Day Four - Mr Blue Sky !

Sun is shining in the sky, there ain't a cloud in sight !!! that was indeed the case in Belle Fourche, South Dakota (today was blazing hot 88 degrees)Belle Fourche is officially "The Centre (Center if you translate into American ;) ) of the Nation & where the 5 State series gets it's name from & is the hub for the event. Rather than staying in Belle Fourche we prefered to stay in civilisation whilst our buddy Michael Grehan has a damp floor to deal with (& probably cockroaches & rattlesnakes ?!! ;) ) Following the race We had our photos taken on the monument with flags of all 50 States in the background. Following the embarrassment of folks thinking I was Australian I donned my Union Flag shorts & to leave them in no doubt wore my Union Flag Buff to keep the sunshine off my neck - I'd hate to be a Redneck out here ;) Two of the guys had the most fanstatic beards I wanted to get a photo of them & see if we could get ZZ Top back together although given my attire I was the "Sharp Dressed Man !!" The plan was to run as much as possible for 6 miles & then run / walk as I'm struggling a bit & just like Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon films "I'm getting too old for this shit " out of 200 runners there are perhaps 25 younger than the Fox !! After a couple of miles a lady from Denver, one of the Marathon M

aniacs joined me & we chatted away 10 or 11 miles together which did me a real favour & distracted me from the pain my legs are in, I'm not injured but it's just the pounding they have taken with 106 miles over the past 4 days. I started to struggle around mile 17 the sun had really come out so I stopped to put sun lotion on & grabbed my Ipod & "treated" the rest of the field to "Mr Blue sky" a bit of The Who,Leaving on a jet plane & Joe Cocker's "You are so beautiful to me" (the ladies seemed to think I was serenading them & chicks dig that shit !!) At 18.5 miles Sandy & Jennifer saw I was struggling & gave me a fantastic gift - a silicon rubber wristband embossed with the Phrase "Harden The F*ck Up" & as as man I always listen to what women tell me - don't we all guys ?!! I gritted my teeth & hung in. Michael Grehan with a late surge was again first Brit home edging out Traviss by 2 or 3 minutes with perfect pacing Kent's finest athlete came home in 4.14.59. In the final 2 miles I sensed two things 1) I had a shot at breaking 5 hours at 6 miles to go I had given up on that & secondly I could potentially hold off Trent the Aussie to level the "Test Match" at 1 - 1 which I did. He's now so scared he's cancelled the next 3 days to fly out & do the Cape Town Marathon in South Africa (Another cricketing nation that like to whip the Aussies !!!) 4.57.06 was the final score. Team GB exchanged some fantastic banter with Team Australia. Trent asked if I liked his flag as he unfurled his nations flag & had to comment "I like the top left corner" - he chuckled. Traviss offered him a finishing line Corona which he declined so we are now questioning his nationality as we have never witnessed such an event !!! Once again everyone out there was so supportive - there were smiles, waves, High Fives & plenty of "good Jawb" A shorter post race drive allowed us to recharge our supply of "Mexican Recovery drink" on the away. Time for a swim, hot tub with a beer & then IHOP for dinner. Keep on Running Foxy in the USA !