On the run! Texas nurse defies the odds in cross-country trek

If lots of people who run long distance are pretty enthusiastic about their sport, Cyndi Graves is a downright fanatic.

Graves, a Celinas, TX, operating room nurse, is running across the United States on Rt. 60. On Monday, her 69th day on the road, she reached Rainelle, and on Tuesday, she reached White Sulphur Springs.

Pushing a jogging stroller packed with food, water, a sleeping bag, solar cell phone chargers and a GPS tracking device, Graves has travelled along Rt. 60 from Venice Beach, CA; her final destination is Virginia Beach. She is not raising awareness for any particular cause; she’s just doing it because she loves to run.

Graves blogs her travels at www.cgravescrossing.blogspot.com, posting daily accounts of her days and nights as she sleeps at campgrounds, motels, and even on the side of the highway. She writes that she’s often questioned by police, who wonder just what this lone runner with a stroller is up to.

Graves is battling shin splints in her right leg, and has been walking the last several days. When she was running, she said she was averaging about 54 miles a day, but she’s slowed down to about 30 miles a day since her injury. On Tuesday night, she blogged that one of her fans was putting her up for the night at The Greenbrier, an opulent option for a road-worn runner who is used to staying in seedy Rt. 60 motels.

The Greenbrier is “huge, beautiful, elegant, and amazing. I don’t feel as if I belong. I’m dirty, pushing a cart, and once again, I’m the pink elephant (in the midst of all the regular grey elephants). I’m well received, and readily accepted as I am. In my real life, I would blend in, but not today. I meet several people on the way into the hotel, and am fascinated with the whole experience. They tell me my laundry will be done, and we’ll go to dinner,” she wrote.

Later, she wrote, she was joined by a physical therapist from The Greenbrier Clinic, who checked out her leg. The cold compress he recommended, she wrote, provided much needed relief.

“How can I possibly leave The Greenbriar [sic]?? I have to, I must stay focused on my trek. I am now well-rested, extremely well-rested, actually. My clothes are cleaner than they’ve been in 70 days, I’m well fed, and I got some gifts!!!” she wrote on Wednesday morning.

And still she pressed on with a goal of getting to Covington. As of Tuesday, Graves had travelled over 2,600 miles across six states.

“Just 400 miles to go!” she said.

Follow Graves’ travels on her blog or on Instagram at cynditherunner to see photos of her trip across the country.