AT14 Day 30: Marshall Ullrich

6/13 Friday
Doyle->501
1143->1190

Well it didn't seem to rain that much last night.  Maybe I made a mistake.  But my feet are a worlds better, so maybe not.  I ran 2 miles on pavement to start the day.  So my feet were dry for a little.  Had a nice little climb to start.  I felt heavy and probably was.  I ate too much and didn't run far enough.  But thats okay. I  will be down some weight in a few hours.  I got sprinkled on from 9 to 10am. I thought well that wasn't so bad. We are done with the rain for a few days and things will finally dry out.  All of a sudden there was a sharp pain shooting up from my right foot/toes.  I tried to move the foot around in the shoe. But nothing worked. It was so painful it made me nauseous and I threw up.  This is not good.  I stopped took it off. My foot didn't look that bad.  I picked some dirt/rock out of one of the sores.  I ate some cheesy crackers while I waited for it to dry a bit.  I rubbed some neosporin on it, wrapped it in some toilet paper and duct tape, then shoved it back in the shoe.  Seemed better. Started running. Better, but still really painful.  This is not good.  This could shorten my day again. Hmm. Ok I got it.  Good ole Marshall Ullrich trick.  Dudes badass. Done a bunch of stuff crazier than this and is known for having his toenails surgically removed.  I look up to him because he is hardcore and intuitive.  He figures out what works and does it.  He ran across the US a couple of years ago at the age of 57. He didn't get the record he was going for. But he averaged something like 60 miles a day and set the masters record.  Anyhow, he has a book, "Running on empty" and I read it about a year ago.  It is a good book; if you enjoy what I am doing, you should read it.  So in the book, I believe it is plantar fascititis, but he is in a lot of pain.  He decides to just tell himself it is not his foot and ignore it.  Well that apparently worked for him, so why not try it.  So..."thats not my foot, thats not my foot, thats not my foot."  Well, the pain went away.  I mean I think the pain was still there, but I was full on ignoring it.  Wow, I couldn't believe it.  Well a few hours of running later(pennslyvania is flat) it started to pour.  Not much in the way of lightning. But just pouring. Big drops. Now I was having fun. Remember when you were a kid and you would go splash around in the rain and stomp puddles.  Well I never grew up. And I refuse to. It was so much fun.  It was easy to follow the trail.., it was the creek.  I thought maybe I would blow up my dry sac and float this thing.  But then I thought against it, might be considered cheating.  The rain stopped after a few hours and I was almost sad.  It instantly became sunny, hot and humid. Ugh, talk about grossness. I had a decent climb to eat dinner on. And then 10 miles flat across the ridge, made for some nice running. But it rained a bit on me at the end. So once again showing up to camp dripping wet.  But I didn't care.  Today was awesome.  I ran 47 miles, splish-splashed like a kid and got rid of some nasty pain by using jedi mind tricks. 

I didn't mention before...the day I saw my brother, I thought "I could just get in this car right now and be home in Albany, sleeping in a warm bed in just 8 hours."  But I couldn't quit. I hadn't even made it halfway...DAMN 31 more miles.  Haha. Then the next night at the Allenbury, I had a dream I was quitting and going home. 
I will not quit. I am in this until Maine. Today really strengthened my belief that I will figure it out and I will get to Maine on the sooner side than later. 

On a more ridiculous note; I will be resupplying at a candy shop.  And yes I will be a kid in a candy shop.  So excited. You stay classy San Diego. 

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 15, 2014 at 1:38 PM

    Hey Joey! You don't know me but my friend Cyril posted about your trip on Facebook and I've been following your blog. Just wanted to say I admire your fortitude and think what you're doing is really inspiring. Plus I'm mega jealous. Hope everything goes well and wanted you to know that you got another person out there pulling for you to keep it up. Stay safe and healthy out there, man. And keep us updated!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nolans 41

Image
It was early February and things seemed honky dory.   We had the perfect season going, zero to 60 and it just kept right on snowing.   350” from November 20 th until February 6 th .   Pow was plentiful, turns were deep, and life was how its suppose to be.   But then I felt it.   A shudder.   A glitch in matrix.   Disturbance in the force.   Well, okay.   I had seen a news report of a “bad virus” wreaking havoc in China and that it was expected to become a pandemic.   And then an atmospheric river hit.   6.5” of water in 60 hours and with a lot of wind.   We were interlodged for 53 hours(not allowed to go outside).   That was bizarre.   But no biggie.   Back to life.   But the snow stopped.   And the rumors grew.   We are a large ski lodge that has guests from all over the world crammed into tight quarters.   I was worried about an outbreak.   Finally, there were rumors of closing, I was relieved.   We were getting derailed in slow motion.   As someone who has struggled with anxiety
Read more

WURL, And I think to myself...

Image
              9 years ago I moved to Alta.  Ever since, Ive stared up at these ridgelines in awe of mother earth.  Isnt she lovely?  I tried to run and scramble on as much of these rocks as I could.  By the end of the summer 2012, I realized I had done much of the route I had just recently heard of (The WURL).  In 2013, it was my goal to do the route in its entirety.  One weekend, I set off from Fergy and crested over sugarloaf and descended home.   Next morning, hiked up Baldy and finished the route.  Total time something like 36 hours with sleeping 8 hours in the middle.  I repeated a similar outing in 2015, “getting more comfortable with the route” I told myself.  But all out efforts on the AT, PCT, and a big ole bike tour, hindered feeling 100% in other years.  So last summer 2018, with no hinderances, I tried. Lots of ridges, Lots of Lonely time             First time.  Moving well, but fading a bit over baldy/hidden.  I got up Red Stack to see a big ol nasty dark cloud over
Read more

Utah Thirteeners

This summer has been a struggle for sure. After spending 3.5 days in the hospital running every test possible, the doctors still did not know what was wrong with me. It was clear that I had had Myocarditis, but that had since cleared up. At first I thought I was on my way to healing up, but then I relapsed and became ill again. I spent a lot of time thinking about what it could be and what I could do. I figured since it felt like Lyme and it would be no harm, I ordered up my herbal remedies for Lyme from before. It worked, not great, but they cleared up my joint pain, swelling, and even made my mental state better. However; the deep fatigue I had been feeling was very slow to improve. I figured I was trying to push through illness, which would additionally stress my already weakened body. I emphasized rest and sleep, but still slow progress. I often thought, “Is this it?” “Is my life over?” “What am I going to do with limited energy and time?” “Am I dying?” It sucked. It
Read more