Day 22, Unbelieveably only 30 miles left!!

Everyone has been so great again today. It was just Robert Wehner and I for the first 6 hours or so and then my parents (Joan and Chuck) showed up to hop scotch with me forward. Later in the day the Bunks (Tom and Lorraine) arrived, then the Gorski’s (Mary and Dave), then Kevin Kosterman (sorry about bad spelling), then my sister and family (Marie, Jim, Clare and Ben) and finally at dinner Greg and Janice & Timo and Ann. I think that was everyone.


End of day with everyone around, Robert took the picture

Today started on the beach with a very stiff headwind coming from the North. Point Beach SF was amazingly nice. The sand was wet and firm so it was “easy” to run on. Only a few times did the sand dry out and become tough to even walk through. As I did not have a map of the new segment going through the park I missed the reentry into the woods and continued for a while along the beach. I cut into the park once I was told I missed the trail.


Beach at Point Beach SF early in the day

I missed the trail turn after crossing the river coming into Lake Michigan. To cross the river I had to take my shoes, socks and ankle braces off first. The after cleaning and drying off the feet I put all 3 back on. In the meantime the wind chilled me to the bone so when I tried to start up again I was shivering and not closely watching for trail markers. Not to make excuses, but from Two Rivers to the river crossing I did not see any markers so I kinda figured there would be a big deal when the trail crossed back into the woods, but was wrong or just shivering too much.

After that there was about 7 miles of road leading to a short trail segment followed by a little road and then another trail segment at Weber Woods. At the woods there was a stream crossing which become a balancing act on the rocks. The sign said “It may be safer to wade through and not use the rocks,” but I did not want wet feet so ignored the sign and found two good walking sticks to get me over the rocks. It worked perfectly until the last 5 foot rock jump where I had to jump, land on a rock and grab a tree branch. I didn’t get wet, but I did stretch the bad hamstring out painfully. Fortunately the hamstring did not cramp and was fine for the rest of the day. Then there was 18 miles of weaving roads and 6 miles of Annapee bike trail.


Creek crossing midday

The only troublesome spot today was the IT band again. I stretched it about 3 dozen times and thought about putting the strap back on, but did not want to irritate the hamstring. The wind was not fun, but the day was wonderful.

I am so happy with how everything has gone and am very confident that I can crawl the 30 miles tomorrow if I have to. I think the day will go very smoothly and plan to finish between 12:30 and 2:30 on Sunday. If you can make it, come on out and call Robert (262-370-7270) to find out where we are. It will be a big party tomorrow.

I am looking forward to relaxing on the couch with the remote control in hand and a Pepsi to drink. I will open all my mail and catch up on missed emails. Relaxing will be the primary goal until next Saturday when I plan to start the Ice Age Trail 50 mile run.