Day 2 - 49.5 down, 1401.5 to go

What's with the 49.5 you ask? Only 19.5 today? Slacker? Nope. Support vehicle died.
I had a superb morning run (16 miles). Bro-in-law Andy Miller was support crew and drove ahead a few miles then would come back on his bike. The first time he came back, I put my double water belt in the paniers, got a few pounds lighter, and started running, literally, 1 mile per hour faster (according to my son's nifty GPS watch). The rest of the day my water belt stayed with the bike. Deluxe!

Today, from a running perspective, was fantastic: light on my feet, no stomach problems, nothing aching, clipping along at 11-11.5 minutes per mile pace (unlike yesterday when, upon seeing a plastic bag blow past us, I told AndyE that even the bags were faster than we were and they don't even have legs). Notables of the morning's stellar 16 included:

• deluxe restroom stop at the Hudson Public Library which is a real hopping place - three reading groups and bunches of kids and parents - and an excellent bathroom.
• road kill of the day was turtles - lots - and one that I was able to save from the road before it got crunched.
• light cloud cover and temps in the 60s with a tail wind until 15 miles.
• great conversation with Andy M...our first chance to really catch up with eachother in a very long time.
• lunch time break at the Weld County School complex - again with good bathroom facilities, and a peaceful setting for our midday break. Feet iced then up, iced towel massage for the legs, reclined chair, good lunch, more good talking with Andy M.

Then the adventure began. I started running while Andy packed up the van. By this time the wind was blowing from the north at 25 mph with 40 mph gusts (according to the National Weather Service) - gusts strong enough to blow me out into the road, lift up and disperse all the loose farming soil from miles around, and send the power lines twirling like jump ropes. Wild! Andy had been meeting up with me every 20 minutes but missed the first 20, then missed 30, then I started to wonder. At 35 minutes I noticed a car pull off the highway onto a side road just ahead, turn around and sit. At that point I was fully expecting Andy to get out of the car. Instead, it pulled up next to me and asked if I was Paula. It turns out that Andy had flagged it down and asked if they'd go down the road to find me to let me know he was unable to get the car started and that he'd be coming out after me on his bike. I thought a minute and realized that if he came out on the bike, at least I'd have stuff to eat and drink - but no way to get back to the car. So, I accepted the kind folks' offer of a ride back. Once at the car, we arranged for a tow. Fortunately, the tow car guy was able to get the car started and we were able to drive the car back to Boulder. (The lateness of the day - already 4 p.m. - combined with the high winds and the fear of the car dying again - steered us away from the impulse to put in some more miles.)

Holly, my massage therapist, told me to fully expect three things to go wrong. So - I'm ready to go with the flow. I've got some remapping to do today for future pickup points, and I need to figure out where to maybe make up some miles to get back on schedule. But, hey! The running and company were mighty fine today!