Iowa is not flat. Let’s just clear that up now. It’s not like there are secret mountains hidden in the corn fields but it is undulating and unrelenting. Today we were on the same road for most of the day and it wasn’t great. If there’s one thing worse than a road without a shoulder* then it turns out it’s a road with a gravel shoulder that is pretty unrunnable. Drivers can’t really tell that the shoulder isn’t great, especially if they’re driving at 100 mph and on their phones. So they don’t move out of the way as they think you should be running on the shoulder – at least that’s what I decided to rationalise it to today. Trucks and lorries are always fine, I love the truckers of America and their wonderful way of pulling over, car drivers not so much. Tomorrow we hit the trail again so my fury at drivers will subside.
Mike and ran together for about 25 miles today then my right calf was sore so I slowed and walked the hills. Iced it now and hope it’s not so tight tomorrow, not disastrous though. Steph was a star again – always cheerful and making sure I was drinking, eating and comfortable in the heat.
We are staying in Carrol, IA tonight and went to Quizno’s for dinner with Mike and Steph. It was my second trip this summer to Quizno’s (we went on the way to Mount Rushmore) and I ordered the same as last time – the Angus beef sandwich on parmesan and rosemary bread; again it was delicious! It has quickly become my favourite sandwich.
*I’m using the American term instead of ‘hard shoulder’ as frankly there’s nothing hard about some of these gravel edges to the road.
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