Last nights overnight stop was a car parking lot at Marine Heritage Park. Apart from a wagon starting its engine at 0300 it was very quiet indeed. I didn’t hear it drive off so I must have gone back to sleep. All in all, it was another decent sleep. You’ll probably know by now that sleep is one of the most important components for a decent day of running.
It was a short drive to the Madison County Transit Heritage Trail 3 miles west of Marine. It was quite a misty start to the day.
I almost immediately felt like I had a spring in my step and it was a decent start on the very quiet tarmac trail.
I saw squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and all kinds of birds. It was so nice not to see any traffic or worry about having a hard shoulder or not. The main thing I noticed was the increase in air quality. It was very pleasant indeed and not at all like the previous 970 miles.
I saw the RV at the 4 mile point where Alan was mopping its floor. In the spirit of “make do and mend” he’d converted an old water canister into a mop bucket.
As the morning went on I saw quite a few cyclists and runners on the trail. It’s as many people that I’ve seen exercising since I started this tour.
Sadly at 8.25 miles the trail ran out and I was back on the road again. Not Highway 40 though. I’ve left that behind for good now.
It took just over a mile to run through the nice town of Glen Carbon.
I was pleased to join the Madison County Transit Nickel Plate trail at the 9.5 mile point. There was a small bridge that was almost a colour match for the Tyne Bridge with the same size rivets too.
Sadly, I left the trail at the 13 mile point. I was gutted to be back on a road with no hard shoulder again. I was back in the old routine of stepping on and off the road when necessary.
I spent a mile alongside a huge steel foundry in the area of Granite City. It was extremely dirty and smelly.
I made it to the RV after 19 miles and in record time. It’s the longest section that I’d ran on this tour without taking a break.
I had a couple of sandwiches and crisps and got straight back out on the road.
I ran through the final localities in Illinois. They were Madison and Venice. It was then time to cross over the Mississippi river on the McKinley Bridge. There wasn’t a soul about and I had the bridge to myself. I stopped to take a photo of the state line which was bang in the middle of the bridge.
I made it into Missouri at mile 22. The RV was another 5 miles away and I was starting to feel hungry. I took one look back at the bridge and started to make my way through old north St Louis.
The next 4 miles were an extremely sad sight of derelict and run down buildings. It’s no exaggeration to say that it felt post apocalyptic. I spoke to someone later in the day who offered an explanation. It’s another thing on my list that I intend to find more about when I get home.
I made it to the RV at the 27 mile point. Or should I say that I made it to McDonalds where the RV was parked. I demolished 4 chicken strips, chips and a cheeseburger along with a full fat coke. They hardly touched the sides.
I then jumped into the RV and we went to a local running shop for supplies. It was a quick turnaround to get back to McDonald’s. I ran the last 3 miles in scenes of recent devastation. A tornado had hit this part of the city last month. The extent of the damage was mind boggling.
Trees were uprooted and almost all of the nearby properties had some kind of damage.
I stopped running at the 30 mile point for the day. It was conveniently the top left corner of Forest Park. It was also the 1000th mile of this tour. I recorded a Facebook Live video on the Run Geordie Run page as I approached the 1000 mile point. I made reference to the fact that there was no Great North Run-like support here to cheer me on. Just as I said that, I roped a couple and their dog into the occasion. I told them where I was going and how far I’d ran and that they were the witnesses. They wished me luck and I waited for the RV to arrive.
We made our way to a Walmart near the airport. It’s quite near the I-70 interstate road so could be quite noisy overnight.
There to meet us at Walmart was Ken from St Louis City, a club that play in the MLS. One of the first team back room staff (Greg, currently away with the first team at Portland) is a Geordie. They reached out a while back and we’ve kept in touch. Ken was kind enough to bring out some goodies and I handed over some Run Geordie Run T-shirts for himself and Greg. I learned a little about the club and I guess I’ll be adopting them as my MLS team going forwards.
It was such a kind gesture and a great way to mark the 1000 mile point of this tour.
My feet have taken a right battering over the last few days in particular. Two of my toes are without feeling and look like they are broken. I’m sure they are not but that’s how they feel. I’m going to simply put my socks on in the morning, take some painkillers and crack on with proceedings.
At the time of writing this blog (21:13) it’s lashing down with rain. At least it’s drowning out the noise of the interstate traffic.
Continued thanks for the donations and messages of support. If you’re enjoying following the journey, please donate via this link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun2025
TUNE OF THE DAY: The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash. I played this as I meandered through those early miles of St Louis.
