Winston Churchill once famously described Russia as ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’ For me this mystery still persists, despite the fall of the oppressive and secretive Soviet regime and the new era of ‘openness’ in Russian society. They say it is the riddle of a country caught between East and West, a modern, technological society deeply rooted in its peasant past.

We entered Russia and spent the first night in a city called Smolensk and stayed in an interesting hotel that takes you back to the 1950’s soviet style. I kind of find that refreshing as its back to simplicity, that kind of peasant past. We were so tired by the time we got to our hotel at mid-night, that you don’t actually care how old everything is as long as you have a clean bed and what a luxury that is!

I had my first run on Russian soil at 3pm as I was the first runner starting for our team which was on the 3pm - 9pm shift. We have a pilot car that follows us along the route and over the last 3-4 runs the Doctor John Pershing who travels in the pilot car jumps out bikes beside me. It is nice to have him there but he does bring out that competitive spirit in me especially on the hills as I visualize he is a competitor I have to beat - he certainly keeps me honest and I think my fitness is improving doing these quality runs when he is around.

Day 4 of our 3pm to 9pm shift took us running into Moscow and WOW what an experience! This city lies deep in the heart of the Russian plains, in the wide, shallow valley of the Moskva River. The innermost ring, the 15th-century Kremlin wall, remains impressively intact, while the Boulevard Ring, a wooden avenue, curves around the line of the 16th century city walls.

About 3km out from the Kremlin, the Garden Ring is a busy, multi-lane traffic artery and this is where the Blue Planet Run route originally was going to be. Just two days out from entering Moscow the orders from the Kremlin were that we were now not to use the inner road, but the route would be diverted to the Moscow Ring Road, a 108km motorway which marks the present day city limits So at 8pm I started my 10mile run on this frantic motorway.

It was an absolutely memorable experience; there I was running on this motorway escorted by 4 Russian police cars that were stopping traffic where necessary for my safety. I crossed a bridge and to my right was the Moskva river and looking down I saw a cruise boat float by, there were people slipping wine on the deck and to my left was Moscow city and I thought of Red Square while I listen to the song Roxanne by the Police ‘ Roxanne you don’t have to put on the RED LIGHT’…. Every time they sang Red Light I thought of Red Square.

This is the first big city that I have run through and I buzzed with excitement, even though there were car fumes, noise and general chaos, I felt an energy and enjoyed it. However with 2km to go my mind switched from Moscow back to Wellington, New Zealand and I started to visualize myself running around my waterfront. I have a 2km course marked out that takes me from the Swimming pool, past Oriental Bay to Belena Bay……and that was a perfect way to finish off my 10miles a million miles away from home.

That night we stayed in what was the 1980 Olympic village hotel, unfortunately didn’t get to see much as we arrived late and so it was dinner and straight to bed with a big drive of 9 hours the next day......