Day 21: Smooth Sailing.

Today was one of those running days I'd like to copy and paste every day for the rest of this trip. All was well today. My body felt rested and recovered. I was energized, and finished today's run with relative ease. The road on Highway 60 has been absolutely wonderful. Some inclines and declines, but mostly rolling hills of level ground, and wide shoulders on which to run. The weather was absolutely fabulous. It felt like it was about 80 degrees with a cool breeze blowing at my back to keep me cool all day. Also, my  little "blood" issue was non-existent today, which was a relief. I'll keep monitoring it for the next few weeks still, but it seems for now to be getting better. Right now, I am 9 miles west of Wickenburg, AZ, and 62 miles away from Phoenix.
This morning started wonderfully, with a message from my sister on the blog that had Mom nearly throwing up from laughing so hard, and had me in tears laughing. Elliot is a fantastic writer, and has the gift of comedic timing. If you haven't read her description of my father's attempt at domestic life around the house in Mom's absence, please go to the comments from my post yesterday. It will have you laughing hysterically. I hate that it's at Dad's expense, but anyone that thinks they know my father will be pleasantly surprised by this "other" side of him.
 I got some really nice pics from the road the last few days on my phone, so I'll upload them in a sec.
Since the day of running went so well, and we didn't have many other options tonight, we got Dad's permission to get a hotel room for the night at the Best Western in Wickenburg. The front desk worker was wonderful, and told Mom that he has a son serving in Iraq right now. Just another great reminder to me to keep pushing. Also, as I was sitting in the van waiting for Mom to check in, a couple walked by the van and read our signs. The woman said she thought she had heard of me somewhere, but couldn't quite place it. Finally, we found out that she had read the story in the Lake Havasu paper. What an awesome surprise!! And a big thanks to David Bell for doing the story!!
So all is well for now in Arizona. Gonna' switch the schedule up in the next week and a half. Only going to run 3 days in this set, and take off for Easter Sunday. I am also going to take the regular day off on the 25th to try and let some of my injuries heal. I'll run the 26th and 27th, then take off another two days on the 28th and 29th, to hang out with my buddy Adam, who is flying out to see me. After that, my body should hopefully be nearly completely healed, and it's back to the 4 days on, 1 day of rest routine. Very excited about the next couple weeks. That's all for now. Night.