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June 11th – Utah to California

 


I awoke with the thoughts, ‘Yesterday was the 42nd Anniversary of hubby proposing to me, among other things. I can’t believe I forgot that.’ Fatigue was still present, yet my personal running journey said to pay no mind to it. It comes with the territory of me being me. When I feel tired, especially dragging on a run the following thought arrives—‘Remember, this is a test of your mind. Tell your body what to do and it will obey. Do not give in. Because once you do, you’ll never be the runner you’d dreamed of being again. It’s all about the mind. Pushing the physical envelope in running is all about the mind. I need a stronger mind to be in constant forward motion every day and some days longer than others. Some days are all interconnected with multiple days with barely any sleep. I have to get back to five-minute naps. You know at times there will be no rest. Accept that and keep moving forward. Any other direction at this point of your limited time on this earth is a waste. Use what you got.’

The second thought comes, ‘—and when the hell are you going to get your ass in gear and begin speed drills again Jody? You need speed.’ A scene from the movie Rocky 2 creeps in-between my prayers on my run. “What you need is greasy, fast lightning speed. You’re gonna’ eat lightning and you’re gonna’ crap thunder—We’ll have to put you in a cage kid.”---Mic, Rocky’s Trainer

I was out for a run on the hiking and mountain bike trails I’d yet to venture onto at half past six. The goal was to leave by half past eight, get gas, ice and check my oil, again.  I considered getting a coffee. I needed some kind of different twist of flavor that morning. The free Green Mountain coffee was cool, but I just wanted hot coffee that I could pour into my mini eight-year-old 12 ounce sippy-coffee thermos thingy for the potentially hot desert drive to California. I knew not what the weather in Arizona and Neveda on I-15 would hold in its future for me. It’s always good to prepare to slay the dragon with a hot cup of black coffee.

With the driver’s side window rolled down during the drive through the rest of Utah went without issue, and soon I was in Arizona on the 15. This would be a different route from last year’s drive to Hollywood. Last year I purposely took two detours, one to Lone Pine California through Death Valley, where last year it’d hit 124 degrees as I’d arrived in Stove Pipe Wells to take pictures. That heat was refreshing, but my cell phone screamed at me back then. It wanted an air-conditioned vehicle before I did. The other was to Goleta, a town near Santa Barabara, just days before getting to Hollywood, to help our eldest move into a new residence for her final year at UCLA in the summer of 2024.

This drive through the desert was eleven months and two weeks from that drive in 2024, so I figured it’d be cooler, as the official day of the summer solstice hadn’t yet arrived. The days, however, were markedly longer. The increase of sunshine in the day was quite the welcome. Back home, it’d rained seemingly every day in May or was cloudy most or all day in May into June most days. I figured by now the state of New Jersey must be out of the drought that had begun in the autumn of 2024.

I glanced over at the temperature gage for the outside temperature. It’d crept up to 92 degrees. I watched as it crept up way past 100 degrees. Still with the window rolled down on the highway it felt like 78 degrees to me. I was comfortable. I contemplated that I’d not be getting a second run in for the day. It wasn’t just the fatigue. It was that after I’d check into my hotel, then drive over to our eldest’s’ new digs after our shopping for her apartment, I would offer to take her out for dinner. And by the time I’d get back to the Hollywood Hotel it’d be too late. And I could feel I needed a rest, at least in the psychological sense.

Before I knew it, I was at the new studio apartment our daughter now resides in. It was cute; however, it was missing a few things like a dresser, a couch, a television, and a few other essentials. I was impressed that one of the first things she’d purchased was a vacuum cleaner. Her closet spaces were ‘ginormous!’. She also got a nice full refrigerator, bigger than ours back home with no ice machine, she paid $600, as it was on sale. I was like ‘whoa momma!’ Great shopper she is for certain.

After our chat, she’d scoped out items online. I financially aided some of her final purchases. Too, promised her that before graduation we would buy her the electronics she needed as well as a television. It was now seven in the evening. I asked about dinner. I heard, “I’m too tired.” From her. “Me too.” I remarked. With that I gave her a hug and left, as she locked up behind me. Before I knew it, I was back at the hotel. Anthony who’d greeted me earlier to park my car was there. Funny enough as I’d pulled in hours earlier, we’d recognized each other immediately from last year. I came to register my car with him, smiling he said, “I remember you. You used to drive big trucks.” I nodded. We laughed.---Jody-Lynn Reicher

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