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Archive for June, 2014

UPDATED TEXT… In Serbia!

Saturday, June 28th, 2014

PS 29/6/ Taking opportunity of a rest day :)

 

June 28th I crossed into Serbia, my 30th country of the run. I wonder what I will be doing this time four months, not having to lace up my shoes will seem so strange!

Think I need a haircut and a new pair of legs!

Serbia a country of just over 7 million with a low population density is one of the former Yugoslav Republics.  It has been an independent state since 2006 when Montenegro dumped them after a referendum.

In 1989, Slobodan Milošević rose to power in Serbia. Milošević promised reduction of powers for the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, where his allies subsequently overtook the power, during the Anti-bureaucratic revolution. This ignited tensions with the communist leadership of the other republics, and awoke nationalism across the country, that eventually resulted in the Breakup of Yugoslavia, with Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia declaring independence.

Serbia and Montenegro remained together as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

Milošević  faced up to much opposition and demonstrations before finally resigning his post.  The subsequent Yugoslav authorities tried him on suspected  fraud and embezzlement. When the charges did not stand up they extradited him instead to the International courts in the Hague charged for war crimes  including genocide  and crimes against humanity in connection to the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.

Milošević elected to represent himself and you know what they say… A person who represents himself in court often has a fool for a client. However he died in his prison cell in the Hague in March 2006.

Serbia, a landlocked country located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, in the Balkan peninsula.

I am told the reason Serbia didn’t get EU membership with the last enlargement was because of this bitter war the country was involved in.

In 1992 war torn, ragged Yugoslavia qualified for the European soccer championships hosted by Sweden.  They were not allowed  to participate due their to the countries instability and at the time alleged war crimes including a policy of ethnic cleansing. Denmark who did not qualify for that tournament was selected to replace them. The Danish football association recalled players who were holidaying on beaches around the world and famously went on to win the tournament beating a first time all reunited German team 2-0 in the final.

Serbia is now an EU candidate country and negotiations are ongoing at this time for their entry.

A fairly modern country yet I am told it is surprisingly cheaper here than in Bulgaria whose people come here to shop. Serbia has one of Europe’s lowest per capita incomes at less than $6,000. In my short time here some people have told me that life was much better and easier under the old system in Yugoslavia. Now people do not have as much state safeguard and have to work harder to survive in the capitalistic world.

 

My arrival day was the 100th anniversary of the start of World war 1 when the assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Young Bosnia organization, led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia.In defense of its ally Serbia, Russia mobilized its troops, which resulted in Austria-Hungary’s ally Germany declaring war on Russia. The retaliation by Austria-Hungary against Serbia activated a series of military alliances that set off a chain reaction of war declarations across the continent, leading to the outbreak of World War I within a month.

I was stuck with the equivalent of 70 euro in Bulgarian Levs which I am told nobody wants Bulgarian money in Serbia. It would have been too time-consuming to return as there was no nearby town and besides too difficult as I am now pushing Nirvana.

Just then I met two very nice Serbian cyclists called Viktor and Zoran.

Victor called his friend to help me change my Bulgarian Levs. Zoran on the right.

They were out for a spin on their bikes around the border area. They made a phone call to a business  friend who changed for me!

It just happens that Zoran runs a small hostel for students who attend the local medical and technical school here in Zajecar. The students are on holidays now so I was able to take a bed, a rest and a half day today. The lads also helped me with a few chores I needed done. Thanks lads!

Back at Zoran's house with Victor.

I have packed away my logbook and too tired to get it out again, but from memory the latest distance is around 45,675km for 1,042 road days.

Press HERE to see my planned route for the rest of mainland Europe

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Favourite country

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014

Hi everyone

Still running Bulgaria and will cross to to Serbia in a couple of days. I am putting the final touches to my Bulgarian blog.

The Bulgarians are so nice even if their roads are terrible!

