Just two adjustment hours to home, that is, to the East Coast! We had another time change and are now on MST (Mountain Standard Time). We have been as many time zones away from my hometown as 13 hours and now we are down to just two. This is the same time zone as my sister who lives in Colorado who will meet me in Moab. I can taste the finish line in New York City. At the same time, I am having pangs of missing my extended family, the BPR team, when we head off on our separate ways. I feel as if I've added many brothers and sisters and even a daughter to my life. There will be a definite letdown when this is over. I've just started on my third journal of the trip.

I was wrong. We hit Zion National Park after St. George and, in fact, ran through it. St. George was a comfortable stopover, a tourist rest stop to and from places like Moab, Grand Canyon, Lake Mead and Zion. It is a very new and stylish avenue of outlet stores, chain restaurants and hotel/motels with pools. On the cliffs above the crossroads - there is no real downtown - locals have built some decadent Spanish style mansions overlooking the desert and canyonlands. The contrast between a million dollar mansion and the Denny's at the base of the cliff below it is an odd one. The weather is blameless perfect blue skies, dry and sunny, in the 100's when we arrived. After some swimming, Laura and I dined at a fabulous fresh salad and fruit bar for a cheap $8 before hitting the sack for over eight hours. It still amazes me how we can go to bed at 2pm in the afternoon and stay asleep. Of course, 2pm here is another time in another part of the world and our bodies are now on a world clock, actually a whirlwind clock. I was happy my clock let me sleep this time.

Our first runner this night was Simon and he ran in Zion, taking the baton from Paul and the Yellow Team. Although we could not see much of what was around us, we could feel the massiveness of the sand stone towering cliffs silhouetted against the night sky. There were more stars and constellations in the sky than darkness and, after cresting to Zion's highest elevation at about 5,890', the bright quarter moon again greeted us. Simon ran through a mile long tunnel, the walls of which were cerrated reddish sand stone, with layers of mutations of the red coloring. Outside the Park the elevation climbed to over 6,000', our highest on the run so far. At the same time the temperature dropped from 76 degrees Fahrenheit at the top of the Zion pass down to 53 degrees and shocking. Laura ran next after changing into long sleeves.

My run started from Mt. Carmel Junction. I had just been here with my sister in November on our way to the Grand Canyon. At 5am nothing was open and we drooled longingly at the "Expresso for sale" sign on one of the shops. From here it was Route 89 through Orderville to Glendale, Utah. The famous Bryce Canyon lay to my right out of sight. This is an area of old mines and hot sulfur springs. I could smell the springs my first mile until the headwinds kicked in. There was a rustic local timber furniture maker and hundreds of junk cars lying around in fields along side the roadway. Mark joined me for eight of the ten miles. It was brutal with lots of climbing at altitude, stiff headwinds and temperatures staying in the low 50's. According to Laura, the car thermometer dropped to 47 degrees in one of the dips between my climbs. My legs and hands never warmed up. We were running along the path of the Virgin River which was being tapped to irrigate fields of crops I did not recognize. We saw cattle, horses, sheep and small cute burros grazing in pastures along the way. Entering Glendale we spotted an artificial police dummy seated in a police cruiser facing oncoming traffic, a staged disincentive to speeders while the local police catch some shuteye. The sun popped on to us just as we finished our run and I handed off to Jason.

Jason ran last. The temperatures climbed quickly with the sun climbing over the red sand sculpted hills. On our way to the exchange point we spotted a bobcat with prey in its mouth. It was a gorgeous animal and we were able to watch it for a bit. At the exchange point our technical director Dill had breakfast ready with his friend John cooking away. We all chipped in to help. The treat of the morning was the jalapeno bagels with creme cheese and avocado, perhaps a little salsa and maybe even some scrambled egg, toasted on the grill.

On our way to Escalante for the night we passed beautiful rock outcroppings and sculptures. We are celebrating our last graveyard shift for awhile, we hope. One never knows what awaits in terms of scheduling changes. I hope to remain on Team Green with no further changes and have the Silver Team continue to pass off to us so I can see them on the road and at our motels. It's the best of BPR worlds for me, connecting with both my teams on a near daily basis. If I'm lucky enough to stay on the current Green Team schedule, I'll be running daylight through Moab, Grand Junction and Leadville, and in a few weeks up the Jersey coastline through the Township where I went to high school and the shore at Seaside and Ortley Beach where I had my first job as an ice cream scooper on the boardwalk at age 14. It is so much fun to route through places from your past.

Day off means a massage day with team masseuse Allison. This may be our last pool day. We are not seeing many people along the route to ignite so it will be great to move towards the bigger cities again for that purpose.

Water is life. Pass it on!