Run Across America - 18th August - Day 66

After crossing the 2000 mile mark yesterday it was back to a normal day (40 miles) but this time I felt much more content and ready for the miles ahead on the road. I headed out of Hannibal and back onto the Highway 36 but for only 2 miles before crossing over the famous Mississippi river and into the new state of Illinois. Matt joined me like usual on the bike for the first 20 miles and crossed the river together just as we discussed many years ago when planning this trip. We took plenty of pictures and took some video footage before heading over into Illinois. I know that I have just over 4 weeks of running left before arriving in New York, so even though I’ve now covered 2/3 of the run there is still a long way to go (just over 1000 miles).

The excitement I felt when crossing into Illinois only lasted a few miles before looking at more cornfields and country roads. I plan to put all my Blog’s and pictures into a journal and we were deciding on different names to call it. The best name we came up with was simple and honest: “The American Dream” when running across the real America – Corn fields, Corn fields and more Corn fields. We are still working on names so if you have any suggestions then please feel free to add them on a message.

The finish line for the day was 5 miles past a place called Pittsfield and it seemed a nice city with plenty going on (another Wal-Mart). I had to run through it without stopping as I was trying to beat my best time of 7hrs 7mins so even though I started very slow this morning, especially when crossing the Mississippi River, Alex gave me a kick up the arse this afternoon and I got a move on and clocked in a time of 6hrs 58mins. I have now gone under the 7hr mark. I do plan to go under 6hrs before New York City but I’m taking it stage by stage as I still have nearly 30 days of running left (if everything goes to plan).

Boys will be Boys -  They have got a thing for Chuck Norris (karate man) so tonight they went and watched a video at the RV park library room. The screen they are watching it on is tiny, but they love Chuck so much (long live Chuck Norris).

Artist of the day – No music as I am trying to get the team biking with me all the time as there are 4 crew members so I thought it would be rude to listen to my iPod.

Regards, Jackson and Team