 

I have been asked many times which country is my favourite country. Well it is  between the USA and Iran. I can’t separate them and I don’t want to.
However the feedback from Siobhan re last blog on the interest  my homecoming is generating is  very exciting to say the least.
She and her Blue Bubble Marketing Company are working so hard. There are lots of offers coming in from runners that both want to run and give me a place for a night. It is possible I am told I may not run a single step on my own running around Ireland! Amazing :)

My charity Aware are coming on board and we plan a huge nationwide collection for them. I am so delighted that at long last I will be able to fund raise properly for them and at the same time being an ambassador of sorts for this wonderful charity.
It is possible Ireland may be my favourite country when this is all over in four months time!
Just to clarify anyone can come out and run anywhere they like with me announced or unannounced as in my mission statement but for specific offers of help and to take the pressure off me and especially all the communication involved we ask to go through Siobhan.
Readers will be amazed that it can take in the region of 20 emails communicating stuff like
When exactly time and day will you arrive?
What you eat?
And I had exchanges like…
What way you want your steak cooked ?

And I’m thinking won’t I be there..!!!
Salad dressing??
Drink??
Allergies???
Etc etc!
I am simple a sleeping bag on a floor or a couch and I am happy :)
No special treatment necessary!

See you soon. Got to run towards Siberia sorry I mean Serbia!

 

 

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Enter Blue Bubble Marketing And The Wonderful Siobhan Clifford.

Monday, June 16th, 2014

 

I continued running through the beautiful Turkish mountains. Most days it rains, I am so tired in the mornings I can’t get going early.. So tired. I am almost comatosed. When I stop for my breaks I can see people looking into my eyes. I wonder if they think I am a druggie. I have to straighten my eyes out almost like in a cartoon!

So tired I worry about pushing myself too much. I stop from time to time just to sit on the guardrails wondering if I will have a heart attack. I am digging so so deep I can’t see the shovel anymore, ready to collapse on I run for 52km that day. I remembered at the start the way I could just hammer out a nifty fifty.. There are no more easy days.
Road day 1,000 on May 16 I manage a 46. I thought about stopping in a hotel to celebrate but at $35 this is crazy.. I keep saying turkey is as expensive as many European countries… This is Asia  repeat.
That evening I had a great sleep in a bus shelter which was well off the road. On the way up the mountain I get an email from a man called Tom Enright offering to help with my Ireland route for I have just decided as dog tired as I am I will do a full lap of Ireland. About 1,625km.
To be honest at first I was planning a short lap about 850km. Reason being I am so embarrassed about my pace.
Then I say to Hell I will do this run the way it should be done and as Tom said in his email I will finish in style. I don’t have to answer to anyone anymore. The only people that matter are my friends and decent people.
I remember my last night on the road in India. A couple of men brought me into a Sikh temple to see if I could sleep there. I was so tired, stumbling as I always do when not running that I was asked to leave. They thought I was a drunk and said so.
So this man Tom is great. He offers help with the logistics of my Ireland route.
Tom introduces me to Siobhan Clifford who has a public relations/marketing company called Blue Bubble Marketing.
I am amazed by their generosity and help. This is a Godsent
Also Kevin Scanlon in Wicklow is working on my finishing route. He has been doing some of this now since I asked him to about a year ago.
Within a short while Tom, another runner Ger and Siobhan have a first draft for me. I am excited. This gives me added energy on the road.
They send my route to the marathon club of Ireland and suddenly I am told there are lots of runners asking to run with me and offering accommodation. I am so excited. The Ireland lap begins on September 13, it will take six weeks. I will finish here with 50,000 km exactly on the finish line. The calculations are pretty close, this gives me renewed energy. Just over 5,000km to go the distance across America and I have done that almost nine times since the run began.

I can’t thank Siobhan and Tom enough.

Road day 1,001 dawns and I wash some spare clothes in a sink beside the bus shelter. I will dry them as they hang from my pack.
Turks are like Thai people, hardly anyone speaks English.
I read a report that stated the more nationalistic a country is the less likely they are to speak a foreign language.
I have not even seen one business sign in English, or road signs almost as though it were against the law.
Another 46km day broken into two halves a 22km slugger for I needed a breakfast that day. After breakfast I run hard and non story for another 24km I am delighted by the end result.

Nobody offered me any water or anything else, Turkey is no Iran, that’s for sure. People continue to overcharge me especially in restaurants and petrol stations. The often don’t scan the items and when I ask I suddenly get a price reduction. The PO petrol chain have been notorious. I have to watch almost everytime.
They let down the decent people of the country and continue to enhance Turkey’s scam reputation.

