Day 38

We are in Texas.

There...I said it. I didn't sugarcoat it,didn't beat around the bush or give you some funny business and eventually reveal the big secret that we are indeed out of Arkansas! I have begun the blog update with the final product. Some of you might find this adequate and close this browser window. To everyone else, I will now tell the story of our last day in Arkansas.

We woke up in the duck house Gayther and Jana provided with us at a bright and early 7am. We ate the food we bought last night for breakfast and got our stuff ready for the day.Gayther picked us up and took us on a quick trip around the cattle area. He's been really worried about the hogs lately that have been digging up his land searching for some roots to eat. As we took our rounds around his property, we actually saw 2 hogs red handed running away from the scene of the crime. We let them go, and we were on our way as well. He took us then to one of his many chicken coops. As he opened the door nothing but thousands and thousands of chickens roamed free. Durkin wanted to run through the building real quick and stir up some trouble. After taking us on a nice tour of his land and his lifestyle, he took us back to the center of Lewisville, AR.

We started on our 29 mile day. My muscles and bones were still aching from the disaster run through the snow 2 days ago. The first half of the day was pretty smooth going for my body, yet I could tell that my feet were kind of sore still. The road was flat and very curvy. It was a neat road to run on because we could see miles ahead of us as the traffic shifted from one direction to the next. We had a great preview of what we would be running in the next 20 minutes. Andy kept saying how much the road reminded him of a snake, with all the different switchbacks it had. At around 13 miles in, my feet were really starting to bother me. I gave up the jogger to Durkin as I needed a break to see if I could curb the pains. We stopped for lunch on the side of the road with about 12 miles to go. After we got going again, we soon met up with Mike Reilly, who had biked out to where we were to scout us out. He was from the Texarkana Running Club, who had mobilized about 5 miles down the road to run with us. We eventually met up with the running club at about 7 or 8 miles to go. There were 8 runners out to meet us. They quickly informed us that we would be ending on the border between Texas and Arkansas. We had been unsure up until this point as to whether we would be crossing the border today. They assured us that today was the day.

As we ran with the club, we could tell they were all very interesting and fun individuals! We struck up conversation with everyone. It made the last miles of the day fly by. My feet also were pain free the whole time. Perhaps it was getting my mind off it that took the pain away. It was a very nice run, nonetheless. We made our way to downtown Texarkana, and came through the city streets to the center of town, which is where the border was located. Right in front of the court house was our ending point for the day as we entered into
Texas...our 5th state out of 8. The court house and town itself were very interesting. Half of the town is located in Texas and the other half is in Arkansas. They have two police stations, two fire stations, basically two of everything and the courthouse is split directly down the middle. Half sits in Texas while the other half is in Arkansas. If you are driving in one direction you might be in one state but just across the street is another. It was quite the moment to step foot into Texas. To me, Texas is a state that just screams west. We have made it this far and I feel invincible . I hope our momentum can continue to feed off itself the rest of the trip, because we are all in high spirits...and lately we have been experiencing a lot of good feelings knowing the progress we've been making. We have traveled over 900 miles so far and after tomorrow we will be 1/3 of the way across the country.

Mike Jones, our main contact in the running club, then took us to the Marriot hotel to drop our stuff off and to get showered up and ready for dinner, which would be provided to us at his home later in the night. We cleaned up quickly and then were picked back up by Mike at 5:30 to go to his home. When we got to his home, he immediately showed us his State Championship medal from the Arkansas Tri-athlon the previous year . Some might argue that a State Champion would deserve a trophy or a title belt, but not in this race. Of course the physical award can't compare to the pride and feeling of accomplishment that comes with being the greatest. There are only 50 states in the US, and Mike is the champ of one of them. Don't challenge him for his title, if he wants to put it up on the line, he'll tell you.

We were later joined by some of the members of the Texarkana Running Club we had ran with before. We enjoyed some home-made chili thanks to Mike Reilly along with some delicious home-made bread and cookies. We swapped more running stories, and discussed our route. After a while Mike decided that he really wanted to run across the country. As everyone came up with reasons he shouldn't he kept coming up with reasons he should. Personally I know we should be out here doing this run, but every time someone tells us they wish they were doing it, it makes me that much more sure.

Earlier today we got in touch with our friend Kendall from SAU and learned that her and some of the other girls from the team had a gift bag they wanted us to have. Kendall, Bailey and Lindsay met up with us at the Jone's house with a bag full of goodies. Oatmeal Squares, Peanut M&Ms, and Gatorade, these girls know us good!

After all the excitement we made our way back to our room for the night. The rest of the evening has been spent updating our website and pictures, check 'em out!!

So long for now!
-Ken/Durkin