Today started as a "regular" running day which ended up bringing many nice surprises on top of our miles of peaceful running through the beauty and serenity of upstate New York on a Sunday.

Team A made their way thorough Newark, NY, a very beautiful tidy little town on the Erie Canal.

In the middle of the day we were joined by Daulot, one of our co-ordinators from Seattle.

With his usual energy and enthusiasm he came out with his sister Marianne, her son Wesley, and his friends Erik and Jake from Cincinnati and Christopher from Northern Ireland.

In total they ran a brisk and cheerful 7 miles with us.

Also on the team today were father and daughter team Ashok and Mayura.

En route the family running team passed by the house of village attorney Harry Armani and he and his wife came out for a group photo.

We also met Nancy, Sydney, Kira and Owen at one of our stopping points. The children are actually from Maine, but when we run through there next week they'll still be in NY state on vacation, so it's lucky that they caught up with us today and didn't miss their chance to hold the torch.

Daulot also has a brother, Leo, in Camillus where he and his wife Mary Ann own the Siena Retaurant. We stopped off there to say hi and they kindly refreshed us with snacks and cold drinks while we introduced ourselves to their family and friends.

It was nice to take a break sitting and drinking iced tea under the shade of their umberellas.

Marianne and her husband Christopher had invited the whole team to have dinner and stay over at their house.

They have a beautiful home nestled in woodland - a scenic and peaceful end to the day, and a wonderful dinner. Thank-you for welcoming the runners again this year!

A little physical therapy at the end of the day.

Kevin and Judy Kinch from Jordan were very excited about the run and really wanted to hold the torch!

These very nice folks stopped to enquire about the run and then very kindly offered a donation.

See you tomorrow...

– Kokila and Atulya

Distance: 83 miles

Team Members:
Atulya Berube (San Diego), Drsalu Gruenstaeudel (Austria), Vladimir Salnacov (Moldova), Mark Collinson (England), Kokila Chamberlain (England), Surya Smolennikova (Russia), Kshetragna Ulanova (Russia), Dima Grygorievski (Ukraine), Sukhada Korshunova (Russia), Nisanga (Bosnia)

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