I need to keep the pace up for the Irish embassy in Ankara, in particular Erok have been working hard to try to get a permit for me to run across the Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul on June 7th
I make a mistake in Susehri, or water city lasking an ambulance can I sleep in their centre for I think its like the Iranian Red Crescent. They don’t understand and think there is something wrong with me for asking. I get fed up and can’t get rid of them as they follow me on the road. Eventually I do and stop at the Total Excellence petrol station where a nice man called Haji fills me with tea. I got a place to sleep on top of oil drums in a storage area around the back. I make it comfortable by spreading out cardboard on the drums and climb up.

Next day I finish at 30km as the rain is heavy. I cheekily make myself comfortable by spending the night in a car port, sort of tarp covering over poles for an old mans car.
The old man returns and I have to jump up so he don’t drive over me! He gets a bit of a start and leaves the car out in the rain overnight. A cup of tea would have been nice I thought, ah yes if this was Iran!

On the way to Koklu some workers on a construction site bring me into their canteen and feed me a delicious lunch. My faith in Turkey restored.
They ask me where I sleep and I say most nights in the mosques or prayer room in petrol stations but in the women’s separate section for there is less chance I will be disturbed. I am often locked in till the next day without anyone knowing, which is OK by me. The workers seeing how fond of tea I am ask how I manage for my evening cuppa. They are impressed when I take out my beverage heater. I just have to make sure I go to toilet first and fill up my water bottle.
I don’t think this is disrespectful as they eat and drink in Iranian mosques. OK this is Turkey but don’t they drink alcohol, flaunt their hair and do the forbidden ‘ harmonious movements ‘ meaning dancing, which so enrage the Iranian Islamic police.
I continued running and running towards Istanbul clipping out a 50,54 and a 54 in a huge push for Europe. To be fair to the Turks in this area they were really helpful.
One night I was told I could sleep in a function room adjoining a restaurant and the family fed me breakfast. Only two km up the road two men and a woman stopped me for another breakfast, so I didn’t offend. They sat on their porch cross legged. Its been a long time since I could sit like that. Often I have to lie down on my stomach and face them as I eat!
Another night I slept in the workshop of a mosque in a small  village called Murseller. Nobody saw me enter. On the workbench were two coffins, I didn’t check them out :)
Next day I think I am seeing things when I see a price for a kilo of pistachio nuts is $20!

Then I run through a hamlet called Kamil Koc! I kid you not and there is even a bus line by the same name.
More and more rain and a couple of tired fifties like a dart player hitting the wire of the bulls eye.
2km before Bayan I think I am stopping at a cafe but its a craft shop. The man there makes me tea and gives me biscuits before I’m off two kilometres down the road and on he left he said I would have no trouble sleeping.

I am in the darkness in my sleeping bag when a man comes in but the gent he was didn’t say anything. He just went outside and said to those outside that there was a tourist sleeping inside. I could not imagine being left in peace if this was India!

Anyone that wants to hire an energetic marketing company please contact Siobhan Clifford at:

Blue Bubble Marketing.

 

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I’m Back in the EU

Saturday, June 14th, 2014

Greetings from Bulgaria and the European Union :) Camping in a petrol station near Swivelgrad for my first night May be in Bulgaria for about eight days them its Romania Lovely people. First impression roads and signposting are terrible and no shoulder to run on. When I ran up to the border I ran through the disinfection lane with Nirvana by mistake. So we got sprayed by accident.. Then again on the way out much to the border guards amusement. So I started telling the young lad about how great it was to be able to run into Bulgaria because when I was on my cycle trip all those years ago Bulgaria was closed to me…. Behind the Iron Curtain was like another planet. He just laughed as if to say ‘ dont go crying on my shoulder Granada!’ There was no welcome to  Bulgaria sign as the whole area was literally a construction site to add lanes for ease of movement. Then the next immigration officer told me he worked in Ireland for a few months. How times have changed :) Europe is going to be a bit like central America… A country a week for about 13 weeks! Bulgaria is country number 29. Talk soon Back in the EU… You don’t know how lucky you are boys.. Back in the EU… Back in the EU Well the Ice Cream girls really knock me out they leave the west behind And Munster girls make me scream and shout! OK tony enough of that!

