Surprise surprise, I was last out of camp again today. I was out of my hammock early but somehow the other two just got through their morning chores so much quicker than me and I was the last out again. But that’s ok. I kind of like being at the end of the line now. It makes me feel like I don’t have to rush ever. 

And so I casually left camp and strolled forward. It was cold but not terrible. I had my sweatshirt on but probably could have done without it. As I walked, I thought to something my doctor (still ChatGPT) had said when I was asking her about new shoes. She recommended a few pairs that allowed me to more easily heal strike and roll onto my toes. I wanted to see what would happen if I emulated that in my current shoes. They weren’t designed for this so it wouldn’t be perfect, I figured, but it would give me a sense. 

It went so much better than I expected. Whenever I walked with the proper heal, toe roll, I had no pain. It seemed to fix my stride issues and had me walking like rob the PT would’ve wanted. I kept heal toe rolling and kept going further and faster. I heal toe rolled right past the 800 mile marker!

I was feeling great and didn’t want to stop so I didn’t have lunch until I had already walked 15 miles. But then I saw a creek with a perfect lunch rock set up in the middle of it. I took off my shoes, set up on the rock and ate with my feet dangling into the water. It felt glorious. 

Getting out, however, was not as fun. As I started up again, my ankles were frozen. They locked up as I tried to walk and pain shot through my knee and legs and my feet with every step. But once again I was able to get them going and fell back into my stride. 

I caught up to baby talk as she was taking a sit break (apparently a frequent occurrence for her) just a few miles from camp. I told her I couldn’t stop because I didn’t want my joints freezing up again. But she said “real quick. They apparently sell uncrustables in the Shenandoahs (where we will be shortly), how many do you think you’d need to eat to survive on those alone?”

I know my uncrustsbles. “15,” I responded without missing a beat. “They’re 200 calories each. 15 gets you to 3,000”

By the time we got to camp, rocket had a fire going. We sat around eating dinner until it was time to break out the rummy. It was a crazy back and forth game but right now baby talk is in the lead. Stay tuned to see if our hero can stage a comeback next time. 

Key stats:

Miles: 23

Elevation gained: 6,200 ft

Mile marker: 816