Day 25 - Wrightsville Beach

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Total Mileage: 25.4
Today was one of the best running days of the whole event.  We had an awesome group of people (more on that), beautiful weather in Wrightsville on a loop course, and I got to see Cheryl at the end of the day.


I'm pretty wiped right now, so tonight's post will be a lttle shorter.  The day started with me meeting friend and ultra-running legend Charlie Engle at the hotel first thing. We also met the local police department who gave us the blue light special as we ran down to our staging point on the Wrightsville Beach Loop. This is a well-known and well-trod loop of three miles that goes down one road to the beach, up another, and back to form a triangle. You can make it longer by running up and down the beach, which we did it on a few of the legs.

We got to the staging area, we met Jeremy and Jeff, two awesome guys who host the ultra-running guys podcast.  Charlie and I have both participated in the podcast, and anyone interested in ultra-running should check it out!

We did a few loops together, and both Matt and his dad Mike jumped in for some running. Matt got some great shots for the documentary, and we met a ton of people headed to the beach, many curious about our strange-looking band. Michael H., who has been a great support driver and is just starting running, did a 4 mile loop as well. Got to ask him how he feels tomorrow...

It was so great to catch up with Charlie and all his adventures.  He is a person who has overcome so many challenges and continues to pound away, which is why he is one of the most accomplished and respected ultra-running guys out there.  His book is The Running Man if you want to know more about him.

I felt much better today...
I maintained a steady 13 min pace, ran with old friends and new on a beautiful day at the beach, and my wife met us for dinner.  What more could a road-weary Slappy-laden traveler want?


Godspeed, 

R.

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