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Turkey In Pictures and a bit more on a sad day when Turkey elected a new president.

Sunday, June 8th, 2014

I am aware I didn’t post pictures in Turkey due to my smart phone and website incompatibility so here goes.

I prepared the piece below in advance of today’s presidential election.

Turkeys arrogant  prime minister narrowly scraped to victory, virtually unopposed, perhaps because of his success in turning around the countries economy. Here I tell a bit more about this unsavory character.

Crossing from Iran to Turkey.

I am thinking prison cage but which direction!

Turkey was also a tea experience just smaller portions for a big mouth!

This nice shopkeeper didn’t charge.

Curious eyes

One day I suddenly stopped at the side of the road. I took off my worn out 43rd pair of shoes and gave them to this poor onion seller. In my pack I had my 44th pair. I now wear the ON brand of running shoe, a Swiss make.

More tea? I sat in this highway construction traffic island with the workers for a short while to refresh.

Late one night I stopped at a mosque to see if I could sleep there. It was locked up. After a discussion these people brought me to this house. One of them spoke some decent English. I rely on people like him for my information much of my text may seem generalizations, many are the opinions of the ordinary people I meet on a daily basis.  So we chatted and I used this man to interrogate  the others while they fed me dinner.

The Turks are so friendly.

Then in the morning they brought this delicious breakfast. Nobody seemed to live in the house, I think it was some kind of a community house.

Turkey is the Islamic worlds only secular state I am told (perhaps Azerbaijan may have something to say about that I wondered)  founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who was a Turkish army officer. He was the first president of Turkey.  He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey.  Born in 1881 and died in 1938.  His surname, Ataturk -which means Farther of the Turks was given to him in 1934 and by law of the Turkish parliament can not be used by any other person.

I found it was mostly the older generation that respected Ataturk, younger people seemed to almost spit his name out.

An extremely mountainous country, the reason I decided to send Nirvana on ahead.

Turkey had some of the most amazing scenery of my entire run, A beautiful country but a shame they don’t do picnic sites like the Iranians to enjoy it more. Funnily I found the Turks to be less ‘outdoorsy’ than the Iranians.

There were many days when I had to stop and admire, Yes Turkey took my breath away.

Always time for a chat.

One day I spotted a police car in the distance. Not wanted to be bothered by a passport check I put my head down to pound my way past. Then I realized it was an immitation to encourage speeding drivers to slow down! Very original.

Mountains. And….

More mountain passes to be run over.

Only men frequent the tea shops. I often wondered how I would fare if I were a woman. In Iran I know I would not have gotten my visa for independent travel.

One day I was invited into a construction canteen for a huge lunch.

And only two kilometres was ordered to stop again!

I wondered about this place, Mangan Madenas!

One big weeks running to Istanbul


The infamous, notorious Turkish dogs did not bother me. Perhaps I have become a ferocious sight for them on the road, Many big dogs whined or ran away, others just wagged their tails as I ran towards them :)

Doing what I do best! Ah yes Ann will tell you butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth and always willing to listen :)

Note my own proper size ‘tea cup’, no little girl tea cups I used to say! One man called it my dog bowl!

One night I stopped at an arts and crafts shop thinking it was a cafe. The Russian man who owned it gave me tea and biscuits and told me there was a small mosque two kilometres down the road I could sleep in.

So I arrived. This one was particularly good as you can see I could have a body wash, charge my phone, camera and get my beverage heater and dog bowl out for another tea-riffic night on the road!
Later some locals actually checked inside while locking up and discovered me lying there in my sleeping bag. I pretended to be asleep as I lay there in the darkness. I had tried to make myself inconspicuous as I could to anyone that just popped their head inside the door as I had placed my sleeping bag behind the chair with womens garments hanging down as shown here. Yes once again I am in the womens section.
They didn’t bother me, they just left and I heard one man say something about tourist. Ah yes! I couldn’t resist thinking if this was in India and their incurable curiosity and pestering nature!
One day I just kept running and running for there was no place to sleep. I was rapidly approaching Istanbul. I had run 64km that day arriving in a small town called Izmit. For me and I know the pictures don’t do it justice this was the most picturesque town on my entire world run.

