Last week’s running totalled 110 km, meaning I’ve run more than 300 km in the three weeks since my 12 hour run. That’s more than I expected, but I’ve been careful and haven’t suffered any real repercussions. This morning I threw in a bit of speed work for the first time in a couple of months. It wasn’t much – it would have been foolish to have pushed it – but I felt good and it augurs well for the months ahead.

Serge Girard is now running in Hawaii after finishing the North American leg of his world run in Anchorage, Alaska. He’ll be heading to Fiji next, then New Zealand, before beginning his run across Australia in mid October. I hope to catch up with Serge at that time, although it will depend on the precise timing of his arrival – the Tour de Bois begins right around then too. And Tony Mangan is in Siberia, fast approaching Mongolia. You can follow both of them on www.sergegirard.fr and www.facebook.com/tony.mangan.14 respectively.

Here’s another old favourite of mine – a photo I took of Carmel preparing our lunch on the French-Swiss border in March 2013. You can appreciate that I didn’t suffer in regard to fine food on my world run (although some would argue against that claim when I was eating meat pies and Chiko Rolls for lunch on the Australian leg).

On This Day

Sep 5, 2012

Distance today = 54.98 km; Total distance = 11,141.52 km; Location = Lebanon, Kentucky – 37 34.154′ N, 85 15.262′ W; Start time = 0809, Finish time = 1700

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/219303582

The day started with a light fog and cool temps. It didn’t last long. Within an hour the heat and humidity was rife.

I had a quiet back road to run on for the first 10 km, but then struck the familiar “no shoulder” problem on the main road. It wasn’t the worst case I’d encountered, but it still detracts from the enjoyment of the run.

A young policeman stopped at one point – I thought I’d done something wrong – but he only wanted to shake my hand and wish me luck. Carmel had filled him in further up the road. We also met some fun women – a local from “down the road”, and two Scottish tourists – at a liquor store just over the county line. They had to travel to another county due to the draconian prohibition laws that exist in some counties. I hadn’t realised it before this trip, but there are many parts of the US that are living a century in the past.

I also crossed another time zone today. We’re now on the same time as New York. As far as time zones are concerned, I’ve now officially crossed the US.

The day finished with me getting absolutely soaked by a thunder storm. It was really quite nice to get that cool. I haven’t been used to running in such low temperatures for months. This occurred as I climbed a pass to reach a plateau on which the town of Lebanon sits. The forests and countryside were quite stunning, even in the pouring rain.

Sep 5, 2013

Distance today = 48.05 km; Total distance = 25,915.01 km; Location = Gunning, NSW (12 km west of) – 34 48.159’ S, 149 09.001′ E; Start time = 0806, Finish time = 1550

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370811688

Some high cloud today made the conditions a little more comfortable for running. Not that they’ve been bad at all.

I passed through a couple of towns – firstly, Bowning, where Poddy McMahon has an antique shop. It wasn’t open that early in the day, but it looked like a beauty.

Later I passed through Yass, which seems to have grown since I was last there, four years ago. It was really bustling today.

The rest of the day was less interesting, particularly as a good deal of it was on the Hume Freeway. I’ve found a parallel road, however, and shouldn’t have to run on the freeway much tomorrow.

I have previously mentioned Kevin Carr, who has recently started a run around the world. On his web site, he has an interesting way of describing an earlier run he did. I thought I’d have a go at a similar description for my run, to give a different perspective on the total distance and vertical ascent (uphill), so here goes.

Imagine you are contemplating a really difficult ultra marathon. It consists of running three consecutive marathons back to back, then culminating with a run up Alpe d’Huez, one of the most famous and feared climbs of the Tour de France. OK, so that’s 126.6 km of running, finishing at the top of one of the most iconic peaks in the French Alps. Quite an event!!!

Now, as soon as you’re finished that, imagine you have to do the whole event again. In fact, once you’ve done it again, do the whole thing another 200 times, back to back – yes, that’s 200 times. And when you’ve finally done that, you’re not finished yet – top it all off with a final 1,000 km run.

The above is what I will have managed to complete when I finish next Friday. Admittedly, it’s taken me more than 20 months. I had never thought of it that way, but now I’m beginning to appreciate why I’m a little bit tired.

Don’t forget, the finish is Friday, Sept 13 at 1 pm, at the Sydney Opera House steps. I’d love to see as many people there as possible, so try to make it. After that, it’s down to the Clovelly Hotel for celebrations. Yee ha!!!