The 500-Mile Journey, Day 2: There’s ‘Snow’ Turning Back Now [VIDEO]
It's early, somewhere around 6 a.m., and Bryan Tjerslandare and Josh Milich woke up sore and tired from yesterday's 58-mile trek, but ready to take on their second day of running.
Day 2:
Throughout the day I found myself constantly checking in on Milich and Tjersland on their GPS:
Meteorologists from all across the Eastern seaboard were calling for cold, rough weather here in New England, making today's trip somewhat of a miserable one.
Thankfully, once again, the men were ahead of schedule, crossing the finish line for Day 2 around 7 p.m. down in Norwich, Connecticut where they will be resting up at the Courtyard Norwich Hotel.
"The body is tired, but the mind is good," Milich told Fun 107. "It was a long day, so this morning was great when we had a few people run with us for the first eight miles."
It was a momentous day for Milich, as he was joined by a very special guest runner who just so happened to be celebrating a very significant occasion.
"My grandfather turned 82 today and ran about a mile and a half up Westminster in Providence near Federal Hill," Milich told Fun 107.
However, as predicted, Milich said that the weather took a turn for the worse.
"The morning was really nice and then around 10 a.m., it started raining and around late morning, the rain started picking up. All of a sudden around 1 p.m.,, the temps plummeted and started snowing. We thought it would be a few flurries, but the snow began to come down hard," he said.
Unfortunately, the poor weather wasn't the only obstacle the two men "ran" into today.
"We got turned around by a detail due to a closed bridge," Milich said. "It cost us about an additional three miles we weren't looking forward to."
If you're familiar with the woodland areas and countryside parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut, you'll know that they aren't exactly straight or flat.
"There were a lot more hills then we anticipated," Tjersland said. "There's no wildlife out there and it was a tough day weather-wise. It started decent, then it started raining, our gloves got soaked and when the temps dropped and changed to snow, as we hit Connecticut, we realized we had another 20 miles to go. We changed up our gloves warmed up and finished strong."
Once the runners returned to the hotel, Tjersland said they were greeted with a much-needed hot shower and of course some grub to fill their bellies.
"We were physically shaking from being chilled to the bone. It's about 30 degrees here and much worse with the windchill," he said. "The hot shower took away the shakes and the food feels great. We're chowing down on some appetizers, burgers and steaks to fuel up for tomorrow."
Day 3 will take the two men from Norwich to Wallingford for a total of 43.9 miles.
Throughout the week, I will be checking in with the runners and their team to bring you a day-to-day update on their journey. Although we may not be able to be there physically, we can always be their in spirit by supporting Milich and Tjersland as they make their way down to Arlington.
Here's how you can track Milich and Tjersland along their 500-mile adventure:
Click below to help donate towards their goal of $100,000: