It was a scorcher of an overnight stop with no breeze. It took quite a while to eat my porridge but I was on the road for 06:29 near Clements, Kansas on highway 50.
The early miles were the usual slow ones to get the legs moving. It was nice to get out into the 24/25 Celsius temperature.
I met the RV for a bottle of water at 4 miles and ditched the walking poles. Taking advantage of the lower temperature, (although it was quickly rising) I slowly began to build the pace. I felt as good as I had for a few days.
I ditched my backpack at the next water stop and just took a bottle with me. It’s not too often that I’ve been able to run without the burden of either the backpack or waist pack. Being just that bit lighter really helped.
There were the usual birds and trains to tick off my daily eye spy list.
When I reached the Marion county line, I noticed that the hard shoulder was in poorer condition. Perhaps they didn’t have as big a budget as Chase county.
As I ran on the outskirts of the town of Florence, I came up to a rare roundabout. I was extremely pleased with the progress so early on. It was only 10am and I’d managed 11.25 miles. It was a solid foundation for a big day of miles.
I met the RV for a toasted bagel and a good gulp of Powerade. It was then that I was only minutes away from the biggest mistake I’d made on this tour so far.
My socks and feet were soaking wet. I decided to dry my feet and change my socks. When doing so, I noticed a large blister on my left foot. The plan was to “empty” the fluid out of it. I did that with no problems. The layer of skin was quite thin. Unlike, some of the other blisters that I have.
Now for the mistake. I dabbed some antiseptic (Isopropyl Alcohol) around the area of my left foot that I’d worked on. It wasn’t painful at first, but it certainly became more so after a few minutes. It felt like I’d poured acid on raw flesh. The pain was as bad as anything I can ever remember. It was even worse than the pain I had following 2 teeth out in March this year.
I tried hard to control my breathing and endure the pain. It eventually died down from the blister but increasing the area of what I call the ball of my left foot. As the minutes went on the pain increased.
This was the lowest point of this tour by far. I tried to control my sobbing but it was difficult. All of a sudden I felt very alone and a long way from home.
I just had to get out of the RV and back on the road. My right sock went on ok. I had to bite down on a towel to get the left sock on.
My shoes went on ok and I got back out into the now 30 Celsius heat.
To say progress back on Highway 50 was slow was an understatement. I had to use the walking poles to take the pressure off my left foot. The next 3 miles ticked by at 26 minutes each.
All of the good work in the early part of the day had been for nothing. If I wasn’t in so much pain, I may have had room left for the frustration.
After nearly 80 minutes and 3 miles of hobbling down highway 50, enough was enough.
The options, as I saw them, in that moment were a) drive back 3 miles to Florence and go again tomorrow, b) drive forward to Dodge City and wait and recover until Deb and Thomas arrive on Saturday or c) quit altogether.
After exchanging messages with Deb back in the UK, I chose option a). I made sure that I sent her a photo of the damage.
With the pain subsiding slightly, I followed Deb’s advice. I soaked my feet for 20 minutes, had a quick shower and then applied antiseptic cream and a gauze pad with a dressing to my left foot.
Given my lack of mobility, dressing my foot wasn’t straightforward. I made a decent job of it I think.
We had parked outside of Town and Country Cafe in Florence. It was roasting hot in the RV and I tried my best to get a little sleep with my foot elevated.
The pulsating pain on the ball of my left foot had subsided. We decided to go into the cafe for something to eat.
As well as a cheeseburger and fries, it was a real treat simply to talk to some of the local people. This was as authentic a place and people as you’re likely to find. The food was delicious too.
I handed out leaflets and told the locals and staff about my journey. It was then time to return to the furnace of an RV. It was 32 Celsius by this point.
I spent the next few hours looking at the remaining miles and scratching my head. I’m losing the possibility of finishing this run in 100 days. In fact, that was probably lost 4 weeks ago.
I exchanged numerous messages with the remaining support team to come on duty. The tour is so mis-aligned with the original plan now. This makes getting the team on and off the tour very tricky going forwards. Thankfully, they’ve all shown a high degree of flexibility and we are making things work to a point.
I’m now faced with being approximately 200 miles short of the finish line on day 100. That would actually need to be day 99 as the RV has to be returned early on day 100. It would be a case of so near, yet so far. That scenario doesn’t take into account the very complicated support team handover logistics.
A possible scenario is to do what Donna and I did in Australia in 2013. That is to hand back the RV on day 99 and extend the run by a week. We used a car after handing the RV back and stayed in the odd motel here and there. The issue with that is that I have neither a car (we were kindly loaned one by Mitsubishi in Australia) or a support team at that point. This is a plan that would require an average of between 30.5 and 31.25 miles to be ran. There are some enforced low mileage days in there due to support team handovers.
Another scenario is to finish the run in Monument Valley at Forrest Gump Point. That would be on the 23rd July.
Ending on day 84, would mean standing down the remaining 2 support team members. The RV could hopefully be handed back in Las Vegas (and not LA) where I would fly back to the UK from.
There are no decisions to be made just yet. Only miles to be ran.
TUNE OF THE DAY: Against the wind - Bob Seger
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^DA - apologies for the lack of end of day graphic - I’m away with limited resources.
