California Love

Where do I even begin? This trip has already been a whirlwind of emotions, from the highest of highs, being excited to meet everyone to a sad heart to heart on how cancer affects everyone’s life. All of us have been affected by cancer in one way or another, some hurt more than others and may have first-hand experiences even. Overall, we have all been brought together for a reason. It’s only day 5 and all of these people have exponentially influenced my life. Here is a picture of our team:

 

Day 1: San Francisco to Yuba City, CA.

Running Partner: Abby R.

Miles covered: 7.6 miles

It was like the night before Christmas, except there were 58 individuals that were sleeping on the gym floor. I was restless due to some anxiety I had. Luckily enough my buddy Steph Edwards was not able to sleep either, so we kept each other company for a few hours. I had finally fallen asleep after what seemed like hours of lying restlessly. We woke up at the crack of dawn, we were about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime.  I was with 27 strangers (These strangers now feel like some of my closest friends). We had packed our duffel bags and backpacks furiously to make a 6:00 am breakfast. Keep in mind I haven’t woken up before 11 am pretty much all summer long. I was quite dazed and confused. After breakfast we shuttled to Chrissy Field Beach (right next to the golden gate bridge. We had a huge ceremony in which send off occurred where both team New York (my team), and team Baltimore both started our journeys across the United States.

Then our Trip Coordinator shouted at us through a megaphone, to start. It was like a flashback to pre-race nerves in highschool. Once I got my feet under me, it seemed like second nature. I went live on Facebook. I got a really cool video. After the video we all started joking around with each other. I was running with Abby, our friend Rachele was with us too. I asked Rachele “What Are the Odds?” (for those who don’t know the game, you state the odds in which you are likely to do said task then count to three and guess the number. If both parties say the same number, the person waging the task has to do said task. If they don’tsay the same number the person not waging the task has to do said task) she jumps off the bridge (keep in mind this is a 220-foot jump), she said 5 and I ironically said 5 as well. So theoretically she would have to jump off the Golden Gate bridge. Obviously, she did not do so. Rachele owes me a crazy adventurous task. After the Golden Gate Bridge, we started making our way to Yuba City.

After our 1st rotation through the group, we stopped off at a restroom and ran into a lovely lady who had these cute doggos. She was so intrigued about our journey she was running our story to a friend of hers that worked at CBS. The temperature was outrageously hot reaching 109 F. We stopped running due to this. I only covered 7.3 miles, when I was supposed to reach 13 miles. It was for our own safety. We shuttled the rest of the way to our destination, which was a little disappointing because we were all so hyped to run.

Day 2: Yuba City to Corning, CA.

Running Partner: Taylor S.

Miles Covered: 6

Day 2 was another amazing day. It was blistering hot once again. So we decided to start at 4:30 AM. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? I am already a zombie as I am typing this. YOU ALL THOUGHT WAKING UP FOR SCHOOL IS TOUGH, TRY THIS. All sarcasm aside, I am not opposed to starting early to avoid potentially life-threatening heat. We had a fairly easy run as each of us only had to cover 6-8 miles depending on when we had to run. I had to cover 6 miles with my partner Taylor. We made it to our host by noon. IT WAS ALREADY 106 F. We were parched. Luckily the church we were staying at was air conditioned. We had a huge past dinner, where I feasted. I had 4 plates of pasta and meat. After the meal, we had a giant group heart to heart where all of us shared our connection the cancer community and our expectations for the run. My connection to the cancer community goes beyond the influence of my cross country coach, in runs deep into my personal life. I gain strength from my legs to run for those who continue to fight their battle against this horrible disease.

 

Day 3 and 4: Corning to Burney Falls, CA

Mileage: 10 miles

Running Partner Danielle Talenti

We woke up once again at 4:30 AM. It is unreal on how I am able to function at this time, let alone run. We had another tough day ahead of us. Our portion of the run had to cover over 6000 ft of elevation. This is insanity. I don’t know how to run hills, I live in Iowa. We don’t have many hills. Dani and I killed it. We pushed each other through the struggles (HILLS). We came out on top every time. Once our entire team finished up their mileage, we were at Lassen National Park. We got to see snow in 90 F weather. Don’t believe me?PROOF:

We also had no reception. It was like a modern day horror movie. I wasn’t able to text anyone or keep up with my twitter feed. All sarcasm aside, the no cell service was annoying at times as we need our cell phones to keep in contact with the van drivers if we ever got lost. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.

We got to spend our rest day in Burney Falls as well. We got up ate breakfast. I got coffee for the first time on the trip and let me tell, I was a happy man. We then proceeded to do laundry. Once we got our laundry down, we got to spend the day at Burney Falls. The water was unbelievably cold. We are talking 48 F or less. I got to jump in multiple times with my go pro and got some incredible footage before the battery died on me. It was comparable to ice baths. We also went on a neature walk and saw some beautiful foliage as well as different parts of the falls.

Day 5: Burney Falls, CA to Lakeview, OR

Miles: 11.5

Running Partner: David Bowers

Today was another amazing day. We were all rested from our off day, the day before. David and I were excited to be partnered up as we could have some bro time. We chatted about different running shoes, a bunch of our personal bests in different races, music, food, you name it. Above all, we split some good miles too. Our fastest two mile split of the day was right around 14 minutes. Today we ran in the mountains again losing cell reception for most of the day. It was also only 85 F, which felt cool compared to our weather the past few days. We had seen some amazing views. David described it as looking like an old western film. I couldn’t agree more. We covered all our miles with ease. It was nice to cut our legs loose and get after it a little bit today. Hopefully, I am not too sore tomorrow! WE MADE IT TO OREGON!!!!!

Total miles this far: 35.1.

Motto for the week: just put one foot in front of the other.

If y’all didn’t know I am also attempting to grow my beard out. I thought it would be fun to monitor the grow on this blog as I try to grow a mountain man like beard.

Beard watch 2017: day 1 to day 5.