Marathon Tomorrow with 57 days of training

 Me in my Vibrams.

 I busted all the skin off of my big toe; you can see where I bled through my shoes.

Blood, sweat, and tears. Last Sunday I ran three loops around the Kilauea Iki trail, but I had intended to run five loops. 12 miles of pain. The Sun was blazing in a cloudless sky, and I was back in the protective canopy of the forest. Less than a mile left of my first four mile loop, and I couldn't help steal glances at the sheer beauty of watching Pele's Home, Halema'uma'u, steaming just past the crater I was running through. I was thinking how I hadn't brought anything to offer/thank Pele for cruising her turf so often recently. As I peered at the emissions billowing up, I kick a tree root so hard before I could react I was doing the Superman. I flew head first into a ditch, and I had to do the old tuck and roll. I skinned my hands, scraped my hip, blew all the skin off my big toe, and jammed two of my other toes. I rolled around in the dirt for a few seconds, and was thankful no one saw. I jumped up, and began hobbling down the trail trying to force my body to run through the pain.

I forced my self to keep running. I couldn't shake the fatigue from the sixteen mile run the weekend before, and I was starting to feel dehydrated by the middle of my second loop. I was consuming plenty of water, but I had drank too much coffee in the morning, and I was paying for it.

Crossing the bottom of the Kilauea Iki crater on my third loop I jammed my busted up big toe into a out cropping of lava rock. I spun circles, and I almost F*%*ing cried. I hobble forward trying to push through the pain, and I am able to work through it by the time I reach the steep ascent to the Thurston Lava Tube parking lot.  I usually can run almost the whole hill, but I was so fatigued I couldn't make it happen, and had to walk most of it. I ended up calling it quits at the end of that loop. I figured if I pushed through then I would be in the same predicament of fatigue during the race tomorrow.

I am going to pick up my number and packet today. I will catch y'all on Monday.