April 24th

I ran another 30 miles today. The scenery was beautiful, streams, trees, and small mountains covered in different shades of green. Lots of dogs coming out to say Hello today, all friendly. They make you forget how tired you are for a few minutes. This route now has no shoulder anymore, at least until Cookeville. Winding curves make it tough to see cars. Tough day over all. So far 83 days 2235 miles!

My friend Dennis's cousin drove down from Kentucky to see me on the run. He was in a driveway and I looked up and said "Tom?" We talked briefly as it was cold and I was under dressed today. We then went to a huge buffet named Ryans. It was the best I have ever been to and we ate like kings, Toms donation to my run. Thanks Tom, it was good to see you.

April 25th

I started at 5:00 am and it was 38 degrees. A big, barking dog came at me today from across the highway and got hit by a car. I don't know if he was going to bite or not but he got hit and hobbled back to his house. It was early and I'll bet the owners were not up yet. I kept running and the guy stopped and checked the front of his car. I saw him drive up their driveway to tell the owner. It was a loud hit and I'll bet it did damage to car. The dog is hurt bad, and even though the dog might have bit me, I felt sorry for it.

Well, the last 8 miles of the 30 miles heading out of Cookeville was all uphill. What a difference a day makes, yesterday I barely made it to 30 miles and was worried about the next day and today and I broke my 30 mile run time with the 8 mile up hill at the end. They said there would be good days and bad. I never knew that was true though all of these apply... the course, the road shoulder, the weather, your mood, aches and pains, traffic, all these can make a good day turn into a bad day. On the road 84 days 2265 miles. No days off. ( No days off is really the toughest thing about this run)

April 26th

Today was half wet, half dry, first 15 miles dry, last 15 very wet, I dressed wrong. I still did my (now) standard 30 miles. I have finally met the average I wanted to end up with, the average now over 27 miles per day. 2265 miles in 84 days. This is what can happen to your feet if you decide you want to run long in all types of weather. They are cracked and swollen and I have been really taking care of them.

April 27th

Well, I wore all my rain gear this morning as we drove 20 miles to the start in the rain. It stopped a mile before I was dropped off and never rained on me all day. I had a shoulder all day, but driving ahead I will not have it all the way to Knoxville. We moved our Motel ahead to Knoxville. Tomorrow I figure I will finish right in middle of Knoxville, we'll see. Since it didn't rain today I ran 32 miles, 7:43 min.

April 28th

Rain again today but I am not complaining. I ran 30 miles and made it just to the city limits of Knoxville!! I hope to be in Virginia by Monday. I will find out what Route 11 looks like tomorrow, it has to have a bigger shoulder than Route 70. Busy traffic and not much for scenery, just a "get it done" day.

April 29th
 
It rained all night and all day and its raining now and it's supposed to rain for the next three days. I finished running through Knoxville today. I started at 4:45 am and ran to Blane, Tennessee. I hit Route 11 W today and had a 10 ft shoulder! No shoulder to 10 ft shoulder....when it rains it pours. Ran 30 wet miles, 2387 miles 88 days. My left knee started hurting and I was worried as you magnify every little pain and I noticed I had 375 miles on my shoes. I put on my last pair that had only 75 miles accrued. Today the knee was fine and I can see how wore out shoes can cause pain. When you have this many miles logged you are sensitive to every step. My pattern has been every 350 miles. If I had to do this again I would buy a new pair every 200 miles minimum. I am running strong again and I feel good and ready for Virginia, Thank God.

April 30th

It rained all day yesterday and all night last night and all day today and it is still raining. Our motel is only a mile away from my finish today in Bean Station, Tennessee. Bean Station is a tiny town and nearly everything is closed at noon. Today would be a good day (since our motel is so close to the finish) to do some more miles after lunch but not in the rain. Normally all this rain would really dampen my spirits. I guess Tennessee is pretty but when it rains here, there is a fog and low clouds that sit between the mountains so you can only see so far. I heard a big tree fall in the dark of the morning in a forest of trees. I heard it slowly go crashing down. It was a ways off, dark and quiet, and I pondered that for 15 miles. You can see the mountains behind me but today was somewhat flat with a nice shoulder. Ran 30 miles today, 89 days 2417 miles.