We all knew today would be tough. Thirty four miles, mostly exposed once the sun came up, and extremely hot. By the end, I was calling it “trail runners hell” — 34 miles of pavement in the sun, with one small hill, having to dodge and avoid cars/motos most of the way, especially in the busy towns.

I ran the first 10k with Josh, and we talked music and HRCA and many other things.

I spotted a couple of abandoned wrecked cars, hoping this wasn’t a sign of future carnage on today’s run for the team.

At the 10k, I picked up with Jalyen and Jacque for a few shared miles. I saw this cemetery which reminded me of the one Kelly and I saw in Barcelona.

And also this mural on a random wall.

At the 15k, I picked up with Dan and Ozzie and we shared at least fifteen miles running in a strong pace line. This section was the infamous rice paddies, which truly seems to go on forever. And this is when it started to get really hot – still with 30k to go!

Long and flat and straight and hot:

The three of us eventually separated, with Dan in front, then me, then Ozzie.

Here I am at the top of the lone hill around mile 29:

The town was pretty busy and I found myself walking some – but I might have used the busyness as an excuse! I was so ready to be done! After about 3 miles in town, I got to the finish where Dan, Matt, and Jase had come through ~10-12 minutes before me.

I sat in the gutter and immediately these guys came out to say hello:

Jase and I opted for omelettes and fries, which took a long time to come out, but they hit the spot!

We are in a pretty nice hotel, and like most of the hotels we’ve stayed in so far, we seem to be the only guests! We are able to climb the 4 floors to the roof for this view:

Tomorrow is another 20 miles, when we reach Wahoo Bay, which I’ve heard is really nice. We’ll then have a rest day from running, but we will go in to Menalus to meet the some of the families that Work is supporting.

Photos from Duy Nugyen: