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prevented anyone from coming in until I was finished. I felt rather
sheepish as I emerged. They, and others who saw me run by, gave me
the big thumbs up and cheery grins.
I'm nearly 250 kilometres into Mexico, which means that I've
notched up over 6300 kilometres since I left the North Pole. At Matam-
oros, where I entered Mexico, the country all around me was parched
dry and brown, but today I ran over a mountain range and found
myself in a world where everything is green: the hills, the paddocks,
the forests. The sun, however, is just as hot.
august 3
I'm grateful for my armed escort, and it's kind of glamorous to run in
this machinegun cavalcade, but the vehicles put a lot of stress on me
to keep up with them. I find I'm running faster than I should be. Quite
frankly, I'm in bad shape. The constant pounding on the road is taking
a toll on my legs and has made my left shin and ankle swollen and
painful, and I have an excruciating haemorrhoid on my backside. I've
been applying cream to it, but that hasn't helped. I should stop at a
hospital and have it banded, but I just don't have time. I'll keep run-
ning and hope the haemorrhoid goes away. It had better, and soon,
because it is depleting my energy, and it rubs painfully as I take each
step. I'm also getting back spasms and headaches, and pains in my
feet, legs, shoulders and neck. My feet are covered in blisters. My nip-
ples bleed from rubbing against my sweat-salty shirt as I run. I looked
in the mirror last night and got a shock: I look wasted and drawn. The
joys of the ultrarunner! I'm in a right mess. But I'll say it again: I'll die
before I quit this run.
The scenery here is beautiful; it is so green and rustic. The sky is
a perfect blue with little billowy white clouds. I can see mountains in
the distance. The midday heat is ferocious, though. I can understand
why they have siestas over here. Hopefully, there'll be relief at Vera-
cruz, which is on the coast, about four days away.
People have been gathering to cheer me on as I run through their
towns. They carry Mexican flags and wear T-shirts with 'Pat' scrawled
on the front. One family who had been following my progress on TV
news broadcasts and Facebook were wearing T-shirts painted with
the words 'Go Pat Go!' The people have been flocking to me to shake
