Travel Reference
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their happiness, enthusiasm and charm have defused the tension of
past weeks and brought everyone together. They have many interests,
and conversation is now about more than just running and routes and
who stuffed up. Today, we're all best mates again.
When we were in the Arctic, I banged my knee on the edge of
a lead. For a while it was fine, but it has recently started giving me
grief, and I need to have a competent masseur work on it and maybe
even strap it. I don't want the injury to become chronic. That said,
I'm running well. As I've mentioned, ultrarunning is about mental
toughness, and if I'm feeling positive, as I have been since Brooke and
Dillon joined me, it shows up on the road. I have now covered almost
4000 kilometres and have worn out five pairs of running shoes.
More and more now, as word spreads, I'm being stopped by mem-
bers of the public—and a number of police—who want to chat and wish
me well, take a photo and, most importantly, donate. Many people long
for adventure in their own life, and some, after meeting me, have said
that they're going off to make their own dreams come true by doing
something they might not otherwise have dared to attempt.
One wellwisher who definitely hasn't lacked hardship or excite-
ment in his life is a disabled Iraq war veteran in his 30s called Alex,
who suffered chemical burns to his lungs. With his wife, Donna, and
small children, Clarissa and Diego, Alex has been following my pro-
gress on my webpage since I left New York the first time, in January.
They live in Virginia and had been trying to track us down for two days
when finally they caught up with us on the road. Donna was overjoyed
and said, 'Oh my God, I'm going to cry!' The children, who reminded
me of Brooke and Dillon when they were little, presented me with big
coloured pictures they had drawn and which I've pinned on the wall
of my van. Despite his disability, which he refused even to mention,
Alex ran with me for almost 2 kilometres and kept up well. At the end,
we hugged. Alex told me that this was the first time he had run a mile
since 1997 when he was in the Marine Corps.
Despite all the goodwill people have shown us, I so wish we could
get more donations. The amount of money we have raised in Australia
and over here, not yet $100,000 in total, remains far short of what I'd
hoped to have at this stage of the proceedings.
The weather is sultry and matches the idea I've always had
from movies of what it is like in the south of the United States. The
