race? A glorious run with 150 or so other nuts through a heavily wooded area with about 110' of elevation change average over the 100 miles. You get 30 hours to complete it. I ask myself who in their right mind would want to be out there for longer than 30 hours.

On the way in to Loudonville we drove through several beer stores. Yes... drove. I'm not sure if Dave was really on a quest to fine Coors (just regular not light) or if it was the thrill of just driving through them. We never did find the Coors.

After checking in at our hill top hotel room with the very dangerously steep drive we got Dave checked in for the big run in the morning, had pasta dinner, and listened with quickening deafening ears as several people running this thing went on and on and on and on during the pre-race meeting. Dave tucked himself in early while I reviewed the maps for tomorrows journey.

3:30 AM: Get up. OMG it's early! 5:00 AM the runners are off! Quick recap not to bore the crap out of anyone, but Dave led the race through 40 miles. Unfortunately he was suffering from very sore feet. He said his PF (plantar faciatis) was bothering him and his inserts were slipping all over the place due to having wet shoes on the technical trails. He also pointed out the 5 toe nails he was certain he'd be losing. Yuk. We got him some cool water for his feet, a beer, and new shoes and almost forced him to at least finish 50 of the 100 miles to get the medal. He appeared at mile 52.something and declared he was done. Of course Mark and Lance had just arrived to run with Dave from the 60 mile mark in but instead ran together that next leg then we picked them up.

Even though he didn't actually finish the 100 miles, he ran a good race for the time he was out there.

Another Day at the Office

So I was told to report for work at 8:30 on Thursday. I texted back asked for a purpose, but none was given. This does not help me sleep at night wondering why I'm to report early. Of course if they fire you, they don't ask you to come in early.

Today's topic was a meeting with Jill the nurse. To back up before getting to work, I woke up at 5am because of the birds and I'm sure the never ending thoughts of why I'm reporting earl. I went to the Y and swam 20 laps, but was done way too early so I went to Walmart to buy some dog cookies and sinus aspirin stuff. Well, between not being able to find the dog cookies and the very slow register lady, I left a few minutes after when I wanted. Knowing that I'd be cutting it close, and delighted to see the speed limit pushed up from 35 to 40mph on schoolcraft, I exceeded the speed limit for the last mile. Lo and behold there was a cop. Crap, I really didn't know how fast I was driving, but he pulled out and flicked on his lights. I pulled into the work lot. Ok, this is embarrassing. I was upset because I just knew Randy would use this opportunity of me being late to stick his finger in my face, interrogate me, and tell me that I was "unprepared". The officer came to the window and I blubbered quickly about my knee surgery and that they were looking for any excuse to write me up as I pulled my license from my wallet. He inquired about driving record which is very good. He asked who my insurance carrier is and I said, Aetna; later realizing of course that is my medical insurance not my car insurance. Thankfully he did not give me a ticket, but I was already late by the time I allowed to leave.

Back to Jill. She had her book out with the pictures and I told her I still thought it was stupid to review this stuff after surgery but if she had to go over it I would listen. She said she knew I had good knowledge of the knee and asked if I had any questions. I told her about the tracking issue and asked if she'd heard of such a thing after meniscus surgery. She said it's common for people to have a funny feeling in their knee afterward. I told her of the cortisone injection the month prior and that it had helped tremendously. Of course I had to bring up the goofball medical examiner and his 6' walk method for determining if someone is deemed work ready; I also said that it was probably because of compensating that I tore the other knee. I told her that I was convinced that doctors don't really listen to you and that they've made a predetermined evaluation before even speaking with you based on a few basic symptoms. I also told her about the evaluation where I was told that there was no way a 40-year old woman could tear her hamstring that basically led me into the discussion about doctors not listening fully to what you have to say.

Afterward I went to my truck then I needed DR bags and Randy stopped me. "What do you need?" DR bags I told him. Then he did the very unlikely thing and shook my hand and thanked me for a good interview with Jill. Umm, Ok. You're welcome? I'm welcome? Although it did make me feel better that rather than being screamed at for not already having my supplies on my truck, it was also a little unnerving that he would shake my hand. Is this much like when I shook his hand in an effort to make him think he doesn't make me queasy? Reverse psychology sucks.

Today my truck was leaking diesel fuel from the fuel pump which was just installed so I had a 20 minuted delay in leaving the building, 139 stops, and informed by Mark that diesel fuel will stain concrete and to stay out of driveways. I had a 10 1/2 hour day and took a 20 minute break. I did a lot of walking.