Third Day of Run- Step 5

"Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

   Somethings need no explanation...

Fearless Recovery.



Friday 5/11 

32 Miles from the Continental Divide to Kremmling

   This morning I was struggling. I was feeling the weight of the entire journey and what a commitment all this is. Not just for me but for Emily and all my friends and family. I was hurting on both the inside and out. My energy was low- I was sore and I was feeling a bit out of sorts. The lessons of my recovery served me well as I walked over to the stake we put in the ground to mark yesterday's finish line and today's start. I knew that if I tried to own the weight of this entire run, the impact of it and the commitment of all people involved- it would crush me. I trust my ability, I trust the cause and I trust all those who have decided that it is a worthy effort to devote their time to.  I touched the stake to signify the beginning of today's journey and I started running.

    I was moving like I had sludge in my veins. I was less than a mile into the run and my feet were already killing me and my heart rate was skyrocketing. I just kept moving forward. I knew I had to run a couple hours on my own because Nico and Em had to drive all the way back to Walden to do a little "car rodeo" so I just tried to focus my mind on running as smooth and light as possible. I made about three miles and I saw the sign for The Continental Divide- I stopped and took a photo and looked around at the beauty surrounding me. I looked down at my running shoes, I looked up into the sky, I turned my wrist over and saw the water bottle in my hand. An old familiar thought hit me "my worst day running- is better than my best day as a drunk" and with that a huge smile spread across my face. I knew what I had to do... run. Run with joy.
     With a step I was gone and knocking off 8-9 minutes miles and watching the scenery fly by. In no time I had run about 10 miles and the crew had caught up with me. Nico took the first shift with me and we banged out a few miles and had some laughs. We talked about books and booze and how lucky we are to able to run. We even got an entire herd of cattle to take off and run down the prairie with us. Nico has paced me on almost every single big run or race I have ever done. He is one of the greatest humans I have met and I am proud to be his friend.

  Next up was my bunny Emily to carry me the last 8 miles or so home to the hotel. My body knows when Emily is around. My natural running instincts wake up and respond to her. It has been this way since the very first time I ran with her. I felt like I had a renewed energy and focus and we ran up hill and downhill and all the way back to Kremmling. Emily shared a few beautiful thoughts she read about on sobriety and I actually broke down into tears as we ran and talked. The rain hit us for the last couple miles and we even got caught in some hail. Nico took pictures crewed us in and even met us on the road in the rain to run the last little bit home, all three of us.

As I type this I am relaxing at the hotel with Em- and I am feeling good- my legs feel strong- and I am grateful for every moment of the day. I should add that after we got back to the hotel I went to take an ice bath- Emily jumped on the treadmill... really.

David.