This border does not want to be run. The Ohio River looms large and has few bridge crossings between these 2 states. The bridge crossings that exist are pretty dangerous for running. For me, that made the on-land area near Old Shawneetown, IL the best option. And there are plenty of empty dirt roads on the Illinois side for great runs of varied distances. But for me to be 100% certain that I had run across the state border, I had to freestyle and make my own trail through brush and briars and trees. It was only after I stopped that I realized that my long running pants and my socks and my shoes had collected cockle burrs (like sand spurs). Overall (& according to my count), I removed 132 during & after the run.
Look how high floodwaters from the river had left deposits