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That night, it did pour down on us. Several people got sick, which I assume was from the water. I (luckily) had not had any real "bug" trouble on the trip, probably because I have never been very worried about being germ free in my regular life and teaching makes you sort of immune to illness after the first couple of years.
We hid under trees for the rest of the night and waited for the morning. It was a long night, but we were all focused on being able to go home the next day, so we just sat and talked about our experience. We started running the next day and the time went very fast. We were all commenting on how much easier it was to run because we had lost so much weight. Our clothes just hung on us and I thought it was funny that I hadn't noticed it until then.
The last five miles were downhill and in no time we were there. There was a truck with food and drink waiting for us, but we were disappointed that it was just bread and peanut butter with water. They told us that we should only eat very bland food for a week and slowly add regular food in. The most embarrassing thing about being at the truck was that they had a small puppy with them. Each of us looked at that puppy and I knew we were all thinking the same thing, it took me about two weeks to get past that...
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The first weeks back were not good. Before we left we had to have a doctor sign a form that explained the rigors of the trip and that they felt that because we were in great physical shape we could handle it. We also signed another form explaining that we knew that we might die out there on the desert (and couldn't sue).
I had lost thirty-two pounds and couldn't really eat normal food for about a month. I had dreamed of Hagan Daaz ice cream while on the desert, so of course went straight there after I returned. After one spoonful I got really sick and couldn't eat anything for the rest of the day. The intestinal problems started shortly after I got back and lasted for months. I would get lost walking into stores, because the overhead lighting confused me and I would randomly break into tears just sitting on the couch. That lasted about a week.
Prickly pear cactus have little spines left in them after you pull off the large ones. These tore my throat up so much, that when I returned. my throat closed up completely (very scary) and a massive course of antibiotics were required to clear it up. It took me three months of power lifting to get my weight back.
People always ask if I would do it again and the answer seems to change with age. For many years, I said I would only do it if I had all the water I could drink. As I got older, I would tell people that I would like to do the training part, but be able to eat and drink all I wanted. At my age now, I'd probably need a huge private RV and I would still complain, lol. I do know that it was the suffering that taught me so much so fast and it was the constant want that enabled me to say that if I had to, I could survive.