From Omsk, Russia. We spent the night and morning in Tyumen then drove 300K to Ishim. The city of Tyumen has obvious wealth from oil revenues and is very westernized with clean streets and flowers everywhere. The hotel we stayed in was elegant with many English speaking service people. After a wonderful dinner with my team and some of the staff, at least two dozen of us ended up in the disco Manhattan. It was Team Silver, all the drivers, three of the guides, and several staffers, all on the dance floor letting their hair down. I was the first to call it a night, only to then be stalked for the next hour by three mosquitoes in my four star room. You see, no matter what the class is, window screens in Russia are rare and Russian mosquitoes seek out the sweetness of humans even if you're six stories up.

On our day off we had a long 300K drive to Ishim through beautiful countryside, yellow fields and more thunder and lighting storms. It'™s been raining a lot in Asia, standard fare. We passed Team Orange on the road during their run and tried to socialize. Alas, the opening of the van door initiated a major bug attack so we waved and retreated, returning to the highway to shoo the creatures out the open windows. We cheered Sunila who was on his run, surprising him as he burst into a radiant smile. There aren't many friends out on these Siberian roadways, and certainly not the bugs.

The amount of litter appalls me. The country seems to have little consciousness about it, tossing things out the windows with aplomb. I recall when America was as bad, or worse, and I thank our leaders who pressed for litter laws and Green Up days. In light of our attempt on this run to leave no trace, it is frustrating not to be able to effect a visible change in the attitude towards litter. A number of us have attempted to discuss the issue with Russians but the language barrier makes that very difficult. The amount of litter would diminish significantly without all the beverage containers and with an effective recycling system, one with monetary incentive since needy Russians will do most anything for money. We've seen payoffs for speeding tickets and passport checks. Why not payoffs for cleaning up?

We had a good rest in Ishim and some fine meals. I finally got to experience the wonders of the Russian postal system and more of what I now call an "annoyed culture." We shall see if the mail gets to its destination. While running my errands, several of the men including Will, David and Emmanuel got buzz cuts to last them through to the U.S. As Will puts it, Emmanuel has become the "Brad Pitt" of Russia, although he calls himself the King of Russia and likes to hold court. As a Black man in these parts he is an oddity, now a celebrity. He is stopped everywhere and all of Siberia may have his card before we leave. The locals are chasing him for photos and two teenage girls in a restaurant were begging him for his hat and sunglasses. We suggested he charge for the photos and make us all rich. Richard is apparently getting the same kind of attention as he travels around with Team Blue.

The evening of our day off other teams were besieged by deer flies and behemoth horse flies. Before our run we drove through a huge rainstorm and thought we had been spared. We've moved to the 9pm to 3am shift. The road shoulders are van-sucking mud ready to swallow any car or runner who steps off the pavement. I really felt my age after the day off and a two and a half hour drive to the start. But I had a lovely early evening run with beautiful light, green pastures, woods and a soft breeze. We are getting friendly police escorts which are planned to stay with us the remainder of our way through Russia. The sun remained high in the sky as I finished my leg around 10:15 pm. Then Shiri set off and we drove ahead to her end point. Our driver Alexey set up a stove on the side of the road and prepared tea and coffee with chocolates. The sun set and just as Shiri was winding down her run they attacked. Thousands of vicious mosquitoes surrounded us and started feasting. They entered our van through every open portal. It was a nightmare. From then on, no more doors and windows were opened except for a flash exit or entry.

Day 37 was 07-07-07, a Saturday of many weddings in Ishim. I focused on my gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this event and in the larger race of life, thoughts from the runner's poem given to me by Nancy Rice of Central Vermont Runners before I left. To fend off yesterday's touch of homesickness for the green hills of Vermont, I reread the wonderful card everyone at Onion River Sports wrote for me and looked through my small photo album of home and friends. I am so fortunate and appreciative of this chance to make a difference in people's lives. Thank you for supporting me and the cause. Water is life, pass it on!