Running on Empty (22 page)

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The runner always has fluid to drink, in hand.
Strangely, I consumed no water during the run across the United States, mainly because I needed all the energy I could get. Instead, I downed Muscle Milk (vanilla and chocolate), Red Bull, Starbucks DoubleShots and Frappucinos, Ensure, root beer floats, juice, soda, and O'Doul's . . . anything tasty and full of calories.

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A proper balance of electrolytes is maintained.
We used Sustain tablets to help prevent heat fatigue and muscle cramps, with the amount depending on the temperature (more for higher heat). Not typically a sports supplement, Sustain is usually considered a first-aid supply, but I've been using it for years and have learned exactly how much I need. (You have to be careful with these, though, as they contain sodium and you don't want to overdo it.)

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There's enough food and sufficient calories to keep running and avoid bonking.
Most meals I ate on the go, either ripping open a package of something or sipping a blended smoothie of some kind as I walked. (That's why I was so excited and grateful on the very rare occasions when I got to sit down with a hot meal and use a plate and utensils.) We had a terrific Vita-Mix blender, provided by the company, that would whip up just about anything into a drink. Most days, I ingested anywhere between eight thousand to ten thousand calories a day, a lot of it from a Muscle Milk/whole milk/ coffee concoction, drinking about six ounces every hour (that's three hundred calories from the Muscle Milk, plus additional calories from whatever was mixed with it). In addition, grocery costs for my food alone were about $100 a day. What did I eat? A diet appropriate for the task: one higher in fat than would be advisable under normal circumstances, as I needed it to metabolize the rest of the food. Meals that were convenient to cook and portable. Not much in the way of vegetables, I have to admit. (Honestly, I would have had to eat a wheelbarrow of greens to get enough calories from them, and my leg and arm muscles would have been reduced to the size of string beans without the high amounts of protein I consumed.) This meant a big breakfast of eggs, bacon or sausage, toasted banana bread, orange juice, and coffee; a lunch of “real food,” like a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, tacos, or pizza; a dinner of more “real food,” like fried chicken, lasagna, or pork chops; and a fifty-mile snack of popcorn and O'Doul's, along with some other hot food (soup, macaroni and cheese, some other single-serving frozen meal—anything that could be heated in the microwave). In between, it was one of my high-calorie drinks, along with snacks like granola mix, yogurt, deli salads, or cheese and crackers. I ate very little salty or sweet snacks, like chips or cookies, and almost no candy (except for the one time I bonked somewhere in Iowa).

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Body temperature is maintained.
Early in the run, it was important to offset the heat, which meant the crew occasionally sprayed me with a cooling mist in addition to making sure that I had on lightweight clothes. Then, as it started to cool off in the heartland, we needed different material to keep me warm and dry(ish).

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Medications and supplements are administered in the proper dosage and on time.
This included my prescription medications for hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, and exercise-induced asthma, as well as pain meds as needed. Mostly, Heather kept track of all that, giving me my pills and inhaler morning and evening; doling out the supplements with breakfast (a multivitamin, a probiotic, a squirt of liquid B in my orange juice); and handing me an Ambien at night. The crew also added powdered glucosamine either with my breakfast or whenever I had a smoothie, and I took Endurox R4 twice a day. The pain meds were ramped up the farther we went, though we used over-the-counter ibuprofen exclusively. After the second foot flare-up, the crew would give me a prescription-strength dosage every six hours.

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The runner is protected from the elements as much as possible.
Although sunscreen would have been a good idea, it was sticky and irritating, so we dropped it early on, and by the time we left California, I was sporting an impressive tan. The lipshit, though, stayed with us the whole way, as I was prone to cracking and chapping and cold sores. Tubes of Neosporin and Carmex were always on hand. God only knows how many times the crew members asked one another, “Did you lip him?”

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Regular stretching, massage, and physical therapy are provided.
In addition to the scheduled stretching that Dr. Paul provided on most days, Kathleen and, later, Kira would massage me whenever I needed it. Often, it would mean lying on the grass or on the shoulder of the road somewhere, having them work out the kinks and tightness of the last hour or so. On stops when we didn't include massage, I would sleep in the back bench seat of the van, a roll of paper towels for a pillow, while hooked up to one of the cold therapy devices provided by VQ OrthoCare. The company's representative, Robert Spieler, was usually within shouting distance, and he turned out to be one of our go-to pillars of support. Each of the devices provided a way to “ice,” whether it was one of the cooler contraptions with a hose attached to sleeves/bags you could apply to the injury, a portable system that was basically a cooler and cast, or the simpler blue jelly packs we could freeze and roll onto and around my elbow or knee or what have you.

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Any minor medical needs receive prompt attention.
This included blister care (though I didn't suffer too many of those, thanks to Sportslick skin lubricant, ENGO patches, and Injinji toe socks). Back in Utah and Colorado, the inside of my mouth got very sore from eating all the time, so at Dr. Paul's direction, the crew would make me a mouth rinse of Mylanta and Orajel. Yum! Not really, but it worked.

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The runner is as happy and content (and undistracted) as can be expected.
The crew made sure I had my music (mp3 player or satellite radio), sent friends out to see me when they knew it would lift my spirits, cheered me on, told me how great I looked, and didn't ask much of me except that I run. Little things, again, made a big difference. Kira once presented corn dogs as hors d'oeuvres for me, with “toothpicks” made out of a cut-up straw and a “serving tray” she'd made from a Triscuits box, just because she knew I'd think it was funny; Brian decided to call our fifty-mile snack “happy hour” and would bring out the popcorn and O'Doul's like a genial bartender; Heather always thought of ways to eliminate any extra effort, like removing the caps from the lipshit or opening any packaged food before handing it to me. Along with everything else she was doing for my morale, Heather kept all the behind-the-scenes stressors to herself. She was always smiling, complimenting, encouraging.