4/13/2011
The camping was pretty good last night except that my mattress lost it’s air midway through the evening. Of course I was too lazy to do anything about it. It was just too cozy being wrapped in my sleeping bag like a burrito monster. That word is a tribute to my little friend Abby. She’s the cute daughter of my friends Anna and Adam. Their assistance to this organization is beyond words.
I ate my breakfast on the picnic table next to my tent. Shivering as I scooped Multigrain Cheerios and Cookies and Cream flavored protein shake into my mouth I rushed through breakfast. I don’t know what it is, but no matter what time I get up, lately I always seem to end up on the road late. Perhaps on this day it was due to wrapping up the mattresses, sleeping bags, and the tent. Even though my sleep was pretty much on the ground, I found my body rejuvenated and ready to go.
I ran right out of the campsite and onto road. I didn’t hit any snags for nine miles. It was just fields of beautiful green wheat. No cars, no animals, just me and the majestic beauty. But, after nine miles of undisturbed bliss, route 66 decided to throw me for a loop. I mean that literally. It took me on a loop south of the city of Clinton. I’m not sure how many miles it added to today’s tally but it was substantial.
The also happened to take me to the China King buffet. Now like I’ve said before, the Chinese restaurants are fifty-fifty. It’s either hit or miss. There is no in between. With that said, the food was good and the veggies were fresh. The down side was that I overate and I couldn’t get back onto the trail. I tried to let the food settle but it just didn’t want to cooperate. I headed out walking anyway. Sixteen miles were already finished and I had only fourteen more to go.
Steadily I walked until my stomach cramps hit a peak at mile twenty-one. That was the point where my mom was waiting. It was a Love’s truck stop. There I hydrated and sat for a minute. She asked me if I wanted to call it the day. Suddenly like magic the cramps were gone. I started running and my entire body felt in sync. Again for five miles it was me and nature.
Since the day was nearing it’s end, my mom decided to take her daily end of the day walk to meet me. Well surprise surprise, on mile twenty five we met a new friend. Her name is Jaye, all her kids are grown up but we gave her a book to donate to the elementary school. She was sweet and she warned us of tomorrow’s pending tornadoes. I knew I wasn’t being paranoid. Jaye has been in something like four of these storms already so she told us just what to do. She said it would be an experience for me. Our conversation ranged from compressed gas to the fact that this area is suffering the worst drought since the dust bowl. I sure do hope it rains soon.
The time passed quickly and before I knew it the sun was setting and I still had five miles to go to make my goal for the day. I decided to run six minute miles. I’ve put the speed running aside so far on this trip. I pretty much reserve the twitch reflexes for the kids at the schools but I figured it would be good to do a speed workout. Now I am paying for it as I’m writing this blog. I sure hope I’m not sore tomorrow morning.
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