Wednesday, October 31st Day 63 Brazil
Miles/day : 16.8 miles (27km) total : 2695.5 miles (4337km)
Daily running time : 1h52 + 2h18mn =4h10mn
Daily average speed : 4 miles/h (6.48 km/h)
Town crossed : PENAPOLIS
REGION : SAO PAULO
DAY AFTER DAY
5.30 am, 7.9 miles (12.75 km) exactly after walking, Serge stops dead. What is usually his "warming up distance" has been today his distance covered. Hard time. He is unable to move on the pain has never been so strong. Serge has several things on his mind, the pressure of the arrival is getting more intense and so is tiredness. But if his legs aren’t up to it, he isn’t giving up for all that. It is not knowing our runner. He is known as being stubborn, stubborn as a mule! These words can make you smile but this defect become a quality when you are an ultrarunner. The medical staff is ready for action. The staff worry, wonder. And, if the worse was to come, twelve days to count down. Day after day. After news from across the Atlantic, from his surgeon the solution seemed to be a hernial bandage as well as anti-inflammatory treatment. At the sight of this provisional help our "national Serge" sighed doubtfully. The purpose of this being to diminish the strain on the psoas-iliac in order to relieve its inflammation. After care and rest needed, at 5pm he decides to start again. Like a test, just to see how it feels, he goes back to where he stopped this morning. The face contracted, we could think he is worried, but he seems more determined than ever. He knows how to fight, he proves it every day, and that for more than two months. He knows nothing can be taken for granted. The injury is part of himself now, he‘ll have to find the best compromise. Do with this help or without? This sort of sheath in which he’ll probably feel cramped up at first may be his life buoy. Still too early to talk about it. The test went rather well he walked for 1mile (1 km) at the beginning to test it, frightened to death of being incapable of putting the stride one after the other, them he decides to go further, certainly with the apprehension of not "starting" again, he carried on as far as the 8.7th mile (14e km). He decides to stop. Like a ritual he asks for a glass of coke. He enjoys this delightful moment, he feels reassured. It’s 7.30pm the sunset will be with us till we arrive in PENAPOLIS, then the red ball will disappear in the horizon. Serge only wishes to be back on the road tomorrow to see it rise.
