Day 6: South Bend to Elkhart-You are my Sunshine....

Preparing for today's section last night we were unsure of the weather.  We thought it might be somewhat rainy weather. Boy were we surprised.  It was just before dawn and we were enjoying breakfast in the lobby of the Comfort Suites.  The manager Kayla that helped us to get our rooms comped with the hotel manager was working this morning and it was nice to thank her for her assistance in person.

A few St. Joe Co. officers were hanging out as well this morning and chatted us up as we saw the sun breaking out of the overcast sky just as we were about to head out.  They wished us safe running.  Today's route was fairly straight forward... 11.5 miles down Killer Kern Rd. then a few turns past Jimtown and then our next stopping point.  Heading out Kern Rd was fairly uneventful in sights to report other than another possum playing possum and a few squished squirrels.  It was nice to get lost in my head as the road pulled us along.  If you talk to runners...notable distance runners, there is always a wall that we push through before we find our love of the long run.  Some don't or won't push to that wall and some leap on over it.  Given my relatively new affinity for distance running my memory of this is a little fresher than my two comrades.  I have recently enjoyed listening to podcast as I run as opposed to music.  Today's long stretch without turns was a nice time to catch up on a couple episodes.

It was such a lovely run today just to be comfortable and enjoy the little bit of a breeze pulling across the fields to cool us.  I was getting warm and after shedding a layer the sun was just perfect.  Days like today after so many gloomy days I cant help but believe its my parents smiling down on me and letting me know that they are still with me.  I thought about the Schultz family and hoped that they too were able to enjoy this sunny day with Rusty and Rylee enjoying the sunshine.

As I turned off of Killer Kern Rd for the last time-finally-greetings by a few horses enjoying the day helped us up the slope in the road.  A few quick turns later and we were in front of one of the smallest schools in Indiana-yet with a HUGE state finals tradition.

Soon after the Jimtown Jimmies was our destination for the day.  We said goodbye to Kearney so he could rush home to celebrate his wedding anniversary with the lovely Martha!  I hope he and Martha had a great evening together.

 Milligan and I cleaned up and headed a few miles through town to a little place with a long time family tradition- The Miles Lab Burger.  The server Nick was super fun and made some great recommendations.  He made my night when he told me they indeed had black bean burgers as I was hankering for one around mile 7 today!

So refueling completed...one more run before rest day!