Day 2. Eve.
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It’s 7pm now. I have been walking most of the time today. It started with knee pain which got worse and worse even in spite of olive oil and cabbage leaves that I had applied overnight. It’s the adjustment phase. No big deal!
After the 20th lap, my running speed equaled my walking speed, so I decided to walk for a while. I changed my shoes after the rain and it got better. Now my knees are OK. It was such a good thing that our chiropractor Ara stopped by. He treated all of us working mainly on backs and necks. He helped me with my knees. Physically, I felt better, but energy was suddenly gone. I had a slight fever in the afternoon and watering eyes. I didn’t feel like running. I was doing my rounds thinking to myself that tomorrow it’s going to be fine. In the evening, Pranab joined me. He is having problems with hips and shin splints is looming large. He decided not to push since it’s just the second day. We shared jokes. Pranab’s father sent him a letter. He said that when he was looking for some information about the 3,100-mile race, he stumbled “on the web site of a Lebedev with nice pics”. His father understands Russian and is going to follow his son through on my blog.
Last year, I was walking on the 3rd day. Pranab is joking, “You are making progress. Next year, you’ll start working from Day 1”. Asphrihanal isn’t running due to muscle pain. The concrete is very hard, and muscle loads are huge. But it is going to be OK pretty soon. From my experience, adjustment takes almost 2 weeks. There is an upside to my walking, because I had a chance to talk to everybody. Yesterday, everybody’s pace was pretty stable and fast. It explains why I only got to see Asrihanal who was flying. Some other boys (Pranab, Diganta, Puskar) I only saw at night. That happens when everybody is having a good race.
