Day 77

Another day in the books and another day closer to San Diego. With 11 weeks (real world weeks) officially behind us and less than six remaining it is safe to say we will be touching the Pacific Ocean with our bare feet, or fully cloth for that matter, on May 26th. For a long time we debated and discussed when we thought we would be finishing this journey. At first I was skeptical that we would remain on schedule and finish each day as planned but after spending close to three months on the road and encountering almost everything imaginable I can safely say that you will see us crossing the finish line Monday May 26th. Buy your plane tickets tonight or if you are John and Reynold, start stepping up your daily mileage cause you'll never catch us!

Before I start talking about today I want to take a few minutes to discuss last nights festivities as well as the rest of the week my parents were here. If you take a minute and look at our schedule on The Route page of our website it is easy to see that this last week was by far the hardest of the entire trip. Not only in total mileage or daily mileage but also the number of days we would be running before a day off. We often joked that once we made it though this week the nation was over because to a certain extent it is. From here on out we will be running a lot less and with a number of scheduled days off to recover. It should be, as we have been calling it, "a joke".

Before my parents knew the exact date of their visit we all kind of dreaded this week. We knew we would be able to get through it but how much fun would it really be trying to finish 35, 38, and 40 miles on consecutive days? Odds are not very. However, having my parents here has made this week one of the most enjoyable of the trip so far. We love when people come out and visit us even if it is for a short amount of time. It really breaks up the days and gives us something to look forward to. I know the three of us were really looking forward to having them visit. It was nice seeing them and for them to be a part of this entire journey. It's not every day that your son runs across the country and I could tell they were proud of us for even attempting such a feat. Having them here only made this trip more memorable. I don't know if we stressed it enough but we can't thank you guys enough for everything you have done while out here and from home. Thanks again and we all love you.

Tomorrow they will drop us off at mile marker 3 on Route 602 for the last time and try to make their flight on time. I am sad to say goodbye to them but at the same time I am ready to get adventurous again and meet new and exciting people. We cross into Arizona on Sunday, our 7th state, and I am looking forward to where we will set up camp.

On to today - Day 77 - End of week 11.

We woke up around 7, as usual and headed downstairs for the continental breakfast. It was your typical breakfast in the lobby of a hotel and consisted of bagels, muffins, toast, donuts and cereal. We ate as much as possible along with a few muffins from Walmart that my mom picked up and packed up the car. With an hour ride ahead of us we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. Just after 7:30 the five of us made the long drive down 602 and the remainder of 36 to a small driveway near mile marker 45. Ken took a quick nap as Durkin and I tried our hands with some arts and crafts (more on that in the future) before we arrived at our starting point.

For those of you that are not familiar with my father he is a huge NASCAR fan, particularly Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie drives the number 48 Chevy Lowe's car for Hendrick Motorsports and is the current two-time defending Champ. Yeah I know NASCAR. Anyways, it wasn't until this trip that I realized and discovered the true driver in my father. He never speeds or drives reckless but the last few days he has opened up that rental car to see what she has to offer. He was passing people left and right every chance he got. A few of them he passed from way down town at the displeasure of my mother. We all loved his aggressive driving and I think deep down so did he.

Speaking of driving. In the week that my parents were in New Mexico they have put over 2,000 miles on their car either dropping us off/picking us up or site seeing. It was kind of neat to know that just as we are approaching 2,000 miles for our own trip they too were doing the same thing. It was also discouraging to know that after 77 days of running my parents did the same distance in 1/11th of the time. No matter how you look at it, it's impressive.

As we exited the car and started reassembling the jogger my father yelled out to us that the current temperature was 29 degree. "Don't worry, he said, it will be 60 before you get over that hill". It wasn't. In fact, the temperature didn't get that enjoyable until around 2pm with less than 5 miles left in our day. For the rest of the time we all ran in winter hats, gloves and rain coats to block the wind. The wind was not as bad as yesterday but her presence was still felt.

The true test today were the hills. I don't think we had a flat section all day. It was either up or down and for a majority of the day it was up. We would climb and climb only to run downhill for a few short minutes. At times I thought they would never end as we could see far into the horizon.

