Day 5 -- April 16th

km: 16            to date: 148
End point: behind Megan's store/gas just past Southern Harbour exit

bottles/cans: 11        to date: 274
cups: 4                        to date: 21

Money spent: $5        to date: $49

Temp: -8 partly cloudy, strong N winds!

Tuesday I wanted to ask a meteorologist a question. Today I wanted to punch one in the face.
Not a female meteorologist mind you, no pretty lady reporting on the news or anything. I pictured a man working for the weather network, sitting in a comfortable chair, in a warm office, looking at satellite pictures and graphs on his monitor and coming up with numbers with the same logic as a gambler betting on a roulette wheel. They were calling for winds of 30km/hour today. I'd be willing to bet it was more than double that. So as the day went on, I just thought about walking up to this imaginary weather man and saying a friendly "hello", right before punching him in the nose.

Speaking of nose, mine's in pretty bad shape. Red and blistering from a combination of sunburn and windburn I guess. I taped gauze over it today. Didn't help my looks but I wasn't expecting to run into anyone. No one in their right mind would pull over in this kinda weather. Best to stay inside a warm car....hurry on to a warm home.  (Sigh)

A little harsh? Haha.. maybe the bitter winds are rubbing off on me. The day didn't start off like that though:

I slept in late (even for me) and was in no hurry to leave my comfortable tent. I could hear the winds howling outside and dreaded the thought of facing them. I considered taking a rest day. My legs, feet and back seemed to agree that this was a marvelous idea.

Thing is, I was out of water. Also the site I picked to pitch my tent last night protected me from the winds at the time.... but not the change of direction and increased velocity of today. As sturdy as my new tent was, I didn't want to risk any poles snapping.

So I finally worked up enough courage to begin the fun task of breaking camp and packing everything up before losing feeling in my hands. A frustrating hour later I was on the highway heading north. Directly into the wind.

Stopping for water at a fast moving stream, I managed to fill up two of my bottles before the third slipped out of my numb fingers. I watched helplessly as it sailed away out of sight. I tried to comfort myself rationalizing that the stainless steel bottle isn't as harmful to the environment as a plastic one would have been. Still, it bothered me. There I was.... littering.

Back on the road I had a tough time. I could run the downhills despite the fact that the wind kept trying to push Oskar back up (he's not very aerodynamic). The flats I could manage a slow trot at great cost of energy. But on the uphills my pace slowed to a crawl.

I remember as a child being out on cold winter days that it helped to walk backwards into the wind from time to time. Keep your face from freezing off and catch your breath for a few minutes. Anyone else do that?

I had to resort to this several times toady going up one long hill in particular. I wondered if anyone had ever crossed Canada walking backwards. And if so how many times they fell? To prevent any falls today I would walk forward a hundred steps scanning the shoulder ahead before turning around and walking backward a hundred steps knowing the coast was clear. I stuck mostly to the gravel as the rumble strips on the pavement were still annoying.
Finally reaching the top of this monster hill I could clearly see the other mountain that I had camped on last night. Judging the distance and glancing at my watch, I figured I'd travelled about 4km in an hour and a half.

To keep my mind busy, I worked out some calculations. At that rate, moving 8 hours a day, with no breaks whatsoever, it would take about 430 days to reach the West coast. That would put me into Vancouver middle of June 2016. Just in time to begin next summer's clean up run! : )

I was startled out of these wonderful thoughts by my own heavy breathing and sore legs. Somehow I was climbing another steep grade although I didn't remember any corresponding downhill.
I struggled on, head down against the cold, not bothering to keep an eye on the oncoming traffic. It was pure misery.

I thought back to some of my tough times in my earlier running events. The ones where I didn't train enough or the hills were brutal like in the Seattle Marathon. During those moments I would often fantasize about a car swerving out onto the course and clipping me. Not enough to do any permanent damage though.... ..just a bad bruise or scrape to take me out of the race. Maybe lie down on a cot or hospital bed and be allowed some blissful rest.

Alas, in the countless marathons I've run in no such thing ever happened. And somehow I  managed to finish all but one of them. Perhaps it was this knowledge that not only kept me going up that last hill, but gave me the strength to raise my head as well. Or maybe it was the understanding that a 'clip' from a car at highway speeds would end in a cold, painful demise on the side of the highway rather than a warm hospital bed with pretty nurses fussing over me.

On and on, one step at a time. Like the 40 Grouse Grinds in seven days to celebrate my 40th birthday week. I was a man of extremes. I could do this.

Eventually, I came to a gas station and went inside to ask the gentleman working there if I could pitch my tent behind the building. He called the owner and got the thumbs up. I set up the tent with the usual frozen hands, blew up my floor mat wIth the usual shortness of breath, and crawled into my sleeping bag wondering how long it would take to stop shivering.

All in all I had come 16km. It was the toughest challenge in recent memory. I would say the toughest ever... but then again it's been a long and interesting life so far. And each hardship I face, no matter how extreme, always gives me that much more confidence for the next one.

Tomorrow is going to be a good day. If for no other reason then the fact that I'll wake up knowing I made it though this one. And that's likely to bring a smile.