I'm Kinda Tired...

There is a movie that is out now called "Running the Sahara." It was filmed by a National Geographic crew and produced by Matt Damon. The crew follows 3 runners as they attempt to run across the Sahara desert... 4,600 miles in 111 days!

Do the math... that's over 40 miles of running each day!

On February 20, Charlie, Ray and Kevin touched the Red Sea, just a few hours before sunset. Their quest had lasted 111 days and taken them through 6 countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt. By the team's daily GPS record, they had traveled over 4,300 miles (6,920 kilometers). They fought through injury and extreme fatigue to reach their goal, which changed them forever.

Check it out here. I look forward to seeing this movie... most likely via DVD.

I bring that up because it hit me today why I'm so tired... I've run 19 miles in the past 4 days.

Now while my achievement pales in comparsion to their run, it has been something a bit unusual. Most runners know that you don't run more than 3 days in a row. Your body needs a break... a day of rest, so to speak.

However, given my schedule and the recent increased demands upon it (professional and personal), it became necessary to make some adjustments... and sacrifices!

Today I met Chandra out at White Rock Lake. It was a lot "trashier" than a week ago. In Dallas, we have had a lot of heavy rains in recent days. When that happens, the White Rock Creek fills up and pushes trash into the lake. It's disgusting... but the creek collects all of the storm water from the neighborhoods... and thus, you have a mess at the lake. Ahh, the plight of the urban lake.

For a runner, the conditions were awesome! 51 degrees, no wind, and not very crowded. After a mile of walking, we started our run. Within the first mile, I was struck with a rather uncomfortable predicament: I had to pee.

You know, you go and go and go before you start your runs... but inevitably, something like this happens to me a few times a year. We started scouting for the "port-o-potties," and found 2 of them after the first mile.

Well my friends, public tur-lets are just freakin' disgusting. You move to a different level when they are "portable." Now put one in a park with easy access and availability, and you never know what's going to greet you when you swing open that door.

Of the 2, only one was free. I quickly discovered why... I should have been clued before opening the door and I saw a runner of toilet paper coming out from the door. Opening it up, I found what appeared to be the results of a bomb exploding inside a "very used" toilet. Literally. Figuratively. Any which way you can picture it or envision it, it was just horribly horribly bad.

As I joined Chandra on the trail, she was laughing at what I must have seen. However, I wasn't talking... I was gagging. I thought I was about to lose whatever was in my stomach at the time. I kept thinking of that bathroom stall I saw in Guatemala... this wasn't as bad, but it was darn close.

Have you ever seen the movie, "Desperado?" If you have, think of "that toilet." It was probably just as bad...

After 2 miles of sloshing, I found another pair of turdlets. I quickly left Chandra, and headed down to them (they were below the trail and close to the lake). The setting was quite serene... I thought, "Ahh... maybe these will be nice." Well, that thought died quickly...

As I opened the door to the handicapped one, I saw it did not have a urinal... hmm... which leads only "the hole" to set my sights on and start shootin'. Well, you gotta "see" to "fire" and what I "saw" was not "human"! I have no idea what that was or how it came out of the human body, but I quickly left and opened door #2.

This one had the urinal... but there was a lot of "action" that had gone on in there before me... so I stared down the only clean section of wall in front of me as I forced all of that liquid out of my system as quickly as I could. "Damn the aim," I thought... "Just gun it and go!"

Finally... an empty tank and I'm ready to really run! And Chandra was still laughing...

So now we were cookin'. We ran and chatted and noted runners and discussed the flowering plants that we saw. I ran up the spillway again (I didn't do that 2 years ago), and we ran into Kevin on the other side of the lake (he was preparing for a bike ride).

We finished up our 7 miles - the picture above is from my Garmin GPS of our run. What it doesn't show you is that the first and last miles were walks as the lake is 9 miles around. Our average pace was 10:58, and we burned 1450 calories. Not bad for a day's work!

I know some of you "non-runners" enjoy reading this blog because of the story lines. I mean, who doesn't like a good "pee" story?

However, I want to encourage each of you to see Running The Sahara - especially the runners and what they go through in their quest. I couldn't imagine it... but then again, I'm just an amateur trying to do something good for his life.

Now if I can only gain better control of my bladder... I guess that all Depends. hahahaha