A window of cool weather opened up after yesterday’s storm and Monica and I decided now is the time to set the male and female self supported FKT‘s on the OK panhandle route. Since I had a loftier time goal and the wind was forecasted to be out of the south Monica graciously gave me the Texas to Kansas northerly direction, and she took Kansas to Texas. We camped in our car at the midway point. In the morning we set our individual caches and Monica dropped me off in Texas. She then proceeded to the northern side of the route in Kansas and started running her way south as I ran my way north. The weather was cool and pleasant. The wind decided to go the opposite way as forecasted and it was tough going, particularly the last 10 miles or so facing a 15 mph North wind with 30mph gusts. The route was beautiful in a desolate sort of way. I had a lot of time for introspection while staring at sagebrush, sand, and decrepit farm houses. The shoulders were wide and cars moved over. Occasionally one would honk and cheer me on. When Monica and I crossed paths at the midway point we offered a gentle acknowledgment from across the street rather than cheering or offering support in accordance with the self supported rules. We celebrated at the end! It was beautiful and hard and running across a state and setting an FKT was absolutely a worthy drop into my giant bucket list!