Today, our troops roused up a bit after 7:00am. Betsy and Kirby (you may remember from yesterday as Matt's Mom's cousins) made them a delicious oatmeal and cranberries breakfast. They feasted on the oatmeal and some bananas before starting out their day. After they were all set and fed, Kirby drove them back to their starting point for today in Wilhoit, AZ.
With 21 miles to do today, they started off pretty well. Andy and Ken have had some tight muscles lately due to their time off around the Grand Canyon, but they both started to feel better today. Their legs are loosening up, and they're feeling like they're getting back into the groove as they round the "home stretch", as they like to call it.
As the guys were running today, they happened upon a small town called People's Valley with ranches lining the street. All of the ranches, it seemed to them, had horses out. One such ranch had about 7 or 8 horses, who all came running up to the fence as the guys were running by. Ken, being the horse lover we've all grown to love and expect, went over and pet EVERY ONE of those horses. He was very proud that he got to pet 7 very nice horses today. He told me that every opportunity he gets to pet a horse, he takes.
Yesterday, they were all told about a restaurant called the Ranch House, which was about 12 miles into their day. It was on the top of a mountain, in a nice small town. The town was full of...you guessed it! Ranches! They made it to the Ranch House in a good amount of time, and they were all feeling pretty good. Matt ordered the Chili Burger, Andy got a Club Sandwich, and Ken got what was called a "Cowboy Burger", which was a double burger with fries.
As they were getting ready to leave and continue their day, they got talking to a few people about what they were doing. Many of these people were very interested, and asked them a lot of questions, which the guys were more than happy to answer for them. One couple gave them $60 towards "Team NationRun"! Another couple gave them $20, and the store owner gave them $50! They were very grateful, and were again astonished about how giving total strangers can be if given the chance!
So with about 10 miles left in the day, they set off from the Ranch house, and started downhill. The entire rest of their day was spent getting off of the mountain, and they dropped about 1500 to 2000 feet in total! They ended the day in Congress, AZ. They went to the fire station in town to find out a good place to spend the night, and are currently spending it in the backyard of the fire station! It's a nice fenced in yard, and they'll sleep soundly tonight knowing that they're safe from harm. There wasn't much in the way of restaurants in Congress, so they ended up buying some food at the gas station to have for dinner tonight.
As for the weather, today it was about 90 degrees and sunny. As they're dropping in elevation, they're finding more and more desert like conditions, and the air is getting a lot drier. Ken told me that in the shade, it's a nice temperature, but out in the sun, it's pretty intense. Tomorrow, they're planning on getting an early start to attempt to finish before the hottest part of the day. They only have a few days left in Arizona, and they're all getting a little antsy about finishing up. But don't worry, they're not getting tired! They still love the excitement of waking up to a new day and meeting all of the great people they have yet to meet.
So there's day 99. I hope you all enjoyed this guest blogpost from Michelle, Ken's sister (for those of you who don't know me). Keep on reading and they'll keep posting!
-Michelle
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