Day 39 | mile 672.8 - 702.2

This was the worst night of sleep on the trail thus far. The weather was perfect, the stars were out, I was very very tired. I don’t know why I was having such a hard time. It felt more like a nap than a good night’s sleep. The moon was crazy bright once it rose. My nose was stuffed up because I didn’t blow it before going to bed. I was waking up all night long. I got up to pee at 4, and deep sleep finally came. I woke up at 5:30 and didn’t want to get up.

Oatmeal with perfect bar for breakfast. Walking by 6:30. It was beautiful. I wish I had gotten started earlier for better pictures.

I had to choose pretty early this morning whether I was going to try to hit Kennedy Meadows before the store closed at 5 pm. (I have a couple of packages there.) That would be 30 miles by 5 pm. Pretty aggressive.

I went out at my normal pace (3 mph). But with water stops, I feels like I can’t accurately predict when I’ll be at any spot. I figured I’d wait until I’m halfway there to decide whether I was going to really go for it.

Hahahah are you silly? Of course I went for it.

I went for it hard. I didn’t take any breaks. Ate all my snacks while walking: an old clif bar, a really old perfect bar, banana, orange. The sun was relentless and I wanted to stop and just sit in the shade for 10 minutes (or an hour) so bad. I skipped the last two water sources to make it. All the wrong things.

It was really unpleasant from 12-4. You know when the sun is so bright and you have the hat and sunglasses on and your eyes still just want to close. Maybe it’s the sunscreen getting in my eyes? That whole afternoon section seemed more like a timelapse to me. I would do these long blinks (walk with my eyes closed for a couple of seconds), so I was missing a lot of “frames”.

Finally came in at 5:05. The store was still open, but they weren’t doing packages anymore... agh. I bought 2 orange san pellegrinos. I don’t think I’ve ever drunk a can of anything this fast. Did I shotgun a san pellegrino?

I was being really hard on myself for not walking faster to make it. Or stopping to take a picture or put on sunscreen. Now that it’s been a few hours, it doesn’t seem like a bit deal to just get the packages in the morning. Now I’m mad at myself for being mad at myself earlier.

I made mac and cheese on my stove and came in to watch the hockey game at the store. Capitals won! It’s 3-1 now. Go Caps!

Going to sleep now. I get to sleep in tomorrow because the store doesn’t open until 9. What will I do??