United states - Pole to Pole - page 136

s ome frien dly c ompa ny o n the run i is alw ays w elco me.
of Alphapharm, is in the United States on business. Today, he flew to
Houston, hired a car and drove to where I was. We ran together for two
hours. He is going to pass a message to Tony Abbott inviting him to
come and run with me too.
Out of the blue came a storm: the very end of Hurricane Don. I
was running in the wet, and my feet were sliding around in my shoes.
I'll be using my trusty needle and thread on the blisters later.
I'm not in terrific shape. The old spasms and aches are there in
spades, and adding insult to injury is the fact that I'm burned to a
crisp. I've been wearing a hat and sunscreen, but they're not enough
to ward off the blazing heat.
My mental approach is poor because, frankly, I'm over the United
States. The people here have been incredibly kind, and the scenery has
been awesome, but it's been a long time—I've been running through
the US for 50 days, around 4000 kilometres (or more, to accommodate
detours and diversions), and now I need to experience new lands. I'll
be in Mexico for 21 days, then the next five countries, being so small,
will take me only a week or less apiece to run through. I'll feel like I'm