From "€œPothole Heaven"€ in Nizhnieudinsk. Buzzards and acres of purple loostrife drew my attention on 7am duty at the dawning of a sunny and sleepy Sunday in the Siberian countryside. I had a glorious run. The roads are deteriorating rapidly making the run very interesting. I carefully picked my way through Volkswagen sized potholes. With hilarity to the viewer, the vehicles place themselves all over the road in various directions working their way through the huge bumps and deep holes. I ran cautiously as I was not totally awake and certainly don't want to fall. It'€™s still a long way back to New York City.

Designs on the houses and gates are starting to reflect some Mongolian influence. Many of the homesteads reminded me of Tanzanian villages at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Various shades of blue and green are the common paint colors, with the windows still being decorated to stand out. Many older locals were in their gardens. One woman in full Russian costume was tending to her flock of geese and gooslings, while others sat on benches in twos and threes shooting the breeze. They all waved back to me and shouted things I could not understand but which tonally sounded supportive.

Alexey our driver and Arina our guide set up breakfast for us at the roadside as I finished out our last leg. We had coffee, tea, fresh breads with cheese and vegetables. We shared with Team Yellow who arrived to take over at the exchange. Emmanuel led another dance session wearing the Russian flag given to us by the Krasnoyarsk Rotary yesterday. Emmanuel greeted me with the flag when I finished my run, enveloping me with it and giving me a great big hug. The support and team spirit of Team Silver is terrific. It carries us through the roughest of times, along with our constant ability to laugh at ourselves and our circumstances. We've talked about the cultures of the teams and decided that Team Silver is the BPR cheerleader. No matter what happens, we run for water and we run to support each other. Every one is tired and I'€™ve heard that some of the runners are bored. How that can be puzzles me. It is hard in Russia, and can be monotonous and frustrating, but certainly not boring. Any one who is bored need only come spend some time with Team Silver and we will cure all.

Our night drivers are Alexey in the team van and Valary in the pilot vehicle. They, and particularly Valary, worry so much about Shiri and I, the women. Valary will not let Shiri sit on the ground to do stretches without something under her, preferably a pillow. He insists that if she sits on a cold surface she will not be able to have babies. I was so very tired this morning and literally fell out of the van from a nap onto the road to start my run. Valary was so concerned that he was out on the road each time I passed by with this very worried fatherly look with furrowed brow asking me in scrambled English and Russian if I was okay? He has a young daughter at home and is super protective. He keeps talking to Shiri about activities which threaten her ability to have babies, none of which could ever be medically documented. Alexey supports us in other just as meaningful ways, like hauling our duffles up stairs for us and brewing tea and coffee roadside in the middle of our shifts, served up with a piece of chocolate. He very meticulously cleans out the cups with boiling water to avoid any contamination that might make us sick.

We are now truly in rural Siberia. The nights are cold and I expect to be wearing tights for tomorrow's 3am run. The Trans-Siberian Railroad continues to keep us company. The roads in places are absolutely horrific. The terrain is gorgeous. We are in the conifer forests now. It is hilly with distant views, amazing wildflowers and the unique lore of the people and the communities. I ran past so many Kodak moments this morning that are etched in my brain forever. As we travel in the van it is hard to take all the photos we want. Today'€™s drive after our run was a rollercoaster ride within a dust storm, often scraping bottom, moving very slowly in our continuing journey to Irkutsk. We are getting there. The first road sign we noticed to Irkutsk said it was 1700K and now we'€™re down to 600 something.

Shiri is on medical hold for a few days to nurse some persistent injuries. Jason, my former team member on Team Green, has come over to run for her. He's been refreshing to have and we are enjoying the company and his spirit, as well as his running talents. David, Emmanuel and I continue to steadfastly put in our daily 10 milers. We'€™re all excited to be coming off the graveyard shifts and moving into daylight. That change happens in a day.

Farmers were out today baling hay in the fields by hand with small wooden rakes. One of the photos I missed was of a Russian farmer standing on the train platform talking to a train worker, with a large sickle in his hand. The train stations are small and located at each of the track crossings through these small villages, some with personnel, most without. They are painted a bright medium blue with fairly ornate cutout designs in the shutters. They are pretty much identical with metal steps up to the small platform house and the tracks. The trains roar through the countryside with amazing regularity. I love the cars piled high with lumber.

If we were to continue East instead of turning south to Mongolia, we could stay in Russia for another month and swim across the channel to Alaska. To give you another sense of the size of this country, our guide who met us at the Belarus border comes from the Irkutsk area. To travel to us she took a flight that lasted 6 hours to Moscow and then she traveled on a train for over eight hours to arrive at the Belarus border. For the past weeks we have been seeing vast terrain and rivers that form endless horizons. Not only has it been more expansive and more scenic, but the litter has diminished and is minimal in comparison to the roadsides west of here. You can enjoy the beauty without so many eyesores.

Remember what I said about our interchangeable good and bad hotels? Today we came to rest at one of the bad ones. They put us on the fourth floor, supposedly the renovated floor. This means dragging ourselves and our duffles up four flights of stairs. After running a night shift and travelling about four hours that can be a depressing task. The bed was okay but no shower, no toilet seat or paper, no soap, skuzzy floors and walls, and dirty and beat. And of course mosquitoes! Dinner was pretty awful, cucumbers and tomatoes drizzled with lots of mayonnaise and greasy fries. We did however get a wonderful vanilla ice creme sundae topped with nuts. The boys got mystery meat. I have peanut butter in my room for such times.

We've gone through another one hour time change, now 13 hours ahead of home in Vermont. We are in the "€œtwilight zone"€ but still moving forward one stride at a time in a strong force with a strong voice. We look forward to what'€™s yet to come!!!!!!!!

Happy trails. Water is life. Pass it on!