
It was a typical hot and dry West Texas day and there I stood staring at my suitcase. I had already packed my MS Run the US hoodie for the trip to Ohio. Was I really going to pack my long sleeve shirts for this trip as well? I remembered colder temperatures at some of my trail races this past fall and early spring and being thankful for wearing long sleeves. My gut told me I should take them “just in case”. I had read the forecast for the areas that I would be running, but my brain just didn’t quite believe it could be that cool in August anywhere!
At the end of my first day of running I reflected over my accomplishments from the day before. I thought about what I could have done better in hopes of making those adjustments the next day. It had taken me most of the morning to warm up in the cooler temperature. I smiled to myself because I was thankful that I followed my gut and brought the long sleeves with me. I decided that I would begin my second day with a long sleeve shirt on and then remove it as the day got warmer.

The sun was still in the process of waking up when we arrived at the starting point for the second day of segment seventeen which made for another cool morning. I was breathing in the fresh country air when I received a text message. The mens bible study group that I attend on Tuesdays wanted to let me know that they had prayed for my safety on the road that morning. I thanked them and then snapped a picture of the scenery around me and sent it to my daughter so she could see my starting view for the day. She was on my mind this week more than usual because she was in two-a-days for volleyball. She is a freshman this year in high school and had the opportunity to try out for the JV team! (I am excited to say that she did make the JV team!)

I felt surprisingly good when I started my run on day two. I was definitely sore but I expected that would be the case. I did not have any problem starting off with a slower pace today! The scenery was amazing! Much of the morning was spent running under a canopy of trees across the road that kept the sun from warming my skin. The road had very little traffic and I could hear the sound of animals scurrying away as I approached their spot.
I was joined by a sharp pain in my left knee early in my run. It was mild and I expected it to go away over the next few miles. I have learned on my training runs that most pain I encounter typically does not last very long. I arrived at my scheduled water stop and the knee pain had not improved. I put some biofreeze on my knee to see if that would help. I was also careful not to get any on my hands because I have done that before a run in the past and then rubbed my eyes to get sweat out of them (not a fun experience). I had a lot of miles left in front of me and I was not ready for that discomfort the rest of the day.

I continued on as the knee pain increased with each step I took. I tried spending more time running on the opposite side of the road to see if that would help alleviate the pain. I tried the first day to go fifty-fifty switching sides of the road, but there were quite a few parts that I was unable to do so. Switching sides more often did not seem to help so I opted to change shoes at my next scheduled stop to see if that would help. I realized as I changed my shoes that my right achilles was pretty sore but I hoped that the change in shoes would help with that. The switch gave me a mental boost, but the pain in my left knee decided that it was going to hang out with me for a while. The only relief from the left knee pain was more pain. My right achilles and shin started hurting a great deal as well. I assume that changing my stride to accommodate my left knee is what caused my right leg problems.
The last time I had taken any ibuprofen or pain killer was when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. April was the first time I had taken any kind of medication this year. I used to get headaches quite often, but I honestly haven’t had one in a year and a half now (I’m going with healthier food choices as the reason why). I chose to take an ibuprofen and slowed up to give the medication time to kick in. I started seeing some improvement in my left knee but the achilles was starting to scream at me even louder. I was running out of ideas on how to help my right leg. I was in the middle of nowhere and one of the few areas I had no hills (was thankful for that). In fact it almost felt like I was in west Texas for a little bit. There was no traffic so I ran on the left side of the road, the right, I even ran right down the middle of the road but nothing seemed to help ease the pain. Malcom suggested doing intervals so I tried that too. I realized that this was just going to be one of those really long days out on the road.
I hobbled into a small town where Malcom was waiting in a church parking lot for me. We made our way up to the building to ask if we could use the restroom. One of the gentlemen sitting outside came out to meet us and asked if we needed to use the restroom before we even had a chance ask. We had a really nice chat with him about MS Run the US and he told us that he had just started running himself. He was training for a marathon and definitely knew that the hills were pretty brutal around there. We told him where we were headed and he informed me that there was a very big hill on that road but after that it would be much better. That hill was insane! There also was not much of a shoulder to run on and there was an awful lot of traffic on that road for such a small town. I walked my way up the hill which seemed to take an hour to do. I was thankful for my long sleeves because every big truck that passed by made me even colder. At one point a large truck had to move over to the shoulder because an oversized tractor was coming from the other direction. I kindly took myself off into the grass to let him pass.
I finished out the rest of the day pretty slow with a mixture of run/walking. I got to my last water stop for the day and I finally took my long sleeve shirt off. I grabbed a banana and a couple of mandarin oranges to eat as I began my cool down walk to end the day. I was disappointed with my left knee and my right achilles but I was thankful for the slower pace that day because it gave me more time to take in all of the sights along the way as I spent another full day outdoors. Walking on the right side of the road I was completely caught off guard when a man on a bicycle rolled by, and stopped a few yards in front of me. He got off of his bike and asked me about my shirt, and running across the US. I explained the relay and our mission to Stop MS. We just stood there on the side of the road for about 7-8 minutes talking about running shoes, ultra runners, and amazing feats humans have accomplished running. That was an unexpected gift for me on a day where my body had struggled so much. He rode off ahead of me towards a hill I could see off in the distance. He stopped, got off his bike and walked it part of the way up. I knew I had at least one more hill to climb before my day would be over.

I put ice packs on my knee and achilles when we got back to the motorhome. I relaxed and looked out the window as we drove to the next campground which would be home for the next two nights. A blow up swimming pool was aired up, filled with water and ice just for me. I reflected over the day as I sat in the little pool while other campers walked towards the campgrounds swimming pool. I can only imagine what they were thinking about me. I think the only thing I needed at that point would have been a life jacket or some arm floaties.
Photo Credits- https://instagram.com/mal.c0m?utm_medium=copy_link