Day Three of Seven

Temperatures:
High: 77 & Sunny, Low: 51

In Mahomet, Tuesday night can only mean one thing...pizza night! Every Tuesday, from 5-7pm, Dominos has $5 single-topping large pizzas for pick-up (no order needed). Running a seven day race doesn't change tradition. Around 5:15pm, I stopped running, jumped in the car, grabbed a pizza (and cheesy bread), and headed back to the trails (after delivering the cheesy bread & dipping sauce to Sharon). Sitting under a tree, eating pizza and Coke, while the birds chirp and the wind blows isn't too bad. After running 45 miles, it rocks. Connie has a slice and Bill grabbed one after he tore up the course (Jack has some work cut out for him if he's going to catch 'em).

One of my highlights for the day was being attacked for the 30th time by those swallows on the north-west corner as you just leave the parking lot heading north (or as you almost finish the 5-mile loop). Those suckers are small, but persistent! Lots of dive bombing and chatter. At first they kind of scared me, now I just laugh.

The second "highlight" was stopping for ice and deciding to get a can of marking paint to "tidy up the course" for the moon run tomorrow night. I also grabbed my clippers so I could trim back all the grass around each mile marker and turn sign post. Well, now the posts are clear and I've painted turns (and mile mark lines) all along the course. Jeff does a FANTASTIC job of keeping this whole trail clear and runnable (including adding impromptu bridges like then one to the left). I've just added that last touch--which you won't be able to see during the freaking moon run! Come out early and get a few extra miles in before the 100th moon run. I'll be waiting for you. So will Connie. I hope to have a few newbies out there too. Any buffalo that have NOT done a moon run, MUST come out for #100. And if you've done a few, but not lately, come on out (Davey, ya hear me?).

People always ask me "What do you think about all those hours while you run?" Well, today I thought about my hat. It's my Badwater hat. Not really useful for much except keeping the sun off you--which is important in Death Valley...and climbing up Mt Whitney. And it's been a nice companion this week. A little hot at times, but it does keep the sun off my face, neck, and ears. I've decided to name him "Marshall" (after Marshall Ulrich--one of the greatest ultrarunners around). He's a Badwater legend. I'm sure he'd be proud. Anyway, when you have extra time to think, that's what you might come up with. Guess curing cancer will wait for tomorrow. I now have a steady friend on the trail (although I can guarantee "Marshall" will be relegated to the closet...faster than Derby in the EPL...as soon as this adventure is over--those hats are not very useful for your everyday runs).

Stage Three Winner: Chris (56 miles)
Overall Leader: Chris (150 miles)
Runner of the Day: Chris (You knew this was coming sooner or later! This kid set a goal and reached it with perfection...56 miles before sunset.) I suppose stage win, current leader, and runner of the day gives me a trifecta. Sweet. Too easy for things to go wrong. We still have FOUR FULL DAYS LEFT.

Current results are listed here. I now have an alpha list and a "sorted by total miles" list. A few people haven't reported yet. It's kind of cool to see who Zola and Viola are beating.

Wednesday brings day four and full moon run #100. For those that don't know, that's why this 7-day craziness started. Nobody just runs for 7 days without a reason. Well, not many people. This is a celebration of the Buffalo full moon runs reaching the century mark. Full moon run starts at 9pm. "Moonathon" starts at 5am.