The Comfort Of My Parents' Home...

Did you see yesterday's 2-minute music slideshow? If not, click here to watch it.

After a 37-mile day on the road, my parents' comfortable home... and my mother's great cooking... is a wonderful way to end this day! I literally began the day by running away from my parents' home in Tolsona, Alaska. The 25-degree morning made for a chilly start, but I quickly warmed up. This was another day with no animal sightings, except for a few arctic hares (rabbits) along the edge of the road. My parents were busy today with things they needed to accomplish at home before we leave Tolsona for a couple of weeks as they transport me around Alaska. I enjoyed a dry day that actually warmed up to about 49 degrees by the time I wrapped up the day at 4:45pm. The sun even came out for the last 3 miles of the day. My father was waiting for me with his truck and it was so good to see him. Usually, when I do a journey run I spend evenings with strangers who open up their homes to me - which is very nice. However, to see my Dad waiting for me and ready to take me to my parents' home was great! Upon arriving at their house I iced my legs and enjoyed a great pork dinner my mother had prepared. After showering, I decided it was time to get this web site updated - which is what I'm doing now. I realize that it's a weekend and many of the participating teams may not read the updates from today or tomorrow, but I hope they will. In the past 36 hours I've logged 67 miles, and tomorrow will be another 37-mile day. Monday will have me running 33 miles. So, these are some high mileage days. To help put today's 37 miles in perspective, imagine going to your local quarter-mile track and going around it 148 times in about 8 hours.... while pushing 80 pounds of gear. Of course, I also have to deal with hills, changing weather conditions, vehicles, not-so-friendly dogs, and much more. I don't tell you that to boast. I'm just trying to put what I do on a daily basis into a perspective that more people can understand. Taking on a challenge of running 500 miles through Alaska in 17 days on the road is a challenge, and so far I've been fortunate enough to meet the challenge. All is well and "Bob" is doing just great on this Alaska adventure. For those of you who don't know, my stroller (BOB) carries all of the gear I need to be solo day after day. It weighs a total of 80 pounds when fully loaded and "Bob" stands for Beast Of Burden. It's a "beast" because it weighs 80 pounds. It's a "burden" because every step I take I have to push it. However, I'm not complaining because I wouldn't be able to do what I do without Bob. It's an amazing stroller that has been with me on each P.A.C.E. journey I've done. It has gone through thousands of miles and I wouldn't trade it for anything. On a final note, I also had cell phone reception today and got to talk to my family... which was wonderful. They are doing well and I miss them. It's always a treat to hear their voices.

That's all from this Alaska milepost! Thanks for stopping by and be sure to run back here tomorrow.