Off to a good start this week, covering 51 km in the first two days. At this rate I’ll beat last week’s total of 125 km.

Back to the issue of walking – I noticed my reflection in a bus shelter today while walking, and it occurred to me that I appeared to be limping slightly. I wasn’t conscious of this. I suspect that whenever I have the slightest niggle, my mind subconsciously protects the potential injury via a limp. Perhaps it’s a subliminal reaction that I developed during my world run, where I was ever aware that an injury could put an end to my journey?

Tony Mangan has told me he prefers to use Facebook so, if you’re on Facebook, you can follow him on https://www.facebook.com/tony.mangan.14?fref=ts.

Yet another photo below of the Colorado high plateau, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background. The sky was always so blue in the Rockies.

On This Day

Mar 2, 2012

Distance today = 52.86 km; Total distance = 2851.18 km; Location = Calimesa, California – 34 00.969′ N, 117 05.917′ W; Start time = 0843, Finish time = 1618

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/154270429

Today was a day of highly variable winds. I headed off in very still conditions. At the 5 km mark, all of a sudden there was a massive gale-force headwind which hammered me for the next hour or so. It gradually swung around to be a cross-wind from the north, and by lunch-time had eased off to a moderate tailwind. If the intense headwind had continued all day, it would certainly have been the hardest day of running I’d ever encountered.

The skies were extremely clear and I was watched over by Mount Baldy all morning, replete with a very light cover of snow. It made the peak look like a pointy muffin top dusted with a sprinkle of icing sugar.

I am now about 120 km east of the centre of Los Angeles, and yet I still haven’t reached true rural landscape. I think it might come tomorrow, however, as I head toward Palm Springs. I pushed a little further today than I had planned, so that I finished within striking distance of Palm Springs – that is, within a single day of running. It’s like being within a 9-iron of the green.

Mar 2, 2013

Distance today = 53.10 km; Total distance = 17,316.53 km; Location = Lacaune, France (8 km west of) – 43 41.362′ N, 02 36.675′ E; Start time = 0858, Finish time = 1726

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/279379183

Today was like a mountain stage in the Tour de France. It started with some minor rolling hills, progressed to a serious mountain, followed by a steep decent, and culminated with a final mountain climb of well over a thousand feet, to the finish at the high point of the day. Take a look at the vertical profile in the link above.

I actually cycled this road 18 months ago. On that occasion, the free-wheel mechanism on my bike broke at the beginning of the first climb, and I was forced to ride the next 200 km (until I had it repaired the next day) with a fixed wheel – in other words, I always had to pedal, even when going downhill. I couldn’t keep up the pedalling on the long downhills, so I was descending with my brakes on.

There were some nice scenes during the day. The city of Castres looked quite appealing, and the town of Brassac is very picturesque. I finished just west of Lacaune, which is also a cute French mountain town. Tomorrow is mainly downhill – a reward for today.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog, about another internet issue. Carmel had booked into the lovely thousand year old former abbey hotel in Soreze, unpacked everything after dragging all the gear up the stairs, only to find that the internet didn’t work. As you know, internet access is vital to us for getting the daily info out. She ended up having to pack everything up and drag it back to the car, before heading on to the next town to find another hotel.

This was an unusual incident, but Carmel is behind the scenes (and the camera) every day, performing numerous tasks – administrative, logistical, manual (e.g. unpacking the car while I’m still running), driving, shopping for supplies, feeding me, taking photos, and the list goes on. It certainly makes the job of running so much easier.