Day 4: Josie Toochin

Today we ran from Ely, NV to Cedar City, UT.
I ran another 16 miles! Whooo!! So my total is now at 65 miles in 4 days!

example scenery pic from outside Ely, NV

Today's scenery was similar to yesterday's flat desert-y segments and some uphill mountains. I think they were the back end of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I was in Van #1 again. Our first 40 miles covered the mountain and our second 40 miles was more flat. It was a good way to end our 16 miles. However, today was a really rough day for most of our runners. One was too injured to run so our van had to cut out one of the groups in the rotation and his partner joined other pairs to finish up her running. Only 4 people out of our 10 person group finished the full 16! The other van (with 11 people) cut everyones miles to 14 instead of finishing the 16.... Nicole and Kim L. are going to talk to our head person in Baltimore and see about moving the mileage down to 12-13; that's what we all originally had signed up for.
Tomorrow we may be running less than 16 miles to see how it goes. As a team, we just want to stay healthy. If putting our bodies through 96 miles a week is making runners unable to perform then we have to change it so that we will make it to Baltimore.

Today there were a lot of exciting things that happened too! I hit above 60 miles :) (65 is my total now), we saw a coyote and some antelopes! There were many signs warning drivers of roaming cattle and some hitchhiker prohibited zones....
We also crossed into UTAH!!!! Two states complete! And we crossed into Mountain Time! There's 4 time zones in America and we have completely crossed one :)

After our running, we went to the aquatics center in Cedar City, UT. We got to shower!!! (since i hadnt in over 48 hours) and i got to float around their lazy river with Molly and Kim B. and sit in the hot tub for like 5 minutes. Then we all dispersed to go stay at houses in town. Susan and I are staying the night at Mr. and Mrs. Keye's house tonight. They had dinner ready and waiting for us when we arrived! It was so so yummy! Angel hair pasta, broccoli, chicken, and Alfredo sauce with asparagus and salad. Then they took us out to see their town and showed us the cancer center here and told us all about the special days cedar city has. They took us to a great shaved ice shack too. You'll hear more about them tomorrow! 

Today's run was dedicated by Bradley Baskir to Josie Toochin. 

These are the word's he had to share about Josie:

"Josie was one of most selfless people I have ever known. Everything she did was done with the widest of smiles and the greatest amount of warmth. One of the kindest, most gentle people I have ever come into contact with - not a single bad bone in her body. Completely unprompted, Josie threw me an amazing high school graduation brunch, for which I am forever grateful. If I can be half the mensch Josie was, I know I'll have done something right in my life." - Bradley Baskir

We all know people like Josie. The one person that always has a smile on their face and is always there to make our day a little brighter. The fact that Josie was diagnosed with cancer and could still be that smiley friend that lifted other's spirits shows us how we need to really appreciate the good things (including health) that we are blessed with. This run is definitely making me realize that more and more. So here's to Josie - thanks for pushing me on to finish my miles today!