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OH HI OHIO!

Running across the state line into Ohio I was struck by the large amount of potholes and neglect by the authorities to clear the edge of the road and the sidewalks from snow. I was running into East Liverpool on routes 68 and 39. There was a lot of obvious neglect. I even noticed two drive thru beer barns!

ADRIVE THRU BEER BARN.

I kept running. It was windy, very windy.

Gradually the roads improved. I ran over some bridges on the 4 lane highway out of town. The guard rails were not very high. It was a bit scary as I looked down and saw that long drop down into the frozen Ohio River that borders Ohio from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Yesterday I read about a tractor trailer that was blown over in a storm in nearby Lisbon.

James Bennett, an English potter, established the pottery industry in East Liverpool, and it became the community’s leading employer. East Liverpool became known as “The Crockery City.” East Liverpool once produced more than half of the United State’s annual ceramics output.

NEAR OHIO STATE LINE

Then after the hustle and bustle of East Liverpool and its 13,000 residents things settled down. I enjoyed some lovely soft and gentle rolling hills.
I am going to miss these hills in a week or two I will be out in the prairies. The prairies where one can see a tree ten miles away. Flat as a pancake. Windy as Hell with no hills for protection.

I got a text from Nancy. I will be staying with her and her husband tomorrow. She had heard about me from her ultra running friend Kim on Facebook and had contacted me. Nancy is going the extra mile. She had been ringing around her friends trying to fix me up with a place to stay in Carrollston tonight. Eventually she rang the Methodist church. They were going to put me up in a local hotel till Charlotte and her husband George both lay pastors for the church said they would have me.

Charlotte loves to do voluntary work for the community. It doesn’t matter what it is she will volunteer. George’s passion is quail breeding. He is also a substitute teacher for the local high school. They also run a very suscessful and well supported youth club for teens which keeps them busy with sporting and artistic activities and hopefully out of harms way.
He got a call to go into class tomorrow. A 7am start.
” Problem is Tony you will have to get up at 5am so as I can drop you back at last nights finishing position! ”
After spluttering my coffee I said.. ” Sure. No problem! ”
I now realize I am not a morning person any more since this world run has started. Perhaps when the hot weather comes along I will improve. For now I find it really hard to get going in the mornings. This puts serious pressure on me with the short days.
Then George got a wonderful idea.. A brain stormer!
” Charlotte why don’t you take the pickup tomorrow and drop Tony off and that way he can lie in? ”
George I love you! Happy days!
So I left at my leisure the next morning. A local reporter wanted to interview me before I started but decided it would have to wait till lunchtime. We made the arrangement for 12.30 to 13.00 at a BP gas station. The roads were very quiet but it was very windy and I didn’t get there till 13.30. We had a good chat and it went on for over an hour. Now you know why I try my best to avoid them but the people I am going to assume I would like it and arrange them! They rarely make a difference publicity-wise as many of these papers are weekly editions and I am long gone when they hit the shelves.
Today I ran 45.6km/28.3 miles.
Nancy rings to find out where I am. I think I am running towards Uhrichville and have found a way to take a back road to avoid this minor town. It turns out I am heading towards a larger town called New Philadelphia. The sign posting is so bad I didn’t even know I took the wrong turn!
” Where are you? ”
” Just past the Red Onion Bar on route 39. ”
” Well you should have left 39 for Barnhill at Roswell. ” says Nancy.
She is a 50km runner and wants to come out with me tomorrow. She tells me she has a friend who is a journalist. I go deaf. Then another one from Delaware texts and wants to know when I will be there. It’s about 4 or 5 days away and I ignore it.
Nancy’s husband Jerry is driving. We are driving to their farm of 210 acres. I call it a ranch but he laughs and says no it’s a farm. I feel stupid when I still don’t understand the difference. I think JR Ewing would be proud to live here. He has 3 miles of trails around the property for Nancy to run on. A nice place for a race.
Jerry is also a taxidermist. He has a workshop attached to their log constructed mansion.
He stuffs deer, elk, coyote and bears.
Earlier I told him about my head-wrecking ‘ joke ‘ I get subjected to at least 6 times a day, every day.
The big smiling, bet nobody ever asked you this one before…. ” So how you get across the ocean? ”
” I got one too… Says Jerry.
” The husband always says will you stuff the wife and hang her up on a plaque? ”
” But then who will do your washing and cleaning and cook for you? ” Said Nancy.

I am sure he could have plenty of nixers!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 at 5:33 am and is filed under jogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.