Ok I admit it. I am weird, especially when it comes to
running. I look at maps and think about
where I’d like to run. I do it a lot. Last week I was gazing at a map of Canada,
imagining what route I would take if I was to run across Canada. Yes, that is
flat out weird. But then again, Terry Fox
not only imagined it, but attempted it, with one leg, while fighting cancer! Then I started thinking about what route I
would take if I was to run across the United States, you know, hypothetically speaking,
because that would be INSANE. And yet…I
found this web-site: http://www.usacrossers.com/. It turns out it is quite a popular idea, in
fact, bordering on “mainstream”. Ok, maybe not…but wow, this web-site is a real
eye-opener to the growing popularity of transcontinental runs. The site shows links for 13 people who are
either currently crossing, or have completed crossing this year. There’s a guy named Seth Wolpin, who started
on the beach at Seaside Oregon in April, solo, with all his gear in what looks
like a baby jogger, and is about to complete his journey this month! I have
been reading his blog. He has encountered just about every type of weather you
can think of, as he traveled from Oregon into Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, all of
the other “I” states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and soon, Massachusetts. In
fact, his last tweet, yesterday, says he hopes to finish his journey by
Saturday! This guy has averaged 30-40 miles a day. Even so, he is not quite as impressive as
Bjorn Suneson, who ran 33 miles a day for 98 consecutive days as he traversed
the United States at the age of 64! And this was his third crossing! The blogs
of their journeys are nothing less than fascinating, however, there is one
aspect that would not appeal to me at all, even if I could run that mileage, and
that is that their routes forced them to run on a lot of freeway access roads,
as there were no alternative roads or trails in several sections along the way,
which lead me to the “Run Across America on Trail” web-site. Currently 4 guys are 50 days into their journey,
with the goal to traverse the United States utilizing as much rail, canal,
bridle, bike, single track, double track, equestrian, national, ATV, ski, and
jeep trails as they can. I am totally sucked into reading their blog! I am just
on their first week and haven’t caught up with them present day, yet . They are
in the mid-west right now dealing with the oppressive heat wave. I will come back with more updates as I read
along and catch up over the next few days.
There are teams who run across the United States as well,
which initially I thought, “Hey maybe…”, until I did the math. 3000+ miles is pretty dang far, even divided
by a team of runners. Or at least
runners that run approximately my pace, give or take a minute or three per mile.
Even if I did manage to get together a
team of twelve or so friends, given our past history of relay races and living
together in a van I imagine we’d kill each other before we even came close to
smelling the breezes off the Atlantic. I
have visions of anarchy and mutiny in some corn field in Iowa…
In conclusion, I really enjoy reading these blogs, because
they remind me that, a: people are out there that are WAY crazier than I am,
and b: they’re living out their visions or dreams, as crazy as they seem! Cool stuff, check it out.
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