welp, a completely different ragnar in the books. what have we learned, kids?

1. weather: running in the cold is better than running in the hot. but recovering in the hot is better than recovering in the cold. it would be nice to run in not extremes. or if it’s cold again, figure out a way to bring a heater.
2. shoes: i like my trail shoes! they are great at stabilizing my foot and they are heavy duty (great for hiking!). but i think for the 9-mile forest trails, which have a lot of junk sticking up out of the dirt, road shoes might be better. less stuff on the bottom to get stuck on the roots.
3. food: i have GOT to eat better at these things. oy! i figured out that i burned about 2000 calories running, and that’s not including the normal calories people burn by living. i don’t even think i ate that many calories total while i was there! good news was i ate a lot the night before and i ate a lot afterward. but better food preparation would probably be good.
4. books: don’t bring books to read. or any other stuff to do. it just won’t get used.
5. hammock: it was a great idea, but i didn’t use it much. i really wanted to. maybe if it was warmer?
6. sleep: i don’t know how to fix this! i can’t turn my brain off from thinking about how my run is going to go. i don’t want to take a pill or something but good god, it’s hard to run when you’re so tired. tried earplugs, tried napping, tried my comfy cot (it is comfy!). ugh. any thoughts on this would be appreciated!
7. when in doubt, walk: for realz, though. getting injured or wearing yourself completely out is not fun, and if you can prevent it by walking briskly up a hill or through the roots and rocks, then do it. who cares if you’re the slowest.