Day 2 and 3 in the States. I've started my third pair of new shoes and my primary orthotics are dead. We have travelled over 10,000 miles and are more than 2/3 of the way there. It still astounds me that one of us is running every hour of every day and we've been doing this since June 1 and will continue doing this until September 4. Now it's time for our toils to pay back. I just learned that we will be carbon neutral with the help of Verdant Power. VP is a sustainable energy company developing free flow turbine system projects that generate utility and village scale electric power from natural underwater currents. VP is donating Renewable Energy Credits (REC's) from its six underwater turbines in New York City's East River.

I'm trying to catch up on sleep and have reorganized my stuff. I spent some time on Day 62 snoozing at the hotel pool under beautiful blue skies in the hot sun. I'm on the Green Team running at night and it gets cool here after dark. I'm finding that nothing I looked forward to imbibing tastes as good as I imagined. The three things I craved, a fine glass of Pinot Noir, a cold Sobe Green Tea and a well done hamburger adorned with lots of salad stuff, were all a disappointment. I'd had none of these items since May. Guess it was high expectations as Simon put it. Being home is bittersweet. I miss the cultural diversity and the new and interesting people and situations. On the other hand, the familiarity of being in the States provides alot of solace and ease. There is definitely a reduced anxiety level and our fresh and invigorated staff are a joy. Some of the old faces are back like Janelle and Fast Eddie, and we have plenty of new. Team Green has Rob Dunn from New York driving us and taking wonderful care of our needs as runners, right down to the roll of soft toilet paper in the van. The new medical team started us off with a large bottle of hand sanitizer for each van having been briefed on all the abdominal bouts.

A funny irony occurred in my Fremont hotel room where I was reorganizing and disposing of stuff, including an unused roll of Russian toilet paper. The paper ran out in the hotel bathroom and, guess what?, that scratchy Russian TP came in handy one more time. Maybe I should have kept it?

My head cold is almost gone. My friend Geordie was here for a day and has left. My friend Gordy who performed free chiropractic adjustments to team members has returned to Auburn. Ultrarunner friends Chuck and Chris showed up at our first Team Green exchange point and we had time for some iced coffee together. I've already discovered that, as much as I want to see all my friends and family on the course, it may not always work out. So bear with me. In addition to not making it to every point along the way, we have a 24/7 job that keeps us going constantly. In addition to our runs we have to blog, appear at events, travel, sleep, stretch, and stay healthy. We're like an amoeba, with things changing all the time. There are also lots of public relations and media appearances. I did an interview update with NPR's Scott Simon from Fremont which will air on August 5. It's an exciting time for the run. This is our chance to gain the financial support the BPR foundation program needs. This is the time to do things like fund another well for another 300 families in my adopted village in India. Please pass along our website to others, www.blueplanetrun.org

There were several successful events so far in California, starting with San Francisco at Embarcadero and then a well-attended event at the Dow plant in Pittsburg, California. Dean Karnazes, he "marathon man," appeared in Pittsburg and wooed everyone. Team Green was spotlighted at an exchange event at the Jain Center in Milpitas, California. Sunila was the invited runner. We were all presented with gifts and on stage for expressions about the run and a question and answer session. I shared my thoughts about the water connection and what I initially felt was a disconnect between running in the Northern Hemisphere and identified needs and water projects located in the Southern Hemisphere, primarily in countries like Africa and India. Since we began on June 1 I have identified the water connection as a universal one, equally important on both sides of the Equator. Water's power is, as our message reflects, expressed in many forms. My earliest connection was during my first run in Connecticut when the rains washed the sidewalks clean as I ran through slums in Bridgeport. These kinds of natural connections abounded as we passed through verdant areas, agricultural havens and fresh water bodies, most notably Lake Baikal in Eastern Russia, the largest fresh water body in the world. But the water connection also appeared in reality forms. We could not drink the water in places like Russia. Safe drinking water does not flow from the taps of Russian households. In Mongolia we saw young boys hauling containers of water on wagons. I asked at one homestead in the Gobi Desert where they got their water and was pointed to a well site a distance from the house. They had to drill down 1,000 feet to hit water and haul it to the house. Their animals watered down on small water sources which were, like the well, not reliable. Not until we got to Japan had we been able to trust tap water for over a month. And now we're back in the States drinking from the tap without concerns about safety, although the taste varies alot from tasty to not palatable because of how it is treated.

Before our runs last night while Jason was on the course, Simon and I were sitting in the van in a Los Gatos parking lot when a man and woman rapped on the window. It was two reporters from the Los Gatos Observer and it was almost midnight. They interviewed us and took photos, then waited for Jason to photograph the exchange of the baton. They were interested in the cause as well as our running story. It was great that they came and found us in the middle of the night to do the story.

My night run on Day 63 was through a beautiful canyon on part of the old Santa Cruz highway. I had hoped to run the Los Gatos trail but we were not granted permission to do so at night so we re-routed onto hilly paved mountain roads which, even in the dark, were fabulous for running. It was up and down with ledges, mountains in the distance, thick trees, grasses and eucalyptus to the sides and a bright starry sky. As there was no traffic, the pilot van asked for my okay and then turned off its lights so we could all enjoy the stillness and beauty to the sole and subtle light from my Petzl and the 3/4 moon.

After the run, we drove to San Simeon for the night. We arrived just before 7am and I went directly to sleep awaking just before 3pm. My cold is still with me. The drive down was gorgeous along Route 1 through areas like Big Sur and, although we could not see much in the dark, the rocks out at sea and the white surf caps emerged from the shadows. We will be running Route 1 tonight with the Pacific Ocean off our right shoulder, once again with water as our companion. We will be running a bit earlier to cover for a sick Yellow Team mate. Everyone's defenses seem to be down so I'm taking extra care to hydrate, sleep, eat well and consume mega vitamins and doses of Airborne. I've been really cold and dressing in layers. I miss the Asian warmth. I'm also missing the spirit of Team Silver, the BPR cheerleaders.

Water is life. Pass it on!