6/27/2011

The day started with a trip to the Wilson football factory in Ada. Angie and I tried to take a tour and see how all the leather footballs are made. Unfortunately, the factory doesn’t give tours on Mondays. So, it was back to Justin and Amber’s house. As I began to take off, we noticed my tire was flat once again. How was this possible? I just changed two tubes. Luckily it happened at their house instead of on the road. We discovered part of a spoke had poked through the rubber. Justin helped me patch the tube and we were up and running again. Me and the open road.

If I was a foreigner walking around the countryside, I would think John Deere means monster. Some of the farming machinery out there scares the life out of me...

6/26/2011

.One of the most important components of performance is sleep. Without good sleep our bodies get angry and rebel. At times the consequences are injury. I didn’t quite allow my muscles to go through their usual repair cycle last night and my movement reflected that fact. Not fueling up properly didn’t help either. I guess it was a double whammy.

I grumbled as I slowly put one foot in front of another. Eventually I found a pizza place and gave myself a boost. I knew my destination but I wasn’t sure where I would be putting my head. There was no hotel in the town where I was headed. There was a campground five miles north though. The drawback there was that I’d have to backtrack following a thirty plus mileage day. That didn’t sound appealing to me so I did what I always do...

6/25/2011

The day started with an event at the Marsh Foundation. Despite my aching bones, I made my way to the Marsh Foundation grounds. Kathleen and her daughter Rachel greeted outside and took me to the recreation room. I was greeted by two Lisas and a handful of kids. It was predominantly a male audience with a couple of girls. I was hit with some of the usual questions like “Where do you stay?” but, I was also caught by new ones as well.

Roger asked me to speak to him in Chinese after making the astute observation that I am of Chinese descent. Another boy Mitchell asked me to speak Bulgarian. I thought that was kind of a random question. Overall, the kids were great. When we finished the reading part of the day, we moved into the running part...