6:21 AM. The wind is howling. This ain’t Oklahoma where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain. This is Bullhead City, AZ. Contrary to all known hopes and forecasts, it’s actually WINDIER and cooler than yesterday. I’ve added a long sleeve shirt lyter to my running gear; I’ll probably get warm as I go loopy (please let me get warm!) but for now the chill is slicing and dicing my morale and well being.
I’ve got a sore throat for sure. I’m popping the inspirationally laden Halls drops like an overzealous puppy chewing on ice chips. It is going to be a long day.
***
I need to talk to some geologist physicist meteorological experts. It was far *more* windy (windier?) for the opening loops but the swirling dust was significantly *less* than the day before. How does that work? Did we blow all the dust away yesterday? I suppose I should be thankful for small favors. While the opening loops once again saw some dust, it was a dusting of dust rather than a full-borne sandstorm. I barely registered the grit in my teeth as it blew through me… perhaps owing to my teeth chattering from the wind cutting to my core.
Nonetheless, as promised, the winds did eventually… I won’t say the died down but they blew at a lighter cut than earlier in the day. The rising sun helped warm my soul a bit too.
I didn’t take a lot of photos today as the course was the same as it had been for the previous day’s 12 loops. I was focused on trying to push through to get a shower before the short 45 minute drive to Needles, CA, this afternoon.
Here then are some stray shots from the day, some of people, some of sunrises, some of signs.
***
There was a bit of a cluster-snafu at the Pioneer as the housekeeping staff were ON IT today. Yesterday they didn’t get to cleaning my room until 5 PM and so I went to dinner rather than grabbing a longer nap like I’d hoped. But today they were in and out of my room before 10:15 AM. I thought I was SOL on my 11 AM checkout time but the front desk told me to go take a shower and they’d let housekeeping know they’d need to swing back. I felt guilty but also I really, really needed a shower, if nothing else to alleviate some of the residual wind chill. I posted this onto Facebook the other day but there’s a millimeter of difference between hot and cold on the shower spigot.
I made the drive out to Needles, CA, for what will be the last day of the Southwest Series… but not the last marathon of this weekend (we’ll get to that in a moment).
Steve and I hadn’t been able to find the large Spike statue when we drove through this town a few months back. Snoopy’s brother is probably the most famous resident of Needles. I caught sight of a billboard saying he was at the town’s Subway restaurant… which ironically was at the service station Steve and I stopped at but didn’t realize we just had to turn the corner to see Spike. But I saw him today. Oh, yes. And I snapped my selfie with the ol’ dog.
I’m trying to pack up stuff tonight so I can get it all to the airport without any trouble. Tomorrow I’ll have to run fast as I need to get back to LA to catch my flight to Nashville for the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkeys Marathon. Right now I don’t have a hotel in Tennessee as every place I’ve looked is either sold out or exorbitantly overpriced. I figure I’ll try one last time in the morning… and since I just saw the elevation chart for this final race during this set, I’m thinking maybe a few hours of rest in an actual bed might behoove me.
Sometimes profanity is the only way to adequately convey one’s emotions.
Re: those hills — Good Gravy, Marie!