Day 2 - A New Day, A New Adventure
June 5th, 2008 by Adrian LoveEarly Morning Rust
After having started the first day a little later than typical with the send off, we had much too little time to sleep at the hotel. Although we actually did sleep about 5 hours, instead of feeling rested at all, it felt more like that half-dead feeling that typically accompanies an all-nighter. Even the free waffles and juice didn’t do much to wake me up. It took a good hour before I was able to finish my sentences with more than a slur or grunt.
We packed up the vans and headed out for our next leg of the relay to Lawrence, KS. On the way to the road, we stopped to fill up our gas tanks. While waiting for the fill up, the guys and I took our chance to stretch the stiffness out of our legs. Frankly, even the 20 minutes I spent stretching didn’t do much good. As soon as they finished paying for the gas, we headed off to the starting point.
It’s Business Time
Nathan began the day off for us again. To help with time and in consideration of the heat, we decided to cut the number of miles ran at one time down to 4 miles. This was implemented with the idea that less miles at once would equate to faster splits, making the overall time it took to complete the day faster. Even with the splits shortened, the day felt pretty regular…until our first unexpected visitor came by.
Right after Matt gave the baton off to Adam, the guys in the other van popped out to show me the newest honorary member to the team, Lamon (Lay-Mon). A bad twist on my middle name La’Mon, Lamon the turtle became the team’s mascot for the 5 or so minutes we wouldn’t let him go. Just like any other member on the team, Lamon had his own super power, and his power was the ability to right himself when turned onto his shell! Realizing that we had to let Lamon get back to frolicking in the fields, the team packed back into the vans and let the turtle go.
A True Cross Country Experience
My first time to run didn’t come until the afternoon. Running at this time of day was nothing new to me; I’ve done it many times before. But back in Wichita, we don’t have these things called hills. The area near Lawrence certainly does. Actually, it has a lot of them. And when you add in the other horrible elements of the run, you get an equation sort of like this: Hills + heat + humidity = hard running. My leg of the run did end in success though, as I handed the baton off to Nathan so he could face the elements of nature as well.
Media Management
Nearing Lawrence, KS, the traffic picked up sharply, making the run too dangerous to continue. We decided to drive into Lawrence instead. Once there, the whole team got out to run. The commoners weren’t really sure what to do with us, as one man came outside his house angry that a few of us stepped on his very unkempt grass. If anything, we were doing him a favor. The reason we were in Lawrence was that we had scheduled interviews with the Lawrence Journal World and MTV. Both interviews were done in South Park (not the one with Kyle and Kenny, but an actual park). Here we introduced ourselves with the reporters, and I introduced myself to the cameras.
You can see an excellent article about us by Alex Parker on the Lawrence Journal World website here. We’ll keep you updated on the MTV video and article when it comes up.
A Friendly Welcome
Over the years, Matthew’s parents have met some pretty cool people. We stayed with some of their friends for a comfy and very inviting night. The couple were even nice enough to cook the team pasta and salad. For dessert, they handed over to us half gallons of ice cream and hot fudge topping that was FRESHLY MADE just for us. The welcoming atmosphere brought the “best” out of all of us, and the euphoria of food and fun lasted late into the night. Even with the lights out, the entire team was fully awake and quick to pull out the cameras for some wacky stills (that will NEVER be released). By the way, we met another cool animal at the house we boarded at for the night, and if you want to read up on this particular beast of the night, check out Chris Parker’s blog at www.catchitkansas.com.
Thanks for taking your time to read up on the team’s progress and remember to get the word out about us. Tell your friends and family to check both websites for updates and news about the team. But reading up on how the team is doing is not the only thing we would like you to do. Donations are always accepted. The more we can raise, the more people we can help save. And that’s really what this relay is about; not us the runners, but the families in Darfur that need our support to survive. Please donate today.






