It was a very humid and overcast start to the day. I didn't mind the humidity at all and the cloud cover was most welcome. I knew that as soon as that cloud shifted the day would become incredibly difficult with temperatures in the mid 30's forecast.
I met the team in Phillipsburg where we had a quick sandwich. By the time I was on my way again the clouds were beginning to break up and the sun started to burn through. It was shaping up to be another scorching day right enough!
I spotted the sign below while running through Phillipsburg. I immediately emailed it to my fellow Men of Steel Mark Fleming and Steve Harrison. That's the name of their bike riding team that I've joined for the last few years. It's also on that team where I broke my ankle! Incidentally, it's 13 months since I had the ankle operated on! I now have 2 metal pins in there and, of course, I got it sponsored. Regular readers will recall that it's the Paddy Power Bionic Ankle. I'm pleased to report that it's continuing to perform very well over here in the USA.
I met the RV at the 19 mile point and I was overheating (again!). Several ice blocks placed in strategic places soon helped to cool me down and I was on my way again. Due to several unexpected and rare turns in the road I was convinced at one point that I was heading due north. I knew for a fact that this section of the road was heading due east. My internal compass was all out of kilter. I tried several mind games to try and convince myself that I was running in the right direction. Eventually, I was convinced that I was heading due east. i.e. towards New York and not Canada as I had originally thought!
As has been the case recently, as soon as the sun began to go down I became a different runner. I was able to really stride out over the final 6 miles and I waved the team on to get a bonus mile done at the end.
On another really hot day I was very pleased to get 33.35 miles done. This put me within 2 miles of Smith Center, Kansas. This in turn had given me a good chance of finishing tomorrow's run in Mankato where we have a chance of sleeping in an RV park and not at the side of the road for once! Side of the road! You're lucky……..
