Distance today = 47.47; Total distance = 3261.06 km; Location = 8 km east of Quartzsite – 33 40.433′ N, 114 08.058′ W; Start time = 0829, Finish time = 1552

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/156651980

Sometimes you know when you wake up that it’s going to be a hard day. Today didn’t disappoint.

I awoke feeling well below par, and with a bad case of “the runs”. I really didn’t feel like getting out of bed, let alone on the road, despite it being a lovely day. But I did regardless.

It was a hard slog across the Colorado River and into Arizona, and then the road I was following turned to a very rough and rocky gravel surface. The going was difficult and I was constantly feeling the sharp rocks through my shoes. I was also having to regularly duck into the bushes. Eventually the road turned back to bitumen – small mercies.

I pushed on to the 34 km mark, where I had to make another unscheduled pitstop in the bushes – only this time I stood on some sort of cactus thorns which went right through my running shoes. I had to spend the next 20 minutes digging thorns out of the shoes before I could run again.

Finally, as I was nearing my planned 50 km for the day, the road turned to an even worse surface. Given that the support vehicle was due to pick me up soon, I called and asked the crew to come and get me earlier. I definitely didn’t want them driving Chook’s car on this goat track that doubled as a road.

So I cut the day short by a few kilometres, but was ultimately very pleased to have covered a good distance when feeling poorly. It’s a good psychological filip to be able to knock over nearly 50 km when feeling so below par. I’m glad to say, however, that I’m on the improve. I’m sure it was something I ate. Libby appears to have a similar affliction.

The milestone for the day was passing 2,000 miles. It might sound like a lot, but my good friend, Tony Mangan, recently passed 10,000 miles in the Ecuadorian Andes. OK, he started 15 months before me, but it’s still a mighty achievement, doing it on his own – no support crew for that tough dude.

We lost an hour today when crossing a time zone into Arizona. It’s the first time I’ve ever run across a time zone. There will be many more to come. Tomorrow we lose another hour due to daylight saving starting here in the US. It’s going to be hard to wake up in the morning.