I finished my run this morning at my doctor’s surgery for a planned annual medical check up. Everything appears fine (though the blood test results won’t be available for a few days). In fact, my pulse rate was 56 beats per minute just minutes after finishing a 10 km run. One thing I did obtain was a referral for a MRI on my hip. It hasn’t got any worse, but nor has it improved over the past month. I may wait a week or two yet before deciding to have the MRI (they’re expensive), but if it hasn’t improved by then, I’ll definitely go for it.

Serge Girard is now running across the Eyre Peninsula, and will be on the Nullarbor in less than a week. He is now running the same course as I did for my world run, albeit in reverse. I particularly enjoy following Serge’s run when he’s doing the same course as I did. It brings back very good memories.

We’ve had a few hot days recently in Sydney, so I thought I’d post this photo from the world run. It was very hot this day as I ran through a soya bean field in Illinois. It was the hardest time of the whole run in terms of weather.

On This Day

Nov 24, 2012

Distance today = 51.21 km; Total distance = 14,871.64 km; Location = General Levalle, Argentina – 34 02.780′ S, 63 52.540′ W; Start time = 0824, Finish time = 1613

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246347974

Another near perfect day of running – the only downside being the volume of traffic. It’s a long weekend here in Argentina, and it appears many people are spending it away from home.

The day was completely cloudless. I didn’t see one cloud anywhere, all day long. The temperature was very pleasant, and the road surface and shoulder were very acceptable, so it wasn’t so bad when I had to go off road when traffic came along.

Once again, the long, flat straights seem interminable. Every direction I look in, the horizon appears to drop away over the edge of the Earth. And when looking straight down the road, the reflection of the sky extends along the line of sight, making the road and the sky look like they’re one.

The straight roads also encourage drivers to ignore the speed limit. Although it’s officially 80 kph in most places, there are many cars doing at least twice that. I’m not joking when I say that one Mercedes today was travelling at around 200 kph. At that speed, they come up on you from behind with little warning, and sound like jets going by. The Doppler effect is very pronounced as they zoom past.

I was also followed by a dog today for several kilometres. He was incredibly friendly, despite being semi-wild with no owner. If we’d been in Australia, I might have thought about taking him home.

I finished the day at the 536 km marker – that’s how far it is to Buenos Aires. I felt very strong all day, with no pains or niggles at all. I hope I feel this way for the remainder of the run around the world.