In about 1 hour I will go and have breakfast and then get a ride out to the race site. It is quite hard sometimes to stop myself from getting excited and just relax. In the few hours before the race you get a chance to meet up with old friends from other races and tell a few stories about what has gone on since last we met. I will be back in a week and a half to let you know how things went

I am just doing some last minute shopping and packing my last bag, which I will take out with me in the morning. It was a beautiful day today and promises to be pretty much the same for the next few days. There will be 40 + runners starting tomorrow, so it will be busy on the 1 mile loop course. Then after 4 days 30 + 6 day runners will join us. I will have the chance to chat with a few friends that I have running in both races, so I won't get lonely. Will let you know how things go.

This what the 6 & 10 day race site looks like 3 days before the start. The area where the cones are will be filled with personal tents. The big white ones are the dorms. In a couple of days this place will be buzzin'.
I got home in time to watch the last hour of the Boston Marathon streamed live on the internet. It was great because it continued without commentary when the TV coverage went to a commercial break. The womens race was the closest finish in Boston history.

OK so this is me running in the Ottawa 24 Hr race, but in 3 days time I hope I will look something like this as I start running in the Self Transcendence 10 day Race. The race as usual is in Flushing Meadow park New York, which is not far from where I live.
This morning Utpal and I ran out to the race site to see how things are going with the setup. It was pretty quiet, but just as we got there a runner from New Jersey showed up with some of his things, including his tent which he wanted to set up. We chatted for a little while and then Utpal and I headed home. He will drive me out there in an hours time with some of my stuff, in readiness for the race start on Wednesday.

So I was out all day. It was my turn to be at the gate of our local tennis court. When I sign up for this thing I hope that it will be a nice day. Well today it was. It was nice and sunny with a cool start and I even had a few of my friends stop by for a chat. I got free lunch from a local restaurant, that had been closed for a couple of weeks but had just re opened today. How great is that!
Wolves could only manage a draw today and it is not looking good for the playoffs this year. Manchester United also only managed a draw in the Premiership, making it interesting for the last 3 games of the season.

It's that time of the year again. One of my Clivia plants is starting to flower, actually it started to flower while I was away. Because I was not here to water it it lost some of the flowers. Since I am going away for 10 days in the race that is coming up, I will give it to my local barber to take care of. It gives others a chance to enjoy it's beauty.
I am making some of my final preparations for the race. I got a couple of pairs of shorts from Models today.

This pipe was taking water fro the Buna River into some kind of turbine house. Of course the river was too powerful and there was too much pressure.

The last few mornings I have been serenaded by the dawn chorus on the way to work.

My final count of trees planted on Jamaica Ave was 28. However I have noticed that we have lost 2 of them already. One has gone completely and another has been sawed off just above the root ball. I hope the others survive.

I Have mentioned our cat at work on many occasions and yes her name is Nipples ( Don't ask). We here is a video of the said cat that I took last week. It gives you a chance to see just how cute she is.

When I visit Zagreb in Croatia, I usually stay near to a place called Jarun. It is a park where they have a rowing course, in fact I think they may have had a World Championships there recently. It is a nice place to go and run. Lining to main road around the park is a sort of hall of fame of Croatian sporting greats. I took this photo of Janica Kostelic on my last visit. There is a short Bio of each athlete, in English on one side and Croatian on the other.

When I was in Brcko a few weeks ago. I participated, along with a few friends in an interesting race. You had to follow instructions and run to different parts of the city. When you arrived 1 member of your team had to perform a task. After completing these 3 tasks you then raced to a finish line. There were staggered starts, so you had no idea until everyone had finished what the placings were. It was a lot of fun!

Here you can see one of the cherry tree the city planted yesterday, ready to be planted and subsequently planted. It is very nice that it happened yesterday, since today is the 44th anniversary of my teacher Sri Chinmoy's coming to America and the first since his passing last October.
Utpal and I ran a different route this morning, running our old 10k loop out to Francis Lewis Blvd. It has the makings of a beautiful day out there. happy April 13 th.

This was us getting ready for dinner at the Hotel in Brcko. In the distance is the entrance to the function hall.

Hey my sister has Skype, my nephew installed it for her, but she is still figuring out how to use it.

The city is planting Flowering Fruit Tress in our neighbourhood today. Which is very nice, there are some Cherry and Pear trees. It should make the area even more colourful.

The place where I stayed in Sofia was surrounded by old buildings and new construction. The building in front is a children's Hospital I believe. Do not let the bright sunshine fool you, the temperature was very cold and the snow on the ground did not melt.

I started off the week by lamenting the lack of trees, on the stretch of Jamaica Avenue that I walk to and from work. Today I counted 25 newly planted trees. That will make my walk so much more pleasant.

This is taken from the castle tower above the stone city I visited in Bosnia.

The last couple of days have been warm and many of the flowers have been just waiting for such days. many buds have begun to pop . As I was out running this afternoon I noticed the smell of Magnolia on the air.
While I was running I met one of my Macedonian friends and we ran a few laps around the school, where the 3100 mile race is run each year.

This is friend's restaurant in Belgrade that I visited when I was there.

Each morning I walk along part of Jamaica Avenue on the way to work. This morning I was thinking to myself, that there are not many trees planted there. well this afternoon when I came out from work, the city had planted about 10 of them along the first 2 blocks that I walked. I must have somehow picked up on the vibration.

It's not a good picture but that is the soon to be tallest building in Bosnia. I took the shot from the place where I was staying in Sarajevo. Some businessman decided to increase his fame and fortune in the area by building it.

In personal news. It is hard to believe that on this day in 1978, I moved to New York thinking that I would stay a couple of years just to experience the city. Today I was treated to a beautiful spring day.

This is near the source of the Buna River in Bosnia, as you can see it was running very fast on the day we were there. You can just see the cave that the water comes out of at the base of the rock face. Near the cave is a Dervish House which houses a kind of museum. They charge 3 euro to enter, but if you are with Bosnians and don't speak English within hearing distance, you get in for free.

I took this photo in Bulgaria, I like the mix of light and shadow. The weather was warm and we were walking around a lake reservoir.
This morning Utpal and I resumed our weekly runs out to Flushing Meadow, Shea Stadium and the new Citi Field. It gave us both a chance to talk about our trips and also to get all the traveling out of our systems. It was a bit overcast, but the temperature was OK. I did feel yesterday's 2 mile race though.

When I passed through Zurich Airport on my way out to central Europe in February, I saw 3 of these. They were up for auction, you could bid on the internet, the minimum bid was 200,000 Euro's.
Ran my first 2 mile race in 6 weeks today. I had gained a couple of pounds on my trip and was not race fit, but I did OK. My time was 7:46 for the first mile, 8:05 for the second for a total of 15:51.

This was the view from the balcony of my aunt's apartment in Rijeka, Croatia. Where I was about 4 weeks ago.
Yesterday it seemed like the jet lag finally caught up with me when I got home from work, but after a short day today and a little nap this afternoon, I am back on track.

This is what is known as Tito's train. The story is that the Nazi's where chasing him and he supposedly escaped on this train across the river and blew up the bridge, so that they couldn't follow him. He was in fact in a bunker on the same side of the river as them.
There is a museum nearby that as the whole story, but it was closed when we were there.

This photo is of a piece of Roman wall near a market place in Sofia, Bulgaria.
First day back at work after my trip. Woke up bright at 2 am. Managed to doze and sleep for another 2 hours. Didn't seem to bother me to much at work though, of course I will probably be struggling to keep my eyes open soon.