March 6th

Well it rained all last night and rained all day today on my run. I was soaked 5 min after the tail lights disappeared into the night. No pictures in the rain. My waterproof coat only works on a light rain and it was a tough, cold day. Well, I started 8 miles short of Socorro, New Mexico, so the 26 miles took me through Socorro and onto busy Interstate 25. The big semi's going by sprayed me so bad, I had to close my eyes as they went by. It was too dark to wear sunglasses. Ah, the life of the support driver, he drops me off and puts out my lunch and water then gets to go back to a dry room with his dog and sleeps, talks on phone and watches HBO for 5 hours, until it is time to drive out and pick me up. But he does what I ask. The reporter was here to meet me in town today, but we missed each other as she didn't think I would run in this kind of rain. By the time she called, I was on busy interstate 25. I took my sock off my hand to try and answer her call in the rain, but it quit ringing by the time I got it out. I didn't call back because of hard rain and didn't want to lose another phone. I dropped my sock hand warmer and didn't notice until I was about 1/4 mile down the road, long enough to put cell phone away, so ran back and got the wet sock. It's not always a picnic out here, as it was wet, cold and tiring today. But I remember an E-mail from my friend Jerry Meyer saying "remember what you have gone through in life and all you have done and finish this run"! I am ready for tomorrow! Thanks Jerry. If this was easy, everyone would do it. its the hard days that makes it great!

March 7th

Well what a difference a day makes. Yesterday, it rained all day and today it was 65 degrees. It was 34 degrees at the start, so I was bundled up, but when I hit mile 5 today I stripped down right on the road and took all my heavy clothes and stashed them in the bushes. I haven't been able to run like this in hundreds of miles. After a 8 mile run on Route 25/60 (busy road heading North) I hit Route 60 again was heading out into no man's land There is no traffic on this road!! Its great! An 8 foot, flat shoulder, new blacktop so soft I could of run bare foot! I seen a long haired guy walking down his driveway from way off and he was carrying something. He met me at the same time I was passing (he lived almost 1/2 mile off road) and he had some cool well water in a Dixie cup. I wasn't thirsty but if he came all the way out to meet me I was going to drink. We talked about ten minutes. His name was Jay and he had a nice place in the middle of nowhere, If I lived here, he would be someone I would probably be friends with, I can tell if I like someone right away. I ran 26 miles today time.. 6:15 Days like yesterday make days like today even better. Good days, bad days, they said it would be like this, but even on the bad days I get 26 miles in!

March 8th

No cell phone around here and we will be here for about 4 days. Today I passed through Mountain Air, New Mexico. A small town with a few businesses and a couple of hotels. Nice town to look at while running. We moved from our nice hotel in Socorrow and moved way ahead to Vaughn, New Mexico, Socorrow was a good town, it had everything we needed. I lost my 8 ft shoulder today and it went down to 6 inches all they way to Vaughn...62 miles. (WHERES MY SHOULDER?) We have a 1 hour drive to start in morning. The landscape has changed to nothing, dead grass, no trees amd we are higher than any mountains at 7000 ft. Nothing to look at as far as scenery for awhile now. Tough day, I didn't have my (A) game today, but still got 26 miles closer to home. I had stiff head wind for half the run but it warmed to 60 degrees today, time 6:18.

March 9th

Hard rain last night and the power went out a few times. But it stopped raining by morning and it was a cold 20 degrees. It warmed to 40, but a little wind kept the unwaterproof jacket on all day. Dave was not at the 26 mile mark when I finished so I kept going and did one more mile before he got there. So, I got to feel what 27 miles felt like...it felt a lot like 26 so no big deal. I thought I would not be so cheap and I bought the scale at Wal-Mart yesterday, put a 5 pound weight plate on it to make sure it was correct, and I am down to 197 lbs. I thought I better keep track, as I think I am lost too much in 37 days. 27 pounds in 37 days! I try to eat as much as I can but the miles take there toll. So far 932 miles in 37 days.

