I was glad to find myself uneaten by bears when I woke up. I began hiking and, after about a mile and a half, was passed by a couple of trail runners. There was a young guy, Chad I think, who is a science teacher (he says he loves his job which is good because that's the route I will be taking when I get off the trail). Chad was running with Cheryl Z. I had her last name in my phone but apparently it didn't get saved.
Cheryl said she was running up to the pass, which at that point was like 13.6 miles away. Chad was turning back shortly, so I'm not sure how far they had already run. Anyway, that got me thinking about how much I miss running, and wondering what I could do now that I have decently strong trail legs under me. I waited until the runners were out of sight so nobody would witness my folly, and then began to jog a little.
By this point I had eaten through most of the food in my pack, so I was probably only carrying 30 to 35 pounds. Even so, 200 yards later my body said "no thanks," and I went back to hiking. Chad had already passed going the other way, but then I saw Cheryl up ahead on the hillside. She had joined with a new jogger and were maybe 200 yards in front of me. I thought it would be fun to see how long I could stay within 200 yards, so I kept up a pattern of jogging a stretch, then hiking to recover, then jogging again. The next time I looked up I was within 100 yards. Encouraged, I kept up the pace.
Eventually I caught up to Cheryl and the other jogger, Eddie. Eddie lost 50 pounds in the last 5 months and is looking to get in better shape so he can be an exercise science guru and, in his words, a badass. Apparently he met Cheryl through a facebook running group, and she agreed to help him today. She was going his pace, which meant hiking interspersed with jogging, or else I never would have caught up. I say that with confidence because, as I learned, Cheryl is an ultra-marathon runner. That means races of 50 and 100+ miles. She ran a 135 mile race in January and is gearing up for her fourth run at Badwater. For those who don't know, that's a race that runs from Death Valley up to the top of Mt. Whitney. Cheryl will be going for a double or triple meaning running all the way there and back, and possibly there again. That's around 400 miles I think for the triple, and well over 40,000 feet of elevation change. When she completes either the double or triple she will be the oldest woman to ever achieve such a feat (at age 54).
Anyway, now that I had foolishly caught up, I couldn't back down, so I continued on at their pace, alternately jogging and hiking. The trail climbs from 3400 feet to 4200, and then back down to 3000. Cheryl and I got to the top, where she waited for Eddie to catch up. I decided to keep going lest I lose all momentum and reality (and pain) come crashing back in. I stopped briefly to take a picture out over the pass, then set off. With the downhill I did more hiking than jogging, in order to avoid undue stress on my joints. The trail took me through a lovely creek canyon, and then suddenly I was at highway 15. I had made a half marathon, and though I probably actually jogged only 3 or 4 miles of it, with a 30 pound pack I felt pretty accomplished.
Cheryl arrived right after me and, after splashing sweat off in the creek, I walked with her a little less than half a mile to the McDonald's, where her family was waiting to pick her up. I thanked her for the motivation and then contemplated the menu with growing glee. I decided I deserved a treat (punishment?) And ordered 20 chicken mcnuggets, 2 cheeseburgers, large fries, and a vanilla shake. I ate all but 10 nuggets, which went in my pack for dinner. My verdict: I never liked McDonald's before, and if hundreds of miles on trail couldn't make their food any more appealing, then I give up on them. It was gross, as I should have predicted.
I had made 15 miles in about 3.5 hours. It was only noon, so I killed time filtering water from the creek while dozing in the shade. Exhaustion hit. Still, I forced myself up, loaded my extra water bottle for a dry stretch ahead, and hiked uphill in the sun for another 5.5 miles past Mormon Rocks (pictured). I was just about delirious with exhaustion when I found this water cache. Some trail angels left not only water, but lawn furniture as well. I have my stuff laid out on a poolside recliner, where I intend to sleep like the dead tonight (pictured).
I made 21 trail miles today, 22 if you count the trip to McDonald's, where incidentally I was a bit of a sideshow with my pack. Tomorrow it's 16 more miles to the trail down into Wrightwood. Lot's of elevation gain, so I better get some sleep!
