RunAcrossTheUSA.com

[Matt]

We're spending tonight at the Minich's, a sort-of relatives-in-law to Brandon. We're in Clinton, PA at the moment, they were nice to drive us from the spot where we stopped for the night, did about 34 miles today.

It's nice to actually be on the computer and not have to pay to use it, this is only the second post actually typed by myself since The Run began. I don't know if it shows or not, but my mom takes notes during our nightly phone conversations and summarizes them into a wonderfully written exposition of the day's events. That isn't me.

To date we've averaged a little over 30 miles, a bit under our desired average of 34-35. However, I'm not too concerned because we've been walking through a couple sets of mountains over the past few days, and I've been trying to let my leg recover. It's been doing surprisingly well-elevation of it in our tent a couple nights ago really helped. I can't really describe it, other than it was a huge lump just above my ankle, now it's just a small knot in the same area. It hasn't hurt at all the past two days, I just have limited range of motion with my right foot, which causes it to slap a little harder than it should when I run. But I was still able to run quite a bit today, the only thing that is still tough is running downhill with the stroller.

This morning we got out of the motel pretty late, and then stopped at Aldi for supplies and then we had to stop at the Post Office to see about the socks that were supposed to be in via General Delivery. They weren't in, and won't be in until Monday, but the incredibly awesome Post Office Man was nice enough to arrange for them to be shipped ahead again when they actually do arrive, so we should be able to pick them up late next week at Delaware, Ohio.

We did about 34 today, even with starting at about noon. Tomorrow morning we'll probably start even later, as we're going to church before we get back on the road.

A few things I've learned so far on The Run:

-People are indifferent to whether or not they hit a couple of teenage guys with their car, but will stop completely or swerve into the other lane to avoid being even close to the (imaginary) baby they think is in our stroller.

-Cell phone companies are giant, faceless, evil, and clueless.

-People are pretty darn nice, especially if you're walking in the rain.

-Chicks are not at all impressed if you tell them you're walking across the country.

-Chicks are not at all impressed with Matt and Brandon.

-Chicks don't like us.

-Pennsylvania contains a set of hills called the "Appalachians" and another set referred to as the "Alleghenies."

-I am bad at getting Cingular employees to do what I want them to.

-My mom could probably talk Cingular employees to giving her money to use their service.

-It takes 10 times longer to pack up in the morning if a TV is on.

-Oatmeal packets taste best when eaten with your fingers.

-PB & J tastes better than filet mignon when the last time you ate was 20 miles ago.

-McDonald's arches in the distance can be like an oasis in the desert. Go Dollar Menu!

-The stroller is 10 times harder to have going downhill than up.

-Running for one day makes you smell worse than walking for 4.

So, in other news: My parents may be coming to visit soon! They will hopefully bring us a laptop and a functioning Ogo as well, so that we should be able to do pretty regular updates to the site. We've been on the road long enough now that we're starting to figure out what we need and what we don't need.

So, I'm uploading pictures right now. Check here if you want to check them out before our guy back home gets them all sorted, filed, and organized.
http://www.runacrosstheusa.com/images/6-4

Hopefully they'll be up on the images page in a couple days.

Well, I'm going to go get some water and finish up the pictures. I just want to send out a very special thank-you to everyone who has helped us so far: the people we've stayed with, who've supported us, who bought shirts, who donated, our parents, everyone has been great. This has become a huge group effort, and both Brandon and I are really hoping that it becomes a phenomenon. So let your friends know, and make sure to stay tuned as our adventures continue during our RunAcrossTheUSA!