After an amazing week number 34, it is time to review this week and bring a more precise perspective on my running journey. This week’s goal is to accomplish 636.8 miles of running, let us see whether I will be able to achieve it or not.
Day 1 – Sunday, August 30, 2020 – Quarantine Day 167
The first day of the running week was spent moving my stuff from my old apartment. Today was my official moving day, so I knew it would take the entire day for me as I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the past three years here in Michigan.
I rented a van from the Home Depot and had to fetch my stuff twice before setting it up at my friend’s place. Due to all the moving and driving, my back was in some pain, but I could bear it. I spent the evening resting and relaxing my body.
Day 2 – Monday, August 31, 2020 – Quarantine Day 168
That brings us to Monday. This week is pretty short for me as we are planning for camping and hiking in UP. UP is my most favorite place on the planet Earth and I don’t miss any chance to visit it. This would be our second visit to UP and I couldn’t be more excited to do that.
Having conveyed my plans, I needed to get some miles in before heading to UP. That’s why I decided to go out for a long run. I spent almost 8 hours in front of my laptop, so definitely needed to get away with my thoughts. Plus, it was Zoom’s quarterly earnings and I just needed to get away from the stock news to give me a little breather.
The run turned out to be more difficult than I thought. It had been a while I ran on the normal road, so my legs definitely took some time to recognize the super-hard surface, which affected my overall pace. However, I am okay with pace, as long as I complete the distance. This was a special run as it was the 10th Half Marathon for me and I couldn’t be more proud of myself. I remember my friends messaging me to let me know the stock price, so I had to stop for a moment and digest in the profit that I was making on my investments. It was a fun day!
My run was followed by some soccer practice with the kids, for which I was super tired but still went ahead and played some soccer with them.
Day 3 – Tuesday, September 01, 2020 – Quarantine Day 169
The 10th Half Marathon was followed by a quick 5k at the NHS’ Tartan Track. Kids insisted that they had this new grown appreciation for running after watching several soccer videos and us adults explaining to them how important running is for soccer.
They love soccer and after knowing how important running is, they really wanted to go out for a run and we ended up going to NHS and the kids could finish 5 laps of the track, which amounts to roughly 1.5 miles of distance.
After they had enough run for the day and adults finishing up their respective 5Ks, it was time to pass a soccer ball around and they had fun doing that!
Day 4 – Wednesday, September 02, 2020– Quarantine Day 170
This was the official rest day for the week. I was so excited for the long weekend that I woke up earlier than usual today. I knew we had so much stuff to take care and whenever that happens, I get up early in the morning just to get some headstart on the pile of work.
Anyway, two days of consecutive running made today as the rest day and for good reasons too. I finished the work at a regular time and headed out to shop for some last-minute supplies. As we were camping in UP, we wanted to be prepared for every possible scenario, as it is an 8-hour drive from our place. We cooked, packed, and made sure everything was planned.
It was such a good relief to look at the car stuffed with camping stuff. It was a feeling with 1000 goosebumps. We leave at 8 AM tomorrow morning.
Day 5 – Thursday, September 03, 2020– Quarantine Day 171
What a feeling! Man, why didn’t we do this before?
I didn’t know camping was going to be this much fun. The location was AuTrain Lake Campground. The 8-hour drive didn’t seem to have any effect on us when we reached the campground. I would like to thank the host of the campground because we got the best surprise on our arrival – our name written on the board outside our camping site. I cannot tell you how special and happy we were. That was a small thing to do but had such a major happiness impact on me.
After enjoying the campsite for a few minutes, it was time to set camps, which took roughly about 20 minutes. After the camps were set, we purchased the wooden blocks from our camp host and started the campfire. We emptied the car with all the supplies and then started prepping for dinner.
We decided to cook Indian Khichdi for dinner, which was super easy and quick to make. The Propane Stove from Coleman is so easy to use and carry that we hardly had any issues while cooking food. People, place, and delicious food were the highlights for the dinner for me. It was such an amazing feeling to sit under the trees and eating warm food in the company of people you love. Such an awesome feeling, I tell you!
Once the dinner was done, it was time to head out to the nearby grocery store to get some fresh supplies such as milk and eggs for some evening hot chocolate and stories around the campfire.
The kids loved the hot chocolate and they couldn’t be happier experiencing camping at such a young age. The most fun we had when the kids started telling us haunted stories. Those were cute and the kids loved it when we were scared hearing their haunted stories.
Man, too many beautiful moments from this day to capture in just 10 photos.
Day 6 – Friday, September 04, 2020– Quarantine Day 172
The morning of the camping was equally pleasant if you leave the cold night aside. The temperatures dropped to almost 10F during the night and good that we had both the sleeping bags and some layers to avoid the cold. It was an amazing feeling to sleep in the tent under the stars.
When we woke up in the morning, it was time to feed our hungry souls with some bread omelet. We cooked it together and had it while sitting around the campfire. The breakfast was followed by some coffee, which I had some hard time making in the woods. But, still managed to take a few sips before we started packing our camping stuff and move out to our next destination – Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
The packing was more difficult than we initially thought. It drizzled a little bit yesterday evening and night, so we had to deal with some water while packing our camping stuff. Also, it is not easy to pack sleeping bags once they were open. We spent almost an hour loading everything in the car so that we have a comfortable journey back home later in the day.
The last time we were at Pictured Rocks, we hiked for 12 miles. Today, we didn’t want to stretch us that much, so ended up hiking only 7-8 miles. The kids had fun hiking initially but as time passed, they started tiring out, so I had to pick up the younger one 3-4 times. We were welcomed by Lake Superior with high tides and so much wind, dropping the temperatures down. As it was the Laber Day weekend, they were many people at the spot, so we had to park at least half a mile from the trailhead, which added to our hiking distance. The kids were overjoyed to see our car in the parking lot, which meant the end of the hike to them.
After finishing up the hike, it was time to have some food and head home, finally! We made it home at around 11 PM, and went straight to the bed, tired and sleepy! It was a good day to be around people you love!
Day 7 – Saturday, September 05, 2020– Quarantine Day 173
& that brings us to the end of the week. I couldn’t run as much as I wanted due to the long weekend and our travel plans, but, that didn’t deter me from having a good time. I had a plan to run in the evening, but I couldn’t do that since we headed to Ann Arbor in the afternoon to explore the city and have some good time.
I didn’t mind skipping the run for the day as we were enjoying the long weekend and that’s what it is about – lazying around and sometimes doing nothing, am I right? Check out some pictures from that day from the beautiful city of Ann Arbor.
I couldn’t finish 22 miles for the week, it was just 16 miles. But, the goal of 636.8 miles by the end of this week was certainly achieved.
Before you go, check out the weekly highlights below.
See you next week!
stochasticity 