The following is part of an email from mum:

At last a few mins with Wi-fi and some time whilst Kev serves up another Cordon Bleu meal! I am really well looked after. Dom is as ever head down with the GPS machine working out miles ,directions and alerts as to where I might get lost!
Chicago was crazy and desperate and hilarious and totally knackering with Dom driving and negotiating the streets while Kev rode his bike alongside me.We eventually looked back to a great sunrise and before we knew it we were way out of city and into suburbs. They saw but I missed the prison at Joliet AKA The Blues Brothers one! We slept (p.s. omitted to tell you getting lost 3 times in Chicago, par for the course!) at Mr. ‘B’sbar and grill car park or rather I didn’t much , same old sleeping problem at beginning of runs, never mind. Oh dear it’s a big mush between then and recently as I haven’t kept notes.
Suffice it to say that I love The Union Pacific Railroad as it has travelled alongside me for the past few days as a constant companion with deer bounding across it soon after dawn, large deer with long tails which fold upwards and a white underside. Then the train drivers honk their ‘doppler effect’ American film horns and wave to me !! We stopped at lovely Lake Springfield with great sunset and a racoon. Not a Simpson in sight just ole Abe Lincoln and the boyz were very privileged to be taken round the State Capitol building by the security guards as it had closed when they arrived . They even saw a secret room. 3 x chats with the police and all v. friendly.
The 3rd was interesting as I was almost arrested! It happened that my early run came to a short bit of Interstate (motorway) and no way round it and the boys asleep so I climbed over a fence and made my way across a bog the edge carefully avoiding the brother of the 4 foot snake, dead, that I had seen earlier ( you see loads of little 30cm dead ones along the way, NO live ones yet! ).I then ran as fast as I could which was about 3 1/2 miles per hour! I was sayin ‘ good no cops yet’ and then just about 200 m from the exit one pulled up with his lights flashing etc . He asked what I was doing and said I’m not allowed to go on interstates as a pedestrian and then drove me off and round the corner to the R66 proper and told his ‘control’ about the L.A. on foot who said ‘’she’s doing what!!”

Got lost last night AGAIN and it was tough at the end of 6 hard days with quite a lot of miles and today was going to be easier with only 31 but a major storm and winds and rain made it all rather hard work with very slow progress. Any way only about 10 miles to go but lunch and little rest calls.

So there you have it, mum is progressing very well with tough days and great days. She also was on the Chain of Rocks bridge over Mississippi which she said was incredible.
The American mothers day was on Sunday, and she said she felt very privileged to be running on “the mother road” on that day.

I will write again soon
Thank you for all your support
Love jess xx

Today the Harmony Run is in Cambridge and tomorrow will be in London.

Reports are posted usually 2 days behind and there are only a few more days in the UK before the Team joins up with the main team in Germany.

Checkout the Live On The Road news on WorldHarmonyRun.org

“Harmony begins with me”

Continental Divide Trail

Comment on the race and results are available at:Blueplanetrun.org

In the ladies race, Muriel Thomi claimed the top spot with 181 km. In second was multiday runner cornelia Bullig and third was Silke Stutzke with 173 km.

Full details are online at Sri Chinmoy Races.org

Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 06:32:53 -0500
From: Busch Bonnie
Subject: Cornbelt 24 Hour Run - potential records for William Allen

Pending ratification, William Allen, 47, of Prince Frederick, MD may have established two new American Masters Track records for the 45-49 age division at the 2008 Cornbelt Running Club 24 Hour Race. Bill potentially ran two new records finishing the 100 mile in 15:17:19 and the 200,000 meter record in 20:29:04. The current records, 100 miles in 15:20:45 and 200,000 meters in 20:34:48 were set by Roy Pirrung at the 1996 Cornbelt Running Club 24 Hour Race.

The 26th edition of the Cornbelt Running Club 24 Hour race was held 3-4 May 2008. Participants experienced a 45 degree start with upto 30 mph wind gusts and a periodic rain. The rain would push on before noon leaving the skies dark and overcast. The wind would continue until nightfall which brought lower temperatures with frost and freeze warnings but finally much less wind.

William ran consistent miles with an incredible focus all day. Jamie Donaldson ran into issues late in the race and concluded her day probably 5-6 hours before the 24 hours was up. Her 100 mile split was 16:45.

