Beyond the Blog: The Carolinas CAN Ruck For Autism

I had to review video footage of this day and my notes because of my heatstroke episode at mile 24.   (Spoiler alert: That is how the day ended.) Midway through the day, on Holden Beach, I was already toast.  But the burnt toast was yet to come.   The day started well enough.  I got to sleep at our condo in Sunset Beach, and Cheryl had returned the day before.   But the truth is, I was nearly spent at this point.   My legs, particularly my knee, ached like nothing before, my energy level was zero, and I had this bad barky cough.  It was a war of attrition and usually I can fight this fight, but my attitude was crumbling as well.  It was hard to stay positive when I felt so crappy.   So a few good miles around the condo grounds helped me ease into the day...it was a pretty morning, with the sun coming up over the Intercoastal Waterway, and the orange sky reflected off the ponds outside our building.  A day full of possibilities, for every...

Before recounting this third-to-last day of the Ruck, I want to relate something that just happened, which is kind of Ruck-related....It is August 17th, almost 3 months later, and I am still recovering (about 75% there).  My runs are shorter.   Tonight I was out on a 6-mile power run at Sunset Beach, where we are staying for a few days after dropping our daughter off at Chapel Hill.  I was running on a wooded section of road that connects a fancy new neighborhood to the Intercoastal.  I run this stretch whenever we are here, and the woods are full of critters, with deer aplenty.   Today, as I was trying my best to motor down the road, I came across four or five deer on the left side of the road, no big deal.  As I looked closer (deer are sneaky) I realized there were at least two dozen head, probably more.   I’ve never seen a herd that big, and as I got closer, they started to run parallel to me through the woods, then crossing diagonally right in fron...

Sometimes the universe smiles upon you, and things all fall into place when you are most hoping they will.   An equal number of times, the universe will dump hot coffee in your lap right before you back into your mailbox.   But on this day, everything came together is so many ways...the people we had supporting us, our guest runners, the venue of Wrightsville Beach, my physical state, and the weather itself...all swirled together in happy chaos throughout the day, making this **the best rucking day ever** Starting with our support team,  Michael was on his second full day and had found his groove.   We had a good dinner the night before and our tribe of three became a tribe of six, with Becky and Stephanie arriving that night, as well as Matt’s dad, Mike.   So we were a sizable bunch, all fired up for the Saturday event at the beach.    We were all excited about our guest runners for that day, Charlie Engle and “The Ultra-Running Guys”, Jeremy and Jeff...

Starting the day out early...who knows what lay ahead? I'd ask myself this every morning. Reflecting back on this day, I completely underestimated the significance of actually making it to the coast.  I was so focused on the mile-by-mile, day-by-day routine...and we had been making some great progress in the last few days, actually finishing the day early.  So getting to Surf City was seemingly just a point on the map, marking the beginning of my trek down the coast to Surfside Beach just five days away.   But I’ll get to that explosion of emotions in a few paragraphs.   First, about the day….     Michael steps in and takes charge!   This was the first full day of Michael providing support, and he did an awesome job of preparing some goodie bags for me full of my favorite stuff...vanilla oreos, peanut butter crackers, and more.  These were the staples of the Ruck, along with coke, potato chips, and tuna subs..which explains why I gained eight pou...