It was an early start at Heathrow Terminal 5 today. Support man Carlton and I were swiftly through check in thanks to the super efficient British Airways staff. It's probably the quickest I've ever been through security too.
I wrote "Next stop is New York!" on the Run Geordie Run Facebook page with a bit of rousing text. It attracted a huge amount of likes and comments. I read them all from the digs in New York later in the day. That support, together with comments across all the social media channels is hugely important. In fact, I summed that up as follows on Facebook "A huge thank you for all of the comments and donations today. That feels like the proverbial 12th man. It’s the support that I’ll absolutely need between NYC and California if I’m to succeed."
The flight to New York passed by pretty quickly. I spent most of the time working on a few Run Geordie Run bits and pieces. I'm pleased to report that it was a very smooth flight.
If I thought the Heathrow experience was swift then getting through customs and then luggage at JFK Airport set a new record for the times I've visited the USA.
Thanks to the having messaging capability on the flight, I was able to arrange a pick up from our man in NYC aka support man Steve. The story of how he came to be involved with the run across the USA is an interesting one and goes back some 14 years. It can be read here.
A huge thank you goes to Steve for going above and beyond again today. We'll next see him on Wednesday when we pick up the motorhome.
We checked in to the digs without any problems. Thanks goes to Steve's pal Craig who is letting us use his apartment while he's out of town.
The next big challenge was to try and stay awake. This was helped by a 4 mile walk around Brooklyn in some very warm weather. I was also able to suss out the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge where I'll be running over tomorrow. That's obviously just to get my legs working. The run across the USA doesn't get underway until Thursday.
After the walk, I checked in with the weather forecast for the next few days. With 25 degrees forecast tomorrow, I'm pleased that highs of 19 are on the cards for the start of the run on Thursday. I think there's a decent chance of some thunder and rain during the first few days. It looks like the heat is going to crank right up after that.
Right! It's 21:10 over here in New York. I've been awake for 21 hours. Time to sleep and dream of running across the USA.
