Monday, July 16, 2012

Days 47 and 48 - Ice Ice Baby

Day 47
"Go West, young man" was a popular phrase used in the late 1800s. Interestingly there is apparently some controversy as to who originally coined the phrase. Well, Jennifer and I are headed east with the hope every day that we have following winds. Go East, young runners.
As you would expect I am not running with a wet bulb globe thermometer so I can't state what the wet bulb globe temperature is at any moment, but from the perspective of someone out in the sun most of the day I am happy to report that day 47 was cooler than day 46 which is the benchmark for the highest feel like/wet bulb globe temperature for a stage yet. May we not have a hotter day, although that is probably just wishful thinking.
The route for day 47 included 22 miles of road and 16 miles of gravel road. Plenty of hills to work all the muscles kept us giving it all to make progress, but mostly the day went by quickly. Of note was the absolutely awful stench at mile 35. I presume the ponds to the left of the gravel road were animal waste ponds although I saw no signs. Bottom line, the stench was probably the worst smell I have experienced in my lifetime. Thankfully we passed through the area quickly.
Onawa to Dow City, IA 38.90 miles
Jennifer  8:32:59
Mike       8:32:59

Day 48
I only know three words of Vanilla Ice's biggest hit Ice Ice Baby from 1989. Yes you guessed it - the only three words of the song I know are Ice Ice Baby. It is tough to not think about Ice Ice Baby because ice is so central to getting Jennifer and I down the road and trail heading east. I use pounds of ice each day. Some of the ice is put into my running cap to keep the head and brain from overheating, and a lot of ice is put into my water bottles so that I can drink water as cold as possible. That cold water sure tastes good!
The route today had most of the shorter steeper hills during the first 25 miles of the stage. I can't say I felt that fantastic the first 25 miles, but the hills became more gradual after the 25 mile mark and I was able to run well after that point. Unfortunately, Jennifer had to fight off right leg achilles/calf tightness which slowed her on this hot day where most of the miles were run on the gravel shouldered IA-141 - not my favorite road of the trip - but not the worst either.
Dow City to Coon Rapids, IA 43.80 miles
Mike        9:14:35
Jennifer  10:12:06

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