Finish Race # First Name Last Name City State Age Sex Final Miles
1 15 William Allen Prince Frederick MD 47 M 140.97
2 33 Jamie Donaldson Littleton CO 33 F 113.40
3 16 Juli Aistars Lake Zurich IL 49 F 105.07
4 1 Bonnie Busch Bettendorf IA 50 F 102.04
5 11 Patrick McCartney Knightstown IN 36 M 101.53
6 3 Mike Fitzgerald St. Louis MO 39 M 100.27
7 26 Scott Hoag DeWitt IA 41 M 90.79
8 22 Jim Perry Enid OK 58 M 87.14
9 8 Ronald C. Grimes New Castle IN 61 M 81.07
10 21 Jim Bys Marion IA 52 M 74.20
11 27 Karen Riddle Wichita Falls TX 55 F 71.48
12 17 Allan Holtz Oakdale MN 58 M 70.72
13 28 Ken Hawkinson Macomb IL 51 M 67.73
14 9 Catherine Ward Lincoln NB 48 F 67.44
15 30 Frank(Jim) Ingalls Wichita Falls TX 63 M 66.43
16 25 Tom Kenneke Davenport IA 55 M 66.17
17 34 David Donaldson Littleton CO 33 M 65.16
18 48 Jeff Snicker Davenport IA 48 M 63.14
19 24 Joe Barron Des Moines IA 45 M 62.64
20 6 Richard Golden Enid OK 61 M 62.38
21 7 Donna Creditor Normal IL 47 F 62.38
22 12 Patricia Barron Rock Island IL 51 F 62.38
23 31 Bill Mess Davenport IA 58 M 62.38
24 37 Cindy Heisdorffer Davenport IA 50 F 62.38
25 2 Jen Agena Merriam KS 36 F 50.51
26 39 Kelli Hoag Bettendorf IA 36 F 50.01
27 45 Aziz Uras Chicago IL 47 M 50.01
28 4 David A. Hughes Kokomo IN 62 M 45.97
29 5 Andy Lovy Kirksville MO 73 M 45.21
30 19 Donna McMurray Seattle WA 49 F 44.20
31 46 Anquing (Jason) Liu Bettendorf IA 16 M 40.92
32 38 Gary Yamane Powder Springs GA 51 M 38.14
33 18 Sheila Barron Solon IA 42 F 36.62
34 41 Glenn Steed Channahon IL 41 M 33.84
35 20 Jim Simpson Huntington Beach CA 66 M 31.57
36 23 John Mahon Coal Valley IL 70 M 30.31
37 40 Ann Marie Hayes Davenport IA 41 F 29.30
38 44 Junko Uras Chicago IL 49 F 27.78
39 35 Sharon Price Tulsa OK 51 F 27.02
40 32 Steven Barr Normal IL 51 M 26.52
41 36 Eugene Barker Louisville KY 77 M 26.27
42 14 Eric Herdman Las Vegas NV 41 M 26.01
43 13 Stephanie Herdman Henderson NV 35 M 13.89
44 47 Tim Snicker Davenport IA 20 M 1.01

Bonnie Busch

All info is available from the race website at: Sri Chinmoy Races

10 DAY RACERS OFF AND RUNNING IN THE BIG APPLE

At high noon Wednesday, the 13th annual Self-Transendence 10 Day Race started on the shore of Meadow Lake, Queens.

Several international stars to watch include Germany’s Wolfgang Schwerk (#2 all-time at 24 hours, 171+ miles), Slovakia’s Terezia Kaneenika Janakova (has done 648 miles in 10 days, 422 mi in 6 days), and young Australian veteran racer Sarah Barnett (600+ mi in 10 days, won recent South Africa 6 day, etc.). Last year’s 10 day winner, Petr Spacil of Czech, will toe the line Sunday for the accompanying 6 day race.

The 6 day– the most historic of ultras, with races in New York City alone dating back to 1880– in Flushing Meadows this year features an all-star top 5, with Petr being joined by last year’s winner Pekka Asprihanal Aalto (FIN), Takaka of Japan, Geesler of the USA and world road record holder Dipali Cunningham (AUST-USA). Dipali is shooting for her 11th consecutive title at this race (some of these wins were OVERALL ones),which would give her one of the longest event consecutive win spans in history. I believe (please feel free to correct) Ann Trason won 10 straight Western States women’ s titles.

These are the most international multi-day races in the world. Try to imagine what it would be like if we got the top trail and mountain runners from France, Switzerland, England, Italy, Australia etc. to come compete in a US trail 50 or 100 mile (I am aware that Sunmart has attempted this– all power to them).

You can follow the New York Self-Trans races at: www.srichinmoyraces.org
also: www.multidays.com

The runners appreciate any and all virtual cheers. If it is raining, and one’s feet have swollen several shoe sizes above normal, and 2 a.m., even the most mentally tough athlete can find it tough going.

Best to all ultrarunners,

Mark D
El Paso, TX

There is a updated list of runners on the Sri Chinmoy Races website