Day 45: The Calm Before the Storm.

Basically, the title is the truth as it pertains to today's run. For the first 12 miles today, I felt better than I had since before leaving Superior, Arizona a couple weeks ago. My lungs finally felt slightly adjusted to the elevation, so I wasn't gasping for breaths. Therefore, my body wasn't being deprived of much needed oxygen to the muscles. No more noodle legs today, and that felt wonderful as well. Disclaimer: the run today was 95 percent flat from Quemado, NM to 3 miles short of Pie Town, NM. I was prepared for today's run, because I knew the terrain was going to be relatively flat. Now, tomorrow, that's another savage beast to deal with. The run today stopped at what is called the Top of the World Realty, grocery, ice cream parlor, laundromat, storage building, hair care and tire center. They also have some cool totem poles carved from wood outside the place. Anyway, the name "Top of the World" is a big fat lie. Because standing in the parking lot, I was staring up at the mountain I am to climb tomorrow. Tomorrow, somewhere between mile 4 and mile 8, I will be standing smack-dab on top of the continental divide. It will be the highest point I will run during the entire trip. Now, the Pie Town locals tell me that there is a sign to mark this point, and I'll take their word for it, because I was too scared to drive ahead and see the carnage and misery that is to be my life tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will not be too oxygen-deprived and will have a chance to take in the moment, and get some photos while I am regaining consciousness. Tomorrow is a very scary proposition for me, because I now know how terrible it feels to run at high elevation, and this will be the highest. But tomorrow is also a very exciting thought as well. Although I will only be 1/3 of the way home at the end of the day (700 miles), I will have made it to the highest point in the trip, and it will feel like it's all downhill from here, haha. Not literally, because the Pie Town locals have also informed me that the road beyond the divide is more like a downhill, then back up a hill, then downhill more, then back up a hill kind of thing. Nevertheless, if I am to make it to the top of the mountain without passing out (just joking...maybe), it will be a huge feeling of accomplishment for me personally. I will know how absolutely miserable, painful, frustrating, and mentally and physically draining it was on my body to get to the top. If I make it to the top, I will have pushed through all that and I will know that I am strong enough to conquer anything else that I encounter on this journey. Wish me luck.