Freedom Run by Jamie Summerlin

Author:Jamie Summerlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fitness Information Technology
Published: 2013-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

All Downhill from Here (Well, Almost)

Looking at the elevation map that was created by MyAthlete Live based on our planned route, it looked like someone could trip me coming out of Laramie, Wyoming, and I could roll all the way into Kansas. Coming down into Cheyenne, it seemed like I was almost heading straight downhill, and there was really no end in sight to that. Besides the Appalachian Mountains in a couple of months, it was pretty much all downhill from there.

While my elevation was decreasing, the amount of media coverage was increasing. I did my first regional interview since the kickoff of the run with K2TV in Cheyenne. Jeff Schuman interviewed me at Holliday Park in Cheyenne and provided me with the chance to meet some of his friends in the Air Force that were stationed locally at Francis Warren Air Force Base. It was great to share stories of my journey with them, and to hear what it meant to them for us to do this.

My first day in Colorado was met with wide open dirt roads and a lot of time spent alone. It was about this portion of my trek across the country that I began to pick out a silo, water tower or clump of trees off in the distance and keep my eyes on that marker in order to pull me in to that point. Once I reached that landmark, I would look ahead for another one. I could literally see 10-15 miles in front of me in most of the areas in the Plains and Midwest.

On this run, I spent 30 of my 37 miles on the dirt, which was a nice break from the pounding of the pavement. Unfortunately, I encountered about 10 snakes on the road that day, but thankfully all of the rattlers I saw were dead. I really hate snakes.

This was also the only day that I really had any major issues with large tanker trucks. I told Tiff at the end of the day, it seemed like they were playing games with me. Each tanker seemed to go past me faster (50-60 miles per hour) and closer to me than the previous one. The road was wide enough for two lanes and even though no other vehicles were approaching from the opposite direction, when the trucks passed me they failed to get over to the left to give me room.

Due to the heat quickly approaching 90 that day, I had my shirt off for most of the run. Since I was running on a dirt road, each truck that roared past me would kick up a ton of dirt and rocks. Little pebbles kicked up by the tires felt like BBs being shot from a gun as they pelted my bare chest, arms and legs. After the first truck passed, whenever I heard another rumbling down the dusty road, I tried as quickly as possible to toss my shirt on to at least provide a buffer between the flying rocks and my skin.

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