Day 100, mile 3128

Hard to believe five days have already passed since my last post. Lots of hills and heat since then. Fortunately, also family and friends. After my last post just east of Warsaw, I rolled into Geneseo early in the morning. I haven’t been there since finishing my last undergraduate class in 1994. I sent Donna Berry (who coincidentally grew up in Geneseo and also directs the research center that I am raising money for) a picture of the town welcome sign and she messaged back that I was expected at her friend Sharon Miceli’s deli. A delicious breakfast followed and I did a quick tour of main street, finding that my old house is now a tattoo and piercing parlor. I didn’t have time for either one so I headed out of town after doing a quick interview with the Livingston County Times. I have done next to nothing w/reaching out to the media but this one just sort of fell together. I finished the day with about 43 miles to a rough camping spot east of Canandaigua, not a camping spot I would recommend. I ran through the heat of the day which I always hate doing as well.

The next two days were also very hot but I managed to finish earlier in the day and really enjoyed the Finger Lakes hitting Seneca Falls(31m) and then skirted the southern part of Syracuse to end up in Jamesville (42m), a huge thanks to Chris Collins for picking me up these two days and shuttling me back each day and also to his family for feeding me and putting me up both nights, I think Chris probably put 200+ miles of driving in, not to mention some really early starts.

I made to the small town of Vernon yesterday after a shorter day of 29m and my mother and Rafael caught up with me, returning from their trip to Cleveland. A nice meal and some hugs and I was out this morning at 4am in a race to beat the heat again. A really nice thing about today was getting past Utica and getting caught up with ~500 cyclists who are biking from Buffalo to Albany. They passed me in ones and twos for the better part of the day and talking with them really took my mind off the miles. I finished the day with 39m in Little Falls at the home of Burrel and Martha Fisher, friends of my Aunt Mimi and Uncle Dick in Ohio. A big beautiful house, incredible dinner, nice porch that I am on now, and an actual polka band playing in the park across the street. This feels like the heart of the Mohawk Valley – I’m not sure if it is but it is definitely a nice town.

Tomorrow looks like another early start, some pre-dawn hours on the Erie Canal bike path, a lot of road miles, and a camp site. Sunday morning I hope to run through Albany and end up at my friend Jennifer’s house where I also hope to get some pictures up and send out a final fundraising plea along with numbers to date (I just looked at the Dana Farber numbers and I have $375 to reach $2000, the Sherpa School Fund is well below that). I’ve received a number of email notifications for both causes, huge thanks. Monday Massachusetts!

I have new stuff up on my route page, Saturday the 21st remains the tentative finish date. I think I have ~230 miles left.

I do want to wish my friends James Varner and Glen Mangiantini luck tomorrow at the Hardrock 100 race. This is one of the hardest trail ultras out there – go get em! And Terry Sentinella is running his second Badwater tomorrow, probably the most brutal road ultra out there – it starts in Death Valley and goes for 135 miles to Mt. Whitney portal. Temps are predicted over ~130. I know Terry has been training in a sauna (not kidding) and I often think about him when I am complaining about the heat that I am running in, heat that is nothing compared to Badwater. I know a bunch of other friends are doing fun things this weekend (including Leslie Hannay doing her first half if she isn’t saving the world and Jennifer E. doing a 1/2 Ironman on Sunday with plans to run with me on Monday!) and I wish you all luck, tailwinds, and cool weather.

Speaking of which, I need to get to bed. G’night all! More pics at: https://picasaweb.google.com/wolpin

-Seth
Little Falls, NY.