You know you've been out for a long run when you notch up another birthday in the middle of it.
Perry Newburn turned 60 yesterday, on day 29 of his trans-American run.
The first four weeks have taken him as far as Louisiana on the road from New York to Los Angeles.
Former Wanganui man Newburn, now living in Feilding, is attempting to break the world record which stands at 46 days and eight-and-a-bit hours. But at an estimated 2400km into the journey, he is beginning to fall behind the pace.
The blazing afternoon heat forced him to start earlier in the morning yesterday, taking a break in the afternoon and running into the night and right through to the next day.
He then celebrated with a birthday dinner with his support crew. But it appears the run is starting to take its toll.
"A lot of tiredness, a lot of soreness, a lot of, I suppose you could almost say emotional stuff, missing home, missing family and all that. It's a culmination of a lot of things today that made it a really hard day for me.
"That happens some days and it's all about what we learn."
Newburn pulled the pin early on day 27 too as the heat got the better of him after about 72km, the shortest distance run on a day yet.
"Technically, we're probably a couple of days behind on that 46 day one, we're still trying to catch up. For the masters record we're probably a couple of days ahead of the target. We'll just see what happens. We're doing our best, I'm doing my best, my legs are doing their best and we'll keep on putting that one foot in front of the other," he said.
"Mainly the heat really saps the energy," he said. "We're going to try to transition into more night-time running."
It was the first time on the trip he's mentioned the masters record as being a possible target. However, the overall record remains the goal and, with Newburn's ultra-distance experience, he cannot be counted out.
"We'll battle to try and catch up, at the moment it's all we can do. We're still having fun but boy did that heat knock the living daylights out of me ... mind you that's a poor Kiwi guy who came straight from winter."