Gatorade? Who needs Gatorade?

Well, obviously there are some people out there who didn't think we needed that Gatorade on our 18 mile run today. We were somewhat concerned about how we would feel running 18 miles following a 122 mile bike day. But as the run started, to our amazement, the four of us were feeling pretty good. We ran at the St. Marks trail, not because it's convenient, but because it is FLAT. Michelle and Karen put out aide stations at three different places on the run. To our surprise, someone took our "stuff" out of one of the coolers but left the cooler. Our coolers are packed with Gatorade, water, gu, shot blocks (gummies for triathletes), Ibuprofen, salt tablets....anything we could possibly need on an eighteen mile run. Needless to say, we were pissed. We cussed, ranted, and couldn't believe someone took our stuff out of the cooler. But we decided there was nothing we could do...so just suck it up and keep going. When we approached the mile marker of our next cooler we could NOT believe it but someone had taken the ENTIRE cooler. Now we were really pissed, cussing, and trying to figure out what we were going to do. We always, always try to stay positive in our training but this was making it difficult. Someone said (not even sure who it was), "Okay guys, lets just figure out what we are going to do; we have to stay positive because we HAVE to get in our 18 miles." For us, turning back was NEVER an option. Then someone said, "Let's just pray." And thats what we did, right there at mile 8 of our 18 mile run. The four of us prayed. And we came up with a plan that we would go to the one cooler that we were unsure if someone had taken. A leap of faith. (Yes, we prayed that cooler would still be there.) And there it was!! We did the remaining miles circling around that cooler. And we got in our eighteen miles.

At mile 16, we began talking about Maggie and Mac. For some reason on this particular day, (hmm...maybe it was because we rode 122 miles the day before and had 16 miles behind us and were physically worn down), we all became tearful. Then Robin said, "And we were worried about someone stealing our coolers." Funny how God always puts things in perspective for you. I have to say, this was one of the best eighteen mile runs the four of us have had despite having to deal with a little adversity.