Probably halfway into our day Durkin found a cell phone on the side of the road. He is usually pretty good at finding things since he runs in front of Ken and I and this was no different. He spotted it, yelled Chocolate and picked it up. It was a Verizon Chocolate cell phone the exact model of his current phone, only in better condition. This seemed funny to me that a phone we found on the side of the road was in better condition than the phone he carries with him on a daily basis. When we got back to the hotel he charged it to see if it still worked. It does and we still don't know what we are going to do with it. Perhaps drop it off in Arizona or wait til we get to San Diego to try and hunt down the owner. I bet they would be surprised if we told them we found there phone in California.

A few miles later we stumbled upon a decaying body of a coyote. This sort of thing is very typical to see on the road but this one was extra special. I know some of you might be grossed out at this point so please skip this paragraph if you don't think you can handle reading on. For those of you with the stomach, here's what happen. Ever since day 21 when we ran passed a Shark Pond I have wanted to get a tooth on this trip. That particular day it was raining and we were soaking wet so we didn't stop to investigate. I feel as if that moment will haunt me for the remainder of the trip. I may have passed up my only opportunity to get a wild animals tooth. However, since then I have been keeping my eye out for such gold. How great would it be to tell people you got a coyote's tooth or a bears tooth while running across the country? Oh you bought it at the store Andy? No, I saw it by the side of the road as I was running one day and pried it out of the animals mouth. That's what I am after.

This coyote was in excellent condition - nothing but remaining bone. It was not rotting or anything gross like that. Ken and Durkin saw it first and stopped running. They turned and smiled at me and knew this was my chance. I couldn't believe my luck and looked for the biggest rock I could find. After several attempts of knocking it out of its mouth I gave up and chalked one up to the road. It may have won this battle but in the end I know I will come out on top.

Further down the road we ran into some construction. There were 3 or 4 guys working on a bridge and waved to us as we passed. As we climbed the next hill and faded away from the construction we came across a giant flashing CAUTION sign by the side of the road. Matt asked me if I thought a keyboard was inside that controlled the writing on the sign. He was thinking about changing the CAUTION to what else "Durkin Is The Greatest" or Nationrun.com. Something along those lines. We figured the guys working wouldn't have that hard of a time catching us as we don't move incredibly fast and opted not to play with the sign.

Finally, with about 4 more left in the day we came across a giant gravel pile. I know you have seen pictures and the video of us racing across longer-shorter piles of gravel, but this pile was a monster. It probably rose 20 feet or more gradually before dropping off suddenly at the other end. We had seen it as we were driving out to start the day and I challenged Durkin to a race. All day I was looking forward to a little bit of revenge since he beat me twice in our other head to head match ups. Just before we arrived he said he didn't feel up to it and would forfeit the win to me. I don't like winning that way but as they say a win is a win. I was busy celebrating when Ken turned around, not knowing Matt would not be racing, and said "I can't wait to see this" with a huge smile on his face. That's all it took for Durkin to fold under peer pressure or the fact that he didn't want to let Ken down and decided he would indeed race me.

Overall, the race build up was a lot better than the actual race as Matt ran away with it. His overall short track speed is just to much for my distance legs and he moves to 3-0 on the year as I fall to 0-3. I guess 0-3 is better than not stepping up to race at all, right Ken?

We finished the day around 3pm and 30 miles of pavement under us before my parents arrived at mile marker 3 on Route 602. This road is unlike any other road we have been traveling on for the last 76 days because up until yesterday we have been traveling West. However, today and tomorrow's run will take us North up to Gallup. We will be doing this to make our way towards the Grand Canyon. I don't think it is a big deal but Ken feels strongly against it and calls this "wasted miles". He has been insisting that there had to be a quicker way to get up to the Canyon and back down again. He also claims we wasted a mile as we climbed in elevation (5,260 feet is a mile above sea level and we are currently at 6,5000). The next time we run across the country Ken is in charge of the route.

We packed the jogger up and headed back to Gallup to get showers and something to eat. The five of us had our last meal together at Applebee's. The food was great and nothing was left to take home, just the way we like it. I hope my parents had a good time visiting and got to see as much as they wanted. I know driving all day can't be that much fun but they were glad to see me, especially on my birthday.

Tomorrow we will once again be on our own after being dropped off in the morning. I know with a rest day coming and the finish just around the corner we will all be well rested and ready to hammer home another 1,000 miles.

I will leave you with a quote that Kaitlyn sent me the other day. It seems fitting, especially for us.

The Perfect Run - The wind at your back (not our case), the sun in front of you (to our left since we are running West all the time), and your friends by your side (almost, except Durkin is ALWAYS in front).

-Andy