Running Across The USA

Basically since I don’t have time to finish the whole journey and It is very cost prohibitive to change my flight back to extend my trip I have come up with this revisement.
I will go as originally planned to Bristol England then instead of heading south west toward Land’s End I will head South East toward Southampton England finishing on the water there. It will be approximately 715 miles total… Also this will make it easier to get back to London for my flight home…

Well my first four days have been pretty poor as far as making distance goes, but the scenery, when I’m now cowering from the wind and rain, has been awesome!
Hopefully I will get better over the next 3 or 4 days, otherwise I will not finish the whole thing, which isn’t a big deal but obviously I’d like to.
Today I cut it short at 23 miles in hopes of an early day with longer recovery

Looking into a 40+ mph wind will make you look like this!

will help me. I really think I haven’t recovered from the 31 hours of travel to get here

Well it was a rough day. I had 31 hours of travel time to get to Wick Scotland and I felt it all day today.. Large patch of rain was coming down on me at 29 miles and I looked up and saw a sign that said “B&B 200 yards”, yep you guessed it I hopped all over it… I will start around 5:30 or 6 tomorrow and try and get in about 40+ and build into this. The shoulders (what shoulders) here suck!!!!
Me!

What Shoulders!

Nice Stonework.

Info for JOGLE (John O’Groats to Land’s End)

http://runvb2vb.com/blog

http://twitter.com/VBUltrarunner

http://facebook.com/VBUltrarunner

Link to route info:(I’m mostly following the route used during the JOGLE race)

http://www.ultrarace.co.uk/events/route/?eventid=94

I’ve given myself 21 running days
The approximate length is 863 miles
The northern start point (John O’Groats) is about 8 degrees lattitude from the
Arctic Circle!
Normal Low Temp is 41
Normal High Temp is 49

I’ll be running with a Camelbak Pit Boss with 100 oz water bladder (purchased
from Running Etc!)
Total weight 17.5 pounds dry
weight 23.7 pounds with full water

Includes: 1 extra short sleeve shirt
1 extra long sleeve shirt
1 long sleeve fleece top
1 light weight jacket
1 light compact rain suit (top and bottom)
1 pair running pants
1 beanie cap
1 ball cap
1 pair lightweight gloves
1 pair mittens
8 pair socks
1 first aid kit
1 emergency bivy sack
1 bivy sack
1 sleeping bag
1 net book with charger
1 Garmin 310xt with charger
1 solar usb charger
2 cell phones (UK and US) with chargers
1 headlight
1 flashlight
2 red blink lights
1 tooth brush and paste
maps and info and credentials
Plus what I’ll be wearing:
1 pair shorts
1 short sleave shirt
1 pair socks
1 pair Nike Triax Shoes (from Running Etc)
1 sunglasses
1 Timex Ironman watch

I’m all packed (been packed for about 3 weeks) bills paid and checked in at the airline with boarding passes. I leave tomorrow morning for a lot of traveling to get to John O’Groats, Scotland! The run back down to Land’s End, England will be the easy part!

This is the address to JOGLE (John O’Goats Land’s End) websites maps… I am NOT doing the race but starting shortly after their race ends and will be taking most of the same routes.
The approximate distance is 863 miles.

http://www.ultrarace.co.uk/events/route/?eventid=94

This is the elevation profile of the run in two halfs… Not too bad.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41761805/JogleElevation1stHalf.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41761805/JogleElevation2ndHalf.png

I’m getting excited about the journey and am looking forward to the start.

It is official, I plan on running from John O’Groats to Land’s End, Great Britain starting May 11, 2012 and looking to take around 15 to 18 days to do it. Although I am giving myself 21 days…
I will be running roughly the same route as the JOGLE Race which will have just finished when I start.
This will take me down the western part of Great Britain and take me through Scotland Wales and England.
Approximate distance is 863 miles.
I will try to post here and on my twitter and Facebook accounts (both /VBUltrarunner) during the event but I don’t know what kind of coverage I will have.
I WILL be taking a LOT of pictures…
I’m looking to have fun!

John O'Groats to Land's End

My slideshow is available here. It is a huge file (about 730MB) but if you have time, a really fast internet connection and really want it…… It is in MPG format.

http://tinyurl.com/2011TransCon

I will be giving a talk about my journey across America at Running ETC in Virginia Beach, VA on September 14, 2011 at 7:00pm.
I plan on doing about a 20 minute talk with a 40 minute slideshow. I will intertain a question and answer session during the slideshow portion of the talk.
For information contact Running ETC:
1940 Laskin Rd.
Suite 302
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
Phone (757) 491-2340

Rules:
Simple, you look over my pictures on Facebook and pick
the top ten pictures and email me listing those pictures.
After a Week I will randomly draw from all those that
participated and the winner will receive a large print of
the collage I make from those (plus some of MY selection pictures.

Please email me the Folder the picture came from and the number
counting from the top of the picture within the folder.
(Facebook renames all the pictures so I have no way of tracking
them by the file name)
Also put “Photo” in the Subject line of the email so I will
know what it is.
Do NOT Facebook me your choices….
For those who are not on Facebook and can’t see my pictures
except those I posted on my blog, you may send me the blog
title you saw the picture in and the title of the picture
(or a discription, if it doesn’t have a title).
Below is the direct link to my photos and the folders are listed as:
Running Across The USA Week One
Transcontinental Part (1 through 9)
Transcontinental Last Day

Thanks for following along with my journey
John

http://www.facebook.com/VBUltrarunner?sk=photos