Say the word Siberia and you’ll likely conjure images of a remote land of vast wild wilderness, somewhere at the end of the world, amongst the likes of Timbuktu. But more than that, given the history of the land, Siberia connotes exile and death. Known for the Gulag—a vast network of labor and concentration camps, which Stalin resurrected in the early 1900s—it contained over 8 million inmates by 1938. And of that population, records indicate that 90 percent of them died.

So, we crossed into Siberia with intrigue and slight apprehension. What would we encounter here? At 10:30 against the backdrop of the setting sun, Rudy took the run by the "first district of Siberia" sign while we snapped photos. Our running route has paralleled the Trans Siberian railway, the longest continuous railway in the world. So even when it feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere, the nearby sound of the train reminds us that we’re not alone.

For days, the road has been flat and straight, and for us on the graveyard shift, the hours are quiet with few interactions with locals. So when I approached the oil rich city of Tyumen and encountered a roundabout turn to the right, even the police escort crew expressed excitement, and the Yellow team van caught off guard by the turn took an unintended detour. The night was further enlivened by a local media crew, who took me by surprise when they drove up beside me in unmarked vehicles, whipped open the van door, as if about to pull me in, and then shone bright lights in my face. Who is this, not even saying hello? I wondered. They followed me, then Heiko, on our night runs for quite some time, and interviewed me at the exchange point. "How many pairs of shoes did you bring ... Have you seen any wildlife on the road?" Unfortunately no, not even roadkill. "Have you tried Russian vodka?" But of course! And then they were off, leaving us once again, Team Yellow, on a dark lonely road traversing Siberia. Onwards we go!