The skyline was lit up in a beautiful array of lightning reflecting off bridges, high rises.
 A beautiful marina, fashionable cafes and restaurants while city workers out planting flowers after dark! So pristine, everything I looked at seemed to be freshly painted.
Istanbul outskirts and a huge slog through Turkey’s biggest and most famous city. Remember Ken Thompson the Irish ambassador to Turkey had assigned the wonderful Erok to get me a permit to run over the non pedestrian Bosphorous bridge which connects Asia to Europe.
However I arrive a day early. Erok managed to get me a permit to cross on the 7th June.
I show these police officers my permit to run across the bridge. Unable to find an internet cafe and have it printed out I have to keep showing the download on my smartphone. My phones  battery is rapidly draining. There are many phone calls. One officer has a Turkish/English translate app on his smart phone and we go into a very long conversation. This was the first time I ever saw such a feature. I just spoke into his phone and my words were translated into Turkish text for him to read and vice versa, isn’t technology wonderful. I can see the day when tourists will be walking around with headphones and microphones and have real time conversation. I wondered about this possibility recently after reading Skype wants to add this feature for phone calls.
Here nobody picks up on the date that I am a day early. Eventually the officer on the right is assigned to escort me across the bridge.
So off I go towards Europe a couple of kilometres away.
I stop and wonder who this fellow ‘ Larry ‘ is because he couldn’t be happier than me :)
I got handed over to this police officer on the European end. I did not see the  ’ Welcome to Europe sign as I was on the left side of the bridge.
This officer just let me run on.
However at the end of the bridge proper there was a pathway less than a metre wide between the railing and the guardrail you can see here. This pathway was about one kilometre long. I was terified another officer on a motorbike or in a patrol car would stop me and as very few Turks can speak English I didn’t want any more hassle so scrambled my way through here and onto the mainland as fast as possible. Thank goodness I didn’t have Nirvana, I thought.
I have been told to keep my blog postings shorter! Yes a picture blog does that nicely. However ‘ Motor Mouth ‘ is back from vacation.
Recently I have had emails and comments to the blog re: my Bulgarian and Indian blogs and my comments about their countries, If they only knew what I left off they would thank me for being so kind!
Thats funny because in every country I have been to since Australia I have been told my comments are pretty much accurate regarding the social issues face in those countries. Not wanting to digress too much here but tonight as I write this posting in Vera’s house in Brno, Czech Republic. Vera my host asked me to describe politicaly correct and politically incorrectness.
Telling her I believe in telling the full honest story and not the brushed under the carpet job Vera advised me to have a second edition of my book published.
I will if the first edition is sucessful I said.
So Vera makes me laugh when she says.
” No one edition will be the politically correct edition and the other the politically incorrect edition! “
Ah! Yes I love it, I have Monty Python in my head.
 ” And which edition of Mangans run would you like sir?
” The politically correct or the politically incorrect edition? “
Anyway Turkey, Here goes!
I made it to a restaurant for dinner after getting over the Bosphorus Bridge and then took a taxi to my friends house that night. I would return to my finishing spot when running out of Istanbul.
My host had also taken delivery of Nirvana last March and was still minding her – a  man called Baris – a Turk who lived most of his life in England and still has a very strong English accent. A vegetarian, environmentalist and lover of life especially the life of his hero, John Lennon.
Like many other Turks he is despondent by Turkeys almost totalitarian government, a so called democracy with military rules like Myanmar as it has been described to me. When I told him I had already run over the bridge he suggested I run over again with my permit the next morning as initially planned.
Six local runners wanted to run across with me including another man called Ercan who has helped me enormously. I had to submit all their names to the transport authority via the Irish Embassy in Ankara, so we emailed as required in order for us to all run across.
That’s what we did a couple of days later after I took my first rest day in 51 days since the Iranian desert, a record for the run.
Saturday morning  after breakfast we set out from the Asia side and ran across to Europe.
That is after waiting for the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be escorted through at high speed.
Some more thoughts on Turkey and their  insensitive prime minister, Recep  Tayyip Erdogan, whose abrasive response to the Soma mining disaster in which 301 miners were killed in April.
He visited the site of the accident and during his visit he managed to  infuriate a region in mourning.
During protests of Mr. Erdogan’s visit, an aide to Mr. Erdogan was photographed kicking a demonstrator who was being held on the ground by military police officers. Mr. Erdogan himself responded to the heckling by defiantly taunting protesters and allegedly slapped one saying.
” If you insult me, your the Prime Minister you will get a slap. “
The dork then revisited the area in his presidential campaign and used the same word ‘ slap ‘ to describe a victory for him would be a ‘ slap ‘ for democracy over his rivals. I would certainly hate to be married to this creep, if I was a woman!
Speaking of Turkish women. ” Women should not laugh in public.” So said Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc in a recent speech about “moral corruption” in Turkey. “Chastity is so important,” he said. “She will not laugh in public.”

