Jello, Me and Sheila
This is the wolf from last night!
Salted watermelon!
When I arrived at base camp at mile 50. I was pretty pissed. I had no idea that my message had not made it back. They weren’t ready for me. I really wanted real food. I was sick of what I was eating. Gary gave me a quesadilla, which I just spit out. Kimberly got me a makeshift bin to wash my face and brush my teeth in. That was a turning point and the best thing I could have done. I started feeling better immediately. I was drinking protein shakes and just trying to get down anything I could. Grady was still out looking for me. Sheila and Jello were going to pace me on loop 5 now. That was the original plan that got shifted but then shifted back. I told them I wanted to power hike the ups, jog the flats, and run going down. This is exactly what we did. And Sheila talked the whole time, which I needed. And Jello just took pics and chimed in when we engaged her. It was good to be with people again and get out of my head. They made sure I was eating regularly and drinking. That loop was 3:29. I know we added in the ramen noodles at the end this loop, which was amazing. Something different. And warm. They were just trying everything to get me to eat more. I was behind because I got super sick of the pretzels and fig newtons. I wasn’t eating as much as I should have on the course, but was catching up some at base camp with 
protein shakes, ramen, potato chips, and watermelon. Sheila stayed and Shane switched out with Jello on the 6th lap. I started to feel better. Sheila introduced me to honey stinger waffles. All the ones I had in the past were too sweet. Not this one. Yum! We were running a little more going up. Shane was counting 60-second increments on the mesa for running. We watched an AMAZING lightening show from the top of the mountain. None of us said it out loud, but I’m sure they were thinking what I was thinking…I sure hope that goes around us. It got dark on this loop. It was a fun loop until the thunderstorm was right on top of us. I can do rain. I’ve run in the rain plenty of times. I’ve even run through thunderstorms before. But, this was freaking me out. The thunder was so close it felt like it was shaking us. Shane gave me his hat to keep the rain out of my eyes. We couldn’t really run because it got muddy really fast and it was like a slip and slide. We ended up getting lost at the end because it was hard to follow the reflective tape in the rain. It felt like the lightening was hitting the ground right beside us. Talk about miserable. And cold. This loop took 3:46, which was actually surprising considering the last 2ish miles were slow! They did everything they could to keep me moving and get to shelter. Since it was dark, the rest of the crew could see our head and chest lamps coming down the mountain. I can’t tell you how happy and how much safer I felt when we got back. Gary and the rest of them decided it was a really bad idea to head back out until the lightening had passed. We hung out in a nasty bathroom for at least an hour trying to get the wet clothes off, stay dry, get warm, quit shivering and get some food in. I got cold and started shaking. That’s never fun. I ended up in someone else’s clothes at this point. I’m pretty sure Kimberly’s pants and Sheila’s shirt. I had not prepared for a change of clothes due to rain.
