D43: Minneola – Belleview

71,3 km – 9H38′

A long Sunday foot race

Florida went on daylight savings time tonight so we set our watches one hour ahead, which brings us closer to France with only a 5 hour time difference.

Serge and I have organized our nomadic life on the road as best we can.  In the morning, Serge gets breakfast while I shower.  He eats his daily kiwi and squeezes his citrus fruit (+ the juice of one lemon for his sweetheart).  Then he does the dishes while I connect to Internet and he finishes getting ready; most important his feet, to which he applies a good coat of anti-chaffing cream.  He adds a small reinforcement under the sole of his shoe because the incline of the road puts stress on his right ankle (it has been weak for some years). Finally, we move our daily accumulation of stuff: 3 bags, the breakfast cooler box, our valuables (computers, small back packs with the money and our papers…).  We head for the starting point, Serge turns on his tracker and off we go for about 10H on the road.

I am alone in the vehicle and because Serge wants to refuel about every 5 km (in spite of the heat he has not reduced the distance), I manage my time.  Twice I left him alone for 2 to 3 hours but we don’t like to be too far from our “Boss Runner” because the morning refuelings are important since it is at that time that he eats the most.  Sometimes in the afternoon he can suffer from hypoglycemia, especially when it is hot like it has been these past days. As he explained in one of his videos, to have something to look forward to every 5 km is good for the morale.  So I run errands and fill the tank of the car between two refuelings.  The urban areas we cross make this very easy.

In the evening, at the end of a properly calculated stage, thanks to the software, the race stops and Serge turns off  his watch and his  tracker and we head for the motel or hotel (I will explain the difference another day but we prefer motels) which I reserved a couple of days in advance.  For that, the Smartphone equipped with a SIM card with internet is very useful.  Thanks go to Nico, whose US bank account enabled us to have this mode of communication.  It is very useful in view of our nomadic lifestyle in the USA.

In the evening we have organized our life so that once we are in our room everything is well organized and timed so that Serge can go to bed quickly and sleep to recuperate.  Sleep is a sound investment for Serge, who loves to sleep well, even when he is not racing….

It is cloudy this afternoon.  A few drops of rain fell at the end of the stage and then there was a real rain storm.  It has made things a wee bit cooler.