Baris extreme left and Ercan third from left. Three runners wore Gezi Park protest tee shirts

Many Turks I have spoken to can’t understand how this man, though well educated and a former lemonade street vendor amassed an estimated 50 million US dollar fortune. In March this year people asked this question on Twitter which was subsequently blocked for a 24 hour period until he realized, no not a good idea and restored the social media site. Facebook and You Tube have also been targets of his after questions of his financial dealings. However the questions are not going away.

Baris was asked to remove his Gezi Park tee shirt

I have also learned that journalists of the Zenden Daily newspaper who have been asking the really big uncomfortable questions to Erdogan have been ejected from Erdogan press conferences and  also his finance minister presumably on the orders of the  prime minister Erdogan at a FT press conference abroad.
I did not mind when Baris wore a Gezi Park tee-shirt to demonstrate. Gezi Park a very sensitive subject for many Turks.

Gezi Park

Imagine the Irish Govt deciding they wanted to knock down St,Stephen’s Green Park for building offices. Imagine the outcry there would be, well imagine if the Irish police went in with riot squads and tear gas canisters killing  many protesters and innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or in London’s Hyde Park, New Yorks Central Park.
Thats what happened in Gezi Park.
Erdogan is not a very popular man and many people ask me to guess how he got into power and was then re-elected twice, Ah yes much the same story I have been hearing throughout the run.
His three terms of prime minister is the limit under the Turkish constitution. He cannot stand again. I had been told long before his July announcement he wanted to run for office of the Turkish president in a soon to be held presidential election.
 Well that same constitution he wants to change to give the Turkish president more powers. And yes he announced he wanted to be a candidate.  Few doubt he will not succeed.
Turkey a country where 1,6 million children between the ages of 6 and 16 are working in jobs meant for adults is very much a polarized country.
Many people believe this division means votes for Erdogan’s  ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party, known as the  A.K.P.
I asked several people did they think Turkey had any chance of becoming a member of the EU. Many people said no because of ‘  the Muslim thing ‘ as one man put it.
Another man said they EU don’t really want Turkey as they already have a
 ’ Special Relationship ‘ agreements with the Turks, This man believed the EU is a closed shop.
I am afraid my own sad impression of Turkey after about seven weeks running through is that democracy as we see it, or even the bit they have here is about to be dismantled. Erdogan though not a popular man probably still gets the Muslim vote for his strong Islamic beliefs. He is pulling Turkey further and further away from the EU and membership seems to be low on his priority list.
I can’t help wondering that perhaps in the not too distant future Turkey may even be an Islamic Republic state. Or as one of the militants in the self declared Islamic state in Iraq worrying said, ” With no western garbage like democracy. “
I also wonder will the west be defeated by our own democracy?

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Chech Mates!

