Today was a day saved. I’ve been here many times before where the start of the day sees me with zero energy. As the team drove me to the start point in downtown Wheeling, I knew I’d be in for a slow day. Despite having a decent sleep window, the quality of it is far from ideal. I’m either constantly waking up due to foot pain or knocking one of the many pressure points on my feet. There was also a loud thunderstorm at about 0100 last night. Apparently there had been one at 2300 which I completely slept through.
I set off from Wheeling just after 0630. It was a deserted ghost town. If they ever needed to film a new series of the Walking Dead then this would be a good backdrop. I’m sure it comes to life eventually just not this early on a Saturday morning.
I made it to the suspension bridge which meant I was very close to leaving West Virginia.
There was no welcome to Ohio sign so this one will have to do from the 1.5 mile point of the day.
I’ve felt really tired lately but it was a new low for me today. My spirits were raised greatly by an image sent to me by David Fairlamb. He’d written about the run in his regular Journal column. It had also made the front page. It’s a tremendous article.
A few miles down the road was a very upsetting scene. There were a couple of cows in a trailer outside a place called B&B Custom Butchering. They looked at me through the bars as if they knew what their fate was. I’m not a vegetarian but I found this very distressing indeed. It’s an image that will live with me for the rest of my days I think. I sobbed loudly as I continued past. It was awful.
After 5 miles I met the support team. I felt completely drained. It was a bad start to the days running.
I had a wrap and a 30 minute tactical snooze. Given my current level of fatigue Deb, John and I agreed that the minimum mileage would be 20 today. They also thought that getting me into a motel would be beneficial.
I set off again only to be confronted by a road closed to traffic. We’d been informed my locals that it would be safe to run on. It was a steep climb but nice to get away from any traffic.
While I continued to make my way up Highway 40, John was getting a lesson in laundry.
I met the team again at the 10 mile point in St. Clairsville and had an omelette with bacon (the first of this tour). John was close to using the spray on sun cream instead of the cooking spray. That would have been up there with the time David Fairlamb made an omelette with iced coffee instead of milk during the run across Australia.
I had another 30 minute tactical snooze. I could have slept for hours.
The team had bought some poles to be used where there are downhill sections. While I’ve been strong on the climbs this week, the downhill parts stop me in my tracks due to foot pain.
I set off from St. Clairsville with the incentive of a motel room at the 20 mile point. Given the calories that I’d consumed and a bit of coffee, I felt much better at this point. I’d not ran with poles before but was delighted that they were pretty low maintenance to use.
Despite only having a small hard shoulder to run on and a really strong headwind, I would say that the next 10 miles were amongst the quickest so far on this tour.
I reached the 20 mile point where the RV was waiting. The motel was only a minute down the road. After a quick shower, Deb suggested that we go to a nearby restaurant for a treat/some normality. I don’t think either Deb or John were impressed with my socks/sliders combo.
While we ate a tremendous proper American meal, we talked about what we could do to help get the miles in and the deficit down.
The first thing we’ll be doing is an earlier start. So I’ll be on the road at 0600 tomorrow. We are striving for an earlier finish and more recovery time. The current issue I have is circular. I’m tired therefore I’m running slow therefore the days are long therefore I don’t have a lot of recovery time therefore I’m tired therefore I’m running slow and so on and so forth.
Breakfast remains a problem. I need the energy but, as with previous tours, it’s really difficult to eat porridge so early each morning. That’s something we don’t have an answer for yet but I think we will soon. We don’t want to change too much too soon in the daily schedule so earlier starts will do for now. John says that I need to look after my stomach as well as my feet. Despite having no appetite, the increased consumption of calories today during early afternoon paid dividends.
I climbed over 2000ft today which I didn’t realise at the time. My fitness on the climbs is night and day different from when I started this run 17 days ago. So a desperately slow start to the day was followed by one of the quickest 10 miles. Very much a day saved. And it’s lights out by 2015. Goodnight!
TUNE OF THE DAY: Highway 5 by The Blessing
Continued thanks for donations towards St Benedict's Hospice. If you're enjoying following the journey so far and you think that my effort is worthy of a donation, please visit
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