Home "Maple" Sweet Home! Re-entry is tough. As I write this it is raining hard in Vermont and I am bundled up in my office with my dog Smoochie and my cat Guinevere. I’ve been sleeping a lot over the three days since I’ve been home. I’ve also hiked up Camel’s Hump, attended the Farmers Market and biked to a local party on Saturday. Today I’ll go into the wet woods and squish around a bit before starting "back to work" in the morning.

Our final day on the run was spectacular. New York City was at its glory. The streets were uncrowded due to the Labor Day holiday weekend. The skies were postcard blue. The sun shone all day with temperatures hitting the low 80's, no humidity and a lovely breeze. Shiri Leventhal’s blog on the BPR website describes details of the gatherings, see www.blueplanetrun.org and go to "The Team," then link on Shiri’s blogs.

The Silver Team ran in from Long Island on our final day, the morning of September 4, and Emmanuel passed the baton to Mary at the United Nations. From there Mary ran over to the path along the East River where most of us joined her, including guest runner, my dear friend Kim Richmond. Edo was with us, navigating us safely on the mountain bike. It was about four miles from this point into the finish. More team members joined in at mile three and the remainder about one mile from the finish. Included in the final team were Jason Gross and Will Dobbie. Jason had been called in as an alternate as we were leaving Europe only to break his ankle on his third day. He rejoined us in San Francisco as a driver and only a few days before our finish was he cleared to run again, so he joined us for the finale. Will Dobbie was called in when Jason broke his ankle and has run with us all the way from Belarus, finishing off as a member of the Yellow Team.

We finished at Pier 17 on the South Street Seaport to a stage, banners and good crowd. My hometown paper, The Montpelier Bridge, and my college, Quinnipiac University, sent reporters/photographers, and a number of my friends were in the audience. The entire finish event was very special as each of us accepted a lovely award and said our thanks. Mary and Richard were designated speakers, each of them doing a great job as always. After the finish ceremony we were taken for a photo shoot for Runners World. BPR has been chosen for an RW award and will appear in the December magazine. The location of the shoot included the magnificent Statue of Liberty in the background. Happily at the last minute we did not have to don our long pants and hot jackets but were photographed in our BPR shorts and singlets.

After a quick trip to the hotel for cleanup, we were whisked to a private reception between runners and Dow representatives at the Maritime Hotel on its garden porch. This was a very intimate gathering and each of the runners shared a story with the attendees. Dow honored us with a wonderful photo book of each of the runners. I was thrilled that mine was a shot of me running on the Great Wall of China. My only sole personal travel agenda during the BPR was to get to the Wall, so receiving this photo was especially great. After the Dow reception we moved to another section of the Hotel for the final party. Photographers Polly, Chris and Lisa had put together the finale video which was featured midway through the night to the cheers of all. They worked so very hard to capture the event and did a great job!

The runners really let down their hair, yours truly included. After several mojitas, I was out on the dance floor, flirting with fantasy, and acting a bit crazy. Later in the evening many of us moved from the Maritime to a bar down the way. I lasted until 1am when I hitched a ride back with Chris in a taxi and hit the sack hard. Laura, David, Shiri and I had breakfast together the next morning after packing. I was feeling very catatonic and odd about the instant transition back to the real world. I would have liked a day just for the team, to be together, say goodbyes, process a little about what we did and what comes next. As it was I never even saw everyone before it was time to go. I left breakfast, checked out, met a friend for a haircut and lunch, and then it was off to the airport and home. It was very strange to wake up the next day without my team around.

There are so many folks I never got to thank in the way that I wanted to - all our staff, all our supporters, all our runners. I’ll probably blog again as time passes, if the website continues to post. There is much to process. Did it all really happen? In many ways being back is as it was, but I’m a different person. How I will transition back, or what I’ll become, is really unknown to me right now. Here I am, at 57 years old, once again asking myself, "What do I want to be when I grow up?" There is so much more out there that I have yet to experience and feel. Yet, at the same time I love my community, my friends and my clients. I want to be here, there and every where. I want to stay with the BPR movement and find a way to continue to make a difference locally and globally. It will take time to land on my feet. I appreciate you all so very much for your support, your interest, and for putting up with me and my constant searching. Change is growth. Change is unsettling. Change is what I’m about, but it does not mean I love any one of you any less. I want you all in my life and I thank you for being there.

Do watch our finale video on www.blueplanetrun.org. Water is life! Pass it on!