I’ve managed a good week of running, but I’m definitely not at 100% fitness. I have an annoying soreness in my lower right leg, just below where the muscle meets the top of my fibula bone. It’s nothing serious and doesn’t stop me from running, but it does prevent me from running entirely freely. It went away completely for four days this week, then reappeared inexplicably. I’ll have to monitor it carefully to ensure it doesn’t get any worse.

The 2016 World Marathon challenge has just finished in Sydney. The competitors ran seven marathons in seven days on the seven continents of the world. Seven marathons in seven days is not the hard part – it’s the getting from one continent to the next in the handful of hours left in the day and then doing it all over again – that’s the hard part. I’m hoping to catch up with race director, Richard Donovan, before he heads back home to Ireland.

And don’t forget, Serge Girard begins his world run today at 10 am Paris time. That’s 8 pm here in Sydney. I hope to wake up tomorrow morning to read Serge’s first daily report on his web site, Serge Girard Website.

Today’s photo was taken in the Californian desert near the Glamis Dunes. In fact, it was taken just a few miles from where the cover photo of my book was taken. This was some sort of carnival set up in the middle of nowhere. Why? I have no idea!

 On This Day

Jan 31, 2012

Distance today = 46.60 km; Total distance = 1574.22 km; Location = Hamurana, NZ –  38 01.600′ S, 176 12.948′ E; Start time = 0826, Finish time = 1513

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/146048668

I started running today near the famous Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, and will hopefully have a video related to this area downloaded later. There is steam coming out of the ground in thousands of locations, with occasional boiling mud.

I had a bit of a sore tendon behind my right knee today, so I experimented a bit and found that it only hurt when I was running slowly, but not when I picked up the pace a bit (or walked). A bit of a no-brainer, really. I simply increased my pace – not that it was fast; just faster than I have been running – and I had a good run as a result.

I passed through Rotorua, with a quick stop for some photos for the local newspaper, and headed off to the northern end of the lake, where I was picked up by the support vehicle in Hamurana. Tomorrow it’s on to Tauranga.

Today marked the end of the first month of my run around the world. The 1574 km covered so far is ahead of my expectations, so I will probably take it a little easier during the final week in New Zealand. Distances will be more like what I did today.

Jan 31, 2013

Distance today = 51.60 km; Total distance = 15,794.33 km; Location = Aliseda, Spain (5 km west of) – 39 25.835′ N, 06 44.707′ W; Start time = 0941, Finish time = 1750

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/268050396

It was quite eerie on the road this afternoon. I was running through a region of olive trees, with no farm animals around. I stopped at one point when there were no cars and listened. It was unbelievably quiet. The loudest noise I could detect was the pulse beating in my ears. No wind in the trees, no sheep bleating in the distance, no birds or insects, and no human-made sounds at all. It was a real pleasure to experience something so unusual, especially as the sun was shining brightly and the afternoon was pleasantly warm.

Otherwise, it was a reasonably uneventful day. The road is excellent for running. Although a highway, there is very little traffic on it, and when there is, the shoulder affords me more than enough room.

My legs were still a bit sore. I suspect they are suffering from the effects of my extra Christmas kilos. Once the weight goes, the legs should do it much easier.