A much better day. The afermath of yesterday’s run lasted well into the night. The heat was energy sapping. Something as simple as putting socks on resulted in buckets of sweat pouring from me. Last nights sleep was like jungle training without the jungle. Humid, hot and sticky. Unable to get comfortable, the entire team pretty much went without sleep. After a quick chat yesterday evening we decided the only way to beat the heat was to start as early as possible and get the mileage done early. It wasn’t difficult to get up as I hadn’t slept. We pressed hard out of vinita, a great little market town that reminded me a bit of home. We had stayed in a Walmart car park, it turns out this is a favourite for truckers too. The day passed without major incident, passing Chelsea, Foyil (worlds largest totem pole), claremore and Catoosa before eventually stopping in Tulsa for something to eat. It felt strange stopping for dinner and it was only 10am but the benefit of setting off early had paid off. A big bulk of the day completed before the sun hit its full strength. Only once we sat in Tulsa did I realise how far we had come from New York. I know this because in my favourite sitcom Friends, Chandler is sent there for work, they also agree, it’s a long way. Tulsa was hit by a tornado a few days ago, 7 people were hospitalised from this. Today was calm, still 30 degrees but calm and peaceful.
Map of Oklahoma City Photo Gallery
Route 66 intertwines and cork screws the major highways. Sometimes a bridge over, others a tunnel under. It did this all the way to Edmond where we stay tonight. Tonight’s RV park is amazing, such contrast to yesterday. We are parked on the banks of Arcadia Lake, a little north of Oklahoma City. My ice bath was a swim in the lake tonight with the rest of the team. The next two days are now probably going to be the toughest. A fifth team member arrives on Saturday into Oklahoma, we don’t want to get too far away from him so I’m going to run two days back to back. After yesterday’s horror day, I’m not looking forward to this. For those panicking about food I have added a picture of my tea. This was my pizza against helens pizza. I’m doing ok for calories. While writing this a national weather warning has just sounded out, warning us of high winds and thunderstorms. Could be an interesting night. We are so so close to the 5000 like mark now! Keep it going guys. If you have a chance and can donate please visit the website samboatwright.com this also has my live tracker on. Thanks again for all the comments, the donations, the likes just everything. #inspire #ride #beepic
If yesterday was a rather dull affair, today was a stark contrast. We have had a little bit of everything today. Navigation nightmares, injuries, fires, missing bridges and even a commando crawl! Today certainly lifted morale after another tortuous night of sleep. 3am this morning the public address system sounds like a nuclear war is about to happen. The RV site, silent during the night is hammered with a storm, thunder shook the RV rain pelted us, added to this the enormous cracks of lightning. Sleep is becoming more and more rare on the RV.
When I ran in 2012 my mum managed to lose me in Montrose, Scotland. She was reading the paper as I passed, never noticing her son in the pouring rain, slogging his guts out on the pavement. A similar incident happened today. As helen and I weaved our way through Edmond towards Oklahoma
City the RV seemed to lose us. It was a straight road……yup, I know what you’re thinking, how? No money, no phone and no water we pulled into a Hyundai garage. Thankfully they helped.
Once the RV had caught us up we pressed on, just as we moved a van shot passed us on fire! “The vans on fire” I shouted as Kerry who was at the back of RV at the time bolted forwards thinking I meant our RV It seemed the driver of the truck was not that bothered. He just sat on the hard shoulder while the flames bellowed! I don’t think I have ever seen anyone so calm while their truck was about to explode.
We pushed towards Bethany, a small part of Oklahoma City. Kerry had run the first section early in the morning, Helen was keeping me company at this point. As we ran we saw that there were road works ahead. We just assumed we could walk round them and that pedestrians would be fine. The bridge was actually missing. That’s right, a huge section of the road was missing. The only way round was to run across the motorway! That was 8 lanes off traffic with wire fences at both sides. We found a gap. We looked down the motorway (basically the equivalent of the M1) and decided we had to sprint to the centre. We made it. Then again to the other side. One thing we had not worked out was how to get over or through the fence at the other side. We ran down the motorway for a while until at the side of the road we saw a storm drain with a tiny gap under the fence. The gap was just enough to squeeze a person under. We looked at each other, giggled, sod it. As we commando crawled up the storm drain and under the fence i couldn’t help but think, 2000 miles we have come and we are crawling. We appeared to the surprise of some drivers on the streets above the motorway.
I ran fast today, whether adrenaline from the fear of being hit by traffic or just feeling good I was running great. I had 10 miles to go when my stomach cramped and my calf felt like it had a screw driver stuck in it. The mileage was dragging, my mind looked to tomorrow and all I could think about was another 50. I need sleep.
The RV park tonight is awesome, everything you could want. Great wifi. My mum has been worried so I thought I would give her a call. As I looked for somewhere to perch my ass and speak to her I sat on what can only be described as like sitting on a million tiny knives. They were lodged in my ass, little barbs! I have added a picture of my shorts. While everyone howled with laughter I was stuck! These little things were all over! Thankfully once I had stripped out of my shorts in the middle of the RV park I was able to carefully pick them out!
What a day. I’ve tried to show you on a map how far we have come. It doesn’t fit on the screen. Running again tomorrow. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. #adventure #epic #team
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