Day 113 August 27, 2011 Brandon to Virden 61km

As predicted I was late getting up this morning despite setting about 8 alarms. I was slow getting ready as well, so I missed the rain that started as I got up and stopped just before I finally managed to get out and start running.

There was no headwind at all today and the temperature was perfect, somewhere in the low 20s so running conditions were pretty much perfect. I’m currently listening to 1984 on my iPod and really enjoying it. It kind of reminds me a little bit of Atlas Shrugged, although not nearly as verbose.

Today’s theme for road kill was headless salamanders. I’m not sure where these little guys are coming from, as it seems pretty dry around here. I’ve also seen a number of porcupines on the side of the road and they are way bigger than I thought they would be, but unfortunately I haven’t seen any live porcupines.

Mike was stopped twice today on the road. The first time was by a gentleman who had seen us on the National and wanted to make a donation. The second time was by an off duty police officer who was angry that I was running facing oncoming traffic and wanted Mike to get me to run on the westbound side. Not a chance. There’s no way I’m running in such a way that I can’t anticipate when cars are going to pass me.

At around the 57km mark it was really dry and dusty and with the wind from the trucks I had tons of dirt on the roof of my mouth. At the 59^th km mark Chris Daum, a friend of mine from Vancouver arrived. He’s going to be with us for the next week.

We drove back to a campsite I had run past and were delighted to learn that they had a pool. After our swim and pasta dinner we discovered they had ice cream. I had a huge scoop of mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream. I’ve got to enjoy this while I can because once I stop running I’ll probably have to give it up.

Tomorrow I’ll make it to Saskatchewan!