I was most impressed with this Russian city, it has a population of 1.1 million and is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, home of the descendents of the nomadic Turkic tribe. It is one of Russia’s oldest Tatar cities and was ravaged by Ivan the Terrible who forced the Muslim Khan to become Christian. The enormous Kul Sharif Mosque was constructed on the site of a mosque by the same name, which was burnt and destroyed after Ivan the Terrible captured the city in 1552. In 1990 Tatarstan declared its autonomy from the rest of Russia, however full independence remains unlikely given that 43% of the population is Russian.

Nationalism however is strong here and they have their own President and green, white and red Tatar flag. Ethnic pride was particularly strong in 2005 when they celebrated 1000 years since its founding. Many parks and buildings received a massive makeover and I suppose this is why I was so impressed with the look of this city as opposed to the run-down other Russian cities we have passed through.

Because we were on the 9pm-3am shift we didn’t get to bed till 6am and so i didn’t wake up until midday, my teammate Taeko slept till 2pm, so I tiptoed quietly around the room getting dressed and went for lunch . This included a salad, chicken and rice dish and it all looked very nice but all I wanted was cornflakes and a strong cup of coffee with Manuka honey. I was able to get the coffee but the honey proved a little more difficult and I had to give up in the end even with some impressive sign language and buzzy bee sounds!

Polly Green from ‘flair films’ who is documenting this run thought she could get some wonderful shots of this historical city and so Taeko and I became her running models for the day. The first shot was of us running along the beach with the Kremlin and Mosque in the backdrop, it was blowing a gale and smelling that sea air made me feel so at home, like I was right back in Wellington. I visualize our monastery on Mount Victoria that over looks Oriental Bay, it doesn’t have quite the history as the Kremlin but it is still something special and unique to my city Wellington.

From there we got some shots right inside this Kremlin and a great shot of us running past the Mosque. Polly was really pleased with the light and color of the sky that day and I was super pleased that the minarets of the mosque and domes of the cathedral match my blue eyeliner! The Kremlin is the object of worldwide heritage UNESCO and is situated in the area of ancient Kazan fortress. Its architectural complex has been based during XVI-XIX centuries and is stunning, its also amazing to think this city was celebrating 1000 years and back home in New Zealand 100 years is a milestone for us.

We got back to the hotel at 6 pm just in time for my Russian Massage with this big burly Russian man. I was a little apprehensive at first when he first walked into my room as he looked like a Russian wrestler, but looks are deceiving and he treated my body well and my legs and back and bum (yes they massage your bum here in Russia) were very thankful even though it cost me 2000 Russian Rubles. I am finding the massage necessary especially with the constant pounding along the Russian M7 motorway.

That evening I started for my team at 9 pm and I had one those magical runs, its nice when you can get one of those every now and again. I ran over a bridge with the famous Volga river flowing below, this is Europe’s longest river at 3700km and is also known as Mother Volga as its one of the nations most enduring and endearing symbols. Running over or close to water is fantastic as it’s a constant reminder of why we are participating in this event - ‘water is life and we must pass that message on all over the world.’

That evening Walter or Wally as we call him rode beside me on the bike. Wally is a crazy lawyer from Roma who is helping with the operations part of this event…..oh and I mean crazy in the nicest possible way, he is just one of life’s characters and we all love life’s characters and I have got to say I have certainly met a few characters on this trip and they provide color and energy which I am grateful for. It was a picture perfect evening with not a breath of wind and the color of the sky a stunning pink with the sun setting in the backdrop. Because Wally was from Italy I put Abba’s Mamma Mia on my ipod and tried to blast out the last mile. So we said goodbye the lovely city of Kazan and it was on to Igre where we had a memorable night in a Soviet style hostel that accommodates the men working on the oil station.