Day 89 - A horrible day

Day 89 was, quite frankly, one to forget. The day started overcast but that didn't last long as the hot weather made an unwelcome return. I was gutted when I saw that the previous night's road closure was actually for a road other than the one I wanted. It was dark when I finished last night so it was an easy mistake to make.

All of today's route was either up or down hill. I felt like I was doing more climbing than in Utah and Colarado put together. 

Part of the route took two twists today. One due north for a few miles, then another similar route due south. The road north deteriorated into sharp stones eventually. This played havoc with my feet and ankles. It reminded me of that horrible unmaintained section of route 66 that I'd ran on some 84 days ago! I exchanged a friendly wave with some Amish folk on the road riding horses. Route 66 was never that friendly!

Alongside the route south, there was the possibility of a shortcut. It looked reasonable on Google Maps and would save about 4 miles if successful. Unfortunately, the route had changed somewhat since the satellite image was taken. This cost me about 1.5 miles with a lot of energy wasted climbing up and down a huge hill.

The planned route was, once again, proving tough to run on with large sharp stones digging into my feet. This was starting to show in my running style. How apt that I ran through the birthplace of Hopalong Cassidy!

After some pasta at the final stopping point of the day, I started to feel quite good. The roads were now paved, the sun had gone down and I was able to pick the pace up. I made it to St Clairsville, Ohio having ran 37 miles. That was not a bad haul of miles considering what a tough day it had been.

Today's Breakfast was sponsored by Owen McMahon, lunch was Kate Russell, dinner was Graham Thornton. Had the team managed to find anywhere to dump the RV waste it would have been sponsored by Dan Sleeth. Hopefully, that will be addressed soon!