Saturday, August 31, 2013

460 miles in the past 15 days

I look at the mileage total above and I don't know how I've been able to do it. Usually the miles come easy at first in the early morning hours. Then by 20 miles and noon I start to feel a little tired but tell myself that in just 10 more miles I'll be at 30. From there it's only 10 more to 40 for a really great day. Two days ago, I ran 38 miles, about what I've been averaging most days. I'm sore at night but able to run again each morning. Yesterday my high school friend Richard Adrian came up from Ohio to crew for me on the final days of the trip. With his help, I could finally shed the 12 pound backpack I ran the first 450 miles with and he also served me cold Hammer Perpetuem and poured ice water on my head on a regular basis throughout our first day together. With that royal treatment, it was a piece of cake to run 44 miles yesterday. That only leaves about 30 miles left before the finish line of state number 31 at the shore of Lake Huron near Bay City, Michigan which I should reach by this afternoon.

For the past two days I've run the Pere Marquett Trail. It's a legend in the rail trail world and neighboring communities have seen the financial boost and wellness benefit of having a trail like this for residents and visitors and have since expanded the trail to also benefit from it.

There are custom mini-railroad station depot restrooms along the trail, mileage charts at every road crossing, maintained trail surfaces and vegetation and area service signs showing what services are available in each community and how far away they are.

It has been really great having Richard be a part of this trip. Besides being helpful, it is also fun to reconnect with him and hear about his past 20 years. Though we were running friends in high school we had mostly lost touch since then. We both found wives and each had kids and as any parent knows, that changes everything (in a good way of course). But there also seems to be a universal understanding that parents share when it comes to the experiences of raising kids and sharing those experiences now with a high school pal is a fun reconnection. Well, that, and also still joking about the massive fart that one day in high school.

Looking forward to what today holds and appreciative of all who have helped make this happen.

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