In late October of 2012, Chook and I ran through the western outskirts of Boston during Hurricane Sandy. The weather was wild and we were severely buffeted by the one of the biggest hurricanes ever recorded. Admittedly, it wasn’t as intense in Boston as it was elsewhere, but it was still a crazy experience.

This morning I ran in almost identical weather conditions. For those who aren’t aware, Sydney and the surrounding regions are currently being lashed by an intense low pressure system just off the coast. As I ran through the storm I was amazed at how similar the two occasions were. They’re not my preferred conditions for running, but it is different. As I write this, trees are being bent almost horizontally, as is the rain.

And, in terms of the running itself, the Achilles is settling down pretty well – helped no doubt by the fact I’m now running on smooth and even surfaces. Fingers crossed.

Today’s photo from the world run was taken in the Painted Desert in Arizona, not far from the Grand Canyon. As I ran through the late afternoon I noticed a spectacular cloud sitting above the desert, like a fluffy mattress.

On This Day

Apr 21, 2012

Distance today = 52.43 km; Total distance = 5366.86 km; Location = Poncha Pass Summit, Colorado – 38 28.335′ N, 106 05.265′ W; Start time = 0819, Finish time = 1608

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/170373821

Today I passed one of the weirdest signs I’ve ever seen, in a little town called Villa Grove. On the front of the local butcher shop, in very official sign-writing, it read “Hippies Must Use Back Entrance – No Exceptions”. What the…………??????????

I began the day in Saguache (pronounced Sar-watch), a town that deserves a mention. It’s a lovely little place, with a very friendly diner/bakery, but the thing that stands out is the theatre. Owned by Chrissie (I hope I got the spelling right) and decked out in Art Deco style, it hosts live theatre performances on a regular basis, staged by a theatre company made up of locals. Tonight they are putting on a stage production of Titanic, which sounds like a titanic achievement in itself. I would have loved to be there to see how they deal with the sinking ship scene, but I’ve had to run on. Good luck to them – I hope the theatre and the company continue to have great success.

Today’s running consisted pretty much of one long climb. I finished the day at the summit of the Poncha Pass, at 2,756 metres (9,042 feet) in elevation. This is the highest I’ve been so far in the run around the world. It’s 110 metres higher than the Col du Galibier, one of the most feared climbs in the Tour de France. It’s also higher than all but one pass in Europe, the Col de la Bonnette, and it’s only 46 metres lower than that. But, don’t despair, I expect to go even higher in the days to come.

Off now to have a Saturday night drink at a picturesque bar on the banks of the local river. Ahhh, the joys of journey running!!!

Apr 21, 2013

Distance today = 50.80 km; Total distance = 19,767.73 km; Location = Kecskemet, Hungary – 46 54.537′ N, 19 41.533′ E; Start time = 0846, Finish time = 1655

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301095279

We had a final dinner last night with Jo, Dave, Sue, and Greg (The Hud), and this morning, bid them farewell. They’ll all be back in Sydney by the end of the week, but we’ll be seeing them again in June. The guys really helped me with the running this past week. Both of them ran more in one week than they have for decades.

I began my run in the small town of Kakucs, under more cloudless blue skies. It seems like the weather is trying to make up for what it put me through earlier. Today’s high was 29 C.

It was another very flat day, as I made my way through green Hungarian farming country. I was on a dirt road for a while, then found a cycle trail for about 13 km, although this disappeared for the final 12 km.

It appears the Hungarians love their motorcycles. I saw numerous very fast bikes, clearly going far above the speed limit, some of them even on one wheel. I would estimate that two of them were doing about 250 kph on the freeway, as I passed over the top on the flyover.

It feels good to now be more than three-quarters the way to the finish of my world run. The last quarter will feel like the last lap of a track race – still some work to do, but the finish line will soon be in sight.