Day 27

Markabygda to Borås
Distance: 14.8 miles / 23.8 km
Cumulative: 308.8 miles / 497.0 km

“One more mile and you’ve got this.” Randy Bookout, Mile 24 of the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon 

In 2008 I trained hard to achieve my long time goal of breaking 4:00 hours in a marathon. My former colleague, running buddy, good friend, and nicest guy I have ever known, Randy Bookout, met me with ten miles to go and paced me to the finish. As we passed the mile 24 mark, he hit me with the quote above. Before I could question his math skills, he explained, “We have talked about it many times Melvin. In races, the last mile is cake. When you sense that finish line, adrenaline kicks in, you can focus on crossing the line, you know you’ve made it. So all you have to do is get through this mile and you’re home free.” He was right, I pushed through mile 25 and cruised along for the 26th. If you’re wondering, I finished in 3:59:17. I owe it to Randy. 

That brings us to today. Since our rest day in Vuku, I have been explaining this concept to Kristine. For me, tomorrow is the last day I need to worry about. Thursday I will smell the hay in barn (or the Scotch in the bar) and it will be a cake walk. Kristine still thinks she has two days left. I’ll see how she feels Thursday morning. 

Today was reasonably hard—fairly long with a significant bit of climbing (about 1600 feet). Plus it rained off and on all day which meant a lot of donning and doffing. 

The scenery, however, was much improved from yesterday. We passed this church in Markabygda early. 

We hiked several miles around mountain lakes and there were more open vistas. 

We once again lucked out and found a pilgrim’s picnic table for lunch during an interlude between rain showers. 

Near our lunch spot. 

The highlight, though, clearly was the sighting of our first Norwegian bathtub. Bringing the overall total to 14. 

Tonight’s accommodations are better. It’s basically a pilgrims’ inn with a nice living area and kitchen downstairs. There are several rooms with lots of beds crowded upstairs but we are the only people here. Unfortunately, we have not seen any of the caretakers and are unclear what the plan is for dinner. 

But I’m not too concerned; I only have one day left.