Day 12
The 12th day of the race, 8.06 pm, June 23. Today’s weather is fine – since morning we have been swimming in a thick fog. A few times it started to rain, but not seriously, it has been cloudy all day long. And even now I am running in a long-sleeved shirt – the weather is a perfect fit.
Not all of us are running . Ananda -Lahari speeded up yesterday, especially by the evening and finished with 67 miles. We all know his principle: if he runs fast at night, the next day he will walk. It’s peculiar that he himself doesn’t notice this regularity. Atmavir has also been walking all day long and very slowly for this matter. In the morning he said that something was wrong with his stomach and as a result he would have fewer laps. Purna-Samarpan is also having a tough time. Many of us caught a cold on the first day of the race (because of low temperature). Most of us have already recovered or their colds do not interfere with the running. Purna-Samarpan though couldn’t fall asleep last night because of cough and he looks sick. It’s 14 hours after the start and about half of the time he spent in the bed under the blanket. So, we are hitching our wagon to a star.
All others are mincing, some are mincing fast, and some people are even flying. Our Ukrainian rocket, Igor Mudrik, is the one who is flying. Yesterday he asked me when he could start going in high gear. Probably he is restraining himself. He read books and heard from other runners about the first days’ injuries. He is doing 125 laps a day – 68 miles. I gave him a piece of advice to go on keeping this speed at least for a week and then he can do whatever he wants. Well, it seems that he is following my advice.
My flight is fine. It’s going to be no fewer miles than I had previously, though I have had a bad sleep since the very beginning of the race. I even went to Galya who is living on the upper floor in my house and like a ghost with red eyes asked him for pain-killers. After a few first laps in the morning I realized that the day would be ok.