March 10th

Well, today was warm, but a 30 mile wind in my face kept the temp down and my speed down. I have had a lot of people offer to get me a waterproof jacket and I thank you. I have my sights on a sports store in Amarillo Texas, I should be there or near there in less than 2 weeks. I do thank everyone who offered, I don't want to sound like a wimp and I didn't know the newspaper lady was going to say that in the Courier news. But it was nice of her to keep everyone up to date. Well, my feet seem to just keep swelling. I ice them every night and elevate them, but I have seen this in other races across the United States where some of the runners had to cut their shoes so there feet could expand. I was hoping this kind of a thing would not happen to me but it did. I have bought a size bigger (4 EE wide) and it's not wide enough, so we will see how this works tomorrow. My foot pads are tender and foot bones ache at night. Its like taking a belt and tightening around the ball of your foot and the going running. Here is a picture of the operation, tomorrow we will see if the patient lives. Passed through Encino, New Mexico, today. This town is saving money by not hiring a bull dozer and just letting buildings fall down. I like looking at that kind of stuff though. Only two gas stations and no one was there. I finished 9.5 miles from Vaughn today. I think that route 60 at one time brought business to these small towns and the Interstate was their death. No shoulder today but hardly no traffic so it was ok. People in New Mexico seem to care if they hit you or not. Take note Arizona! 26 miles today and 958 miles so far. 6:40 min today, walked last mile....feet sore.

March 11th

Well it happened again! I had a peanut butter, marshmallow fluff and jelly sandwich in a Ziploc bag with some peanuts and some peanut butter and jelly crackers, and a separate bag with ice and my can of Coke. I looked down and said OK, I have been here before. My coke still in separate Ziploc seemed OK laying there, nothing to even wipe off.  All my food was gone. I took coke out of Ziploc and thought Ha Ha. Well the can had pin hole and before I could even open it, Coke shot out of pin hole down my neck. I got a picture of this Coke can for you people to see. So I got the camera out and squeezed the can to get shot and got sprayed in the face by the two other pin holes I didn't see the first time. I said a few kind words in the middle of nowhere and took the picture and had sticky neck for twelve more miles. I saved one of my three cookies from ten miles and had it at the 20 mile mark with my warm water. The lunch pail thing would of worked here because I am now running past where we are staying. When we stay ahead, It would be 20 mile drive back to get it. I get 11 miles to the gallon and at $2.00 a gallon ,this lunch box would cost me $4.00 to go get. Who will win this battle of wits me or these stupid animals? Ok, Ok, I can hear you all now. I ran 27 miles today I had a wind at my side instead of head on. I ran 26 in 6:05 and last mile I walked, total 6:24 27 miles. Shoe modification worked, I have to cut little more and will be fine. I am worried about weight. I weigh 195 pounds and that's after eating a big meal. I have lost 29 pounds, so far. The last picture is the road and scenery I seen for 125 miles now. Nice road no traffic.

March 12th

Two firsts today! I had the wind at my back today. It was a 35 mile an hour wind which changed my running stance and made me concentrate more. It took 40 days before I got a west wind. I never heard of that before, winds always come from the West. Hopefully this will become the norm. The other first....1000 miles today!! I hit it at the 14 mile mile mark. No celebration picture and I just kept running. At the 10 mile mark, my cookies were gone but the milk was fine. That was also a first. 10 mile mark never got touched until today. I asked Dave to let his dog out at the mile 15 lunch area, and make him bark and mark the area to scare away close varmints. Well it worked ( but now I was wondering why the top of my sandwich was wet! ) Ok, the bananas soaked through the top slice made bread wet. Yeah that's it. I don't care. Another first, I said I wasn't going to, wash or comb my hair or shave until I hit Texas boarder! That was 5 days ago! (its a grunge thing). I also said I will be on that Texas border by the15th. I ran 27 miles again, no walking. I have run 1013 miles so far. I still get the Forest Gump thing, funny, I have met 11 people who ran in the 2003 Race across America and 12 people 2004 Race Across America, can anyone name one? Forest Gump is forever immortalized. A friend of mine, Eric Kresmary, e-mailed said; How can there be bad days when your fulfilling your dream?