Run Diary Week 3
Tuesday 17th April 2007
Martin reached Delta, after another day and night on the road. It was reasonably mild and sunny when he set off from the border and he managed about fifty miles in daylight. Come nightfall, the temperatures plummeted again and it was much too cold to camp so he decided to do another all-nighter. This is where the Spartathlon and canal race experience come in handy, although he still craves sleep after dark. He had to cover another 40 miles or so before he reached Delta, then he phoned us. He has now moved from Pacific Time to Mountain Time (i.e. 7 hours behind us). He was checking into a motel for a well-earned rest day. From here he may decide to follow the alternative pretty route suggested by the Utah cowboys, which would leave route 6 and go via Nephi and the Mountains/national Park to Duchesne. There was much more traffic on the roads in Utah than in Nevada! He was keen to catch up on the latest football and cricket news.
Wednesday 18th April 2007
Legs felt heavy, but another 52 miles had to be covered today. There was a stop for coffee at Lynndyl (22 miles), then departed from route 6 to head for a night stop at Nephi. Pretty views, so this was a good suggestion by the cowboys. Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers was brought up in this small town, so it has a claim to fame. Martin couldn’t get over the ‘two krispy kreme doughnuts and a coffee for $1.99’ offer!
Thursday 19th April 2007
Martin phoned us at 10 am his time, ready to head for Mount Pleasant via the scenic route. He is hopeful that there will be accommodation available to rest his weary legs.
Friday 20th April 2007
We found out that Martin had actually got a little further than Mount Pleasant yesterday, and stopped at Fairview, in the skyline motel. He had the good fortune to bump into an incredibly helpful chap called Jacques, when he was stocking up on supplies in Nephi on Thursday morning. I know Martin is very grateful that Jacques dropped off some chocolate doughnuts and Gatorade at mid-morning, and has made lots of investigations into the route ahead as it is challenging towards Duchesne. Martin covered 35 mils today, climbing 2 steep summits through beautiful country. He even saw some deer. He stopped to camp for the night at Scofield state park campground, where Jacques returned with hot food, coffee and fruit. There were also two university students from Provo camping out, so they sat around the fire chatting. A little less solitary than his previous camps. The temperature is still freezing, but hopefully the warm food has warmed Martin up. Thanks again Jacques for all the help.
Saturday 21st April 2007
(We spoke to Jacques 2:30 pm his time)
Martin left Scofield around 8am heading for route 6 intersection, where he met up with Jacques at 1pm for a lunch break. He had covered 19 miles and then set off again for Duchesne, which is about another fifty miles or so. Luckily there is a shortcut through Emma park, which will be pretty and leg/time saving.
Sunday 22nd April 2007
Last night Martin reached a point 16 miles before Duchesne and was kindly driven by Jacques into town to stop over in a motel. This morning he drove Martin back to that point and he reached Duchesne on foot by midday. After a break he continued to Roosevelt for an overnight stop at Frontier inn. He was pleased to here that his brother Paul had run the London marathon in 2 hours 44 minutes and friend Mike had also done well and survived the extremely hot conditions. Daytime temperatures for Martin are currently around 10 degrees Celsius.