Sunday, June 8th, 2014

Hi everyone.
Sorry for this title!! I know my Hungarian friends were throwing their eyes to Heaven and saying
” Oh No not the Hungry comment again!!!
I crossed to Germany today and am having some getting sorted problems re phone battery crashing/ taking huge amount of time to charge even a little, so time spent charging. looking for internet and camera broken! Cant do anything in Germany on Sunday!! yes I have lost count about 7 cameras!
I had amazing help in Czech rep. Am in such a rush but …special thanks to the two Tomas’s, Martin, George and Camilla, Irene and Charles and wait till you see the picture of their two dogs!! Michel who drove out from Prague on Saturday to drive Nirvana on 5km to Stribro and then push another 26 to Plana!! Hope I havn’t forgotten anyone!!
Oh yes, Tomas son David 17 years old and his friend Andrew 15 never ran more than 5km before. Well about 3 days ago they ran 49.6km as on Andrews gps. They were full of chat at the end, so much that they ran around the church yard where Tomas had arranged for me to sleep, then they got the 50km, only a couple people ran 50 with me!Great lads!!
Then Pavel, Maria, John and son John gave me dinner and I showered before returning to the church accommodation to sleep. The family brought me breakfast in the morning and snacks for the road as did Tomas, so I was well fed there! Thanks everyone :)
833km to Calais – end of mainland Europe!

Am now about 15 from 47,000km!! :) sorry for rush. Lovely bicycle trails today. talk soon

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Europe….. It’s the final countdown!

Saturday, June 7th, 2014

At Long last back on European soil!

 

I have been singing that song with gusto these last few days…. It’s the final countdown! :)

Today I ran across the Bosphorous Bridge in Istanbul. This bridge connects Europe and Asia.

Thanks to Erok in the Irish Embassy for helping me secure a permit for running across this non pedestrian bridge.

Also it was great to run with six local runners. Including my host Baris and great helper Ercan.

Alper; Agnieszka; Ayça; Ercan; Tony; Necla; Baris

Thank you all for making this a most enjoyable experience, Four continents have now been run. North America, South America, Oceania and now Asia the toughest of them all.

Approx 44,900km have been run since October 25th 2010. Only a little over 5,000 to runm thats all just the same distance from New York to LA! My finish will include a full 1,600 km lap of Ireland before the grand finale at the finish line of the Dublin City Marathon on October 27th 2014.

Please stay tuned and tham

Thanks for your support :)

No I didn't fall I am kissing the European ground!

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About Tony

I have always considered myself to be an average runner. In school, I was even bullied for I was a sports wimp. Through hard work, dedication, perseverance, self-belief and a strong mind I succeeded in not only running around the world but breaking four ultra running world records during my competitive career. Having previously cycled around the world I didn't start running until I was almost 30. Then I had a dream of running around the world. For many reasons, I waited for over 20 years. One reason was to establish my pedigree as an endurance athlete. I started and finished my world run as the current World Record-Holder for 48 Hours Indoor Track 426 kilometres (265 miles), a record I have held since 2007. I also broke and still hold the World Record for 48 hours on a Treadmill 405 kilometres (251 miles) in 2008. When I retired from competition, more pleasing than any of my world, European or Irish records I had the respect of my fellow athletes from all over the world - in my opinion, sports greatest reward - an achievement I am most proud of. Then I finally put myself out to pasture, to live my ultimate dream to run around the world! This blog was written on the road while I struggled to find places to sleep and to recover from running an average of 43.3 kilometres or 27 miles per day for 1,165 road days. There were many nights I typed this blog on a smart phone, so fatigued my eyes closed. Many journalists and endurance athletes have referred to my world run as the most difficult endurance challenge ever attempted. During my expedition I rarely had any support vehicles, running mostly with a backpack. In the more desolate areas I pushed my gear, food and water in a cart which I called Nirvana, then I sent her on ahead to run with my backpack once again over altitudes of almost 5,000 metres in the Andes. I stayed in remote villages where many people had never seen a white person before. I literally met the most wonderful people of this world in their own backyard and share many of those amazing experiences in this blog. My run around the world took 4 years. There were no short cuts, I ran every single metre on the road while seeking out the most comprehensive route across 41 countries, 5 continents, I used 50 pair of running shoes and my final footstep of the run was exactly 50,000 kilometres, (almost 31,000 miles) I eventually finished this tongue in cheek named world jog where I started, at the finish line of my city marathon. I started my global run with the Dublin Marathon on October 25th 2010 and finished with the Dublin Marathon on October 27th 2014 at 3 05pm! Thank you for your support, I hope you can share my unique way of seeing the world, the ultimate endurance challenge! Read more...

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