Yesterday I passed 4,000 km run so far this year. If I maintain the same daily average, I’ll end up with around 5,400 km by December 31. That’s a big increase on last year, in which my annual total was just 3,900 km.

However, it pales in comparison to 2012, the first year of the world run, when I passed the 4,000 km mark by just March 26. I ended up with 15,700 km that year.

The cactus below was the first I saw in the US, about half way down the Californian coast. It was the first of countless thousands to come, most of which were in Arizona.

On This Day

Sep 29, 2012

Distance today = 51.43 km; Total distance = 12,386.49 km; Location = Ripley, New York State – 42 17.297′ N, 79 42.081′ W; Start time = 0810, Finish time = 1620

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228191434

I had a very enjoyable run along the shores of Lake Erie today. And it was the flattest day of running in several weeks. To top it off, I crossed into my 21^st US state of the run so far – New York State.

I headed into downtown Erie this morning, and ran along the harbour. This was once a very important port in the region, and dates back to the era of the French. From there, I headed along Route 5, also known as East Lake Road, and followed it for the rest of the day, through local wine country. The weather was ideal all day long.

When Carmel tried to find accommodation, she was told there was an annual wine festival on this weekend. I had passed hundreds of cyclists, who were riding from winery to winery.  Apparently there were no vacancies anywhere in the region. Luckily, the local campground had a single old caravan spare, which we grabbed. As it turns out, we are in the town of Ripley, believe it or not!

PS As of writing, Carmel is having trouble with uploading the photos due to a weak internet connection – she needs a strong link for all those MBs. They may not be published until tomorrow.