When Nothing Works… Until It Does

Daily miles 25.18 | Total miles: 11,695.04

I woke up with light already coming through the roof window of the van. I reached for my phone and saw 3:00 a.m. Irritation hit immediately. That couldn’t be right. I checked my watch — after 7:00 a.m. What on earth was going on?

Somehow, during the night, my phone had updated itself and decided to live in a different time zone. No alarm. No internet. No service. No Google Maps. No navigation to my next destination. At first, I thought it would be a quick fix. Reboot. SIM out, SIM in. Hotspot attempts. Buying an eSIM. Talking to my provider. Everything you can possibly try — I tried.

Nothing worked.

By around 8:00 a.m., my sister was up too, mainly because I was nervously pacing around, trying to solve the problem. We even swapped SIM cards between our phones. Still nothing. The problem got stranger: photos wouldn’t save, SMS wouldn’t send, I could make phone calls — but not to all numbers.

At around 10:00 a.m., we walked to a nearby café to try connecting to WiFi. No luck. I kept fiddling with settings, menus, and buttons I don’t really understand — and then, at about 10:30 a.m., just like that, everything worked again. No explanation. No idea why. It simply resolved itself.

We finished our cappuccinos in that lovely Greek café I already liked last night. Casual indoor smoking, completely accepted and totally normal — Greece being Greece. Then we walked back to the van. By now, it was warm and sunny.

I finally left around 11:15 a.m.

And yes — I was nervous. Very nervous.

Why? Sometimes there isn’t a logical reason. Sometimes I’m just nervous.

I eased into the run, leaving town and wondering how bad traffic would be today. The answer: pretty bad. I felt good physically, but the first 9 miles were nerve-wracking. Over and over again, I had to jump or step down into the ditch beside the road to let two trucks pass each other in opposite directions. Wow.

I tried to keep a rhythm despite the constant interruptions and hoped the next stretch along the highway — where Google hadn’t diverted all the traffic — would be better.

My sister waited for me at mile 6, then again at mile 10. We agreed to meet next at mile 19, where she could recharge some devices in a café. When I arrived there, I actually felt good. The running was solid, and the last 10 miles today were much better than the first 9 — and definitely better than the 30 miles yesterday.

We checked the map and decided to meet again about 6 miles later, in the town of Avlonas (yes… AVLONAS — should have worn my glasses).

During the run, I had pain — but at the same time, I felt strong. That strange combination. When I arrived, though, the pain fully caught up with me. A lot of pain. Not fun to be around. Bad.

I’m pretty sure it had to do with how nervous I was from the very start, running a bit too fast, and my body flaring up with what felt like inflammation everywhere. It was so painful.

Thank you, sister, as always, for being there. When I was suffering loudly, she said she’s “not a sports analyst” — which made me laugh, even though my whole body hurt.

Now I’ve had a shower, dinner, tea, and all I need is sleep.

Yes, I have days like this every now and then.

Tomorrow will most likely be better. Can’t be worse!!!

Thanks for checking in. Andrea