Update from the Road - Day 95-96 Finale New York City

The home stretch! The final shifts were full of excitement as the runners finished their journey around the world. The route in Long Island was met with several instances of re-routing, but the logistics team, masters at sudden route change, was able to alter the route without missing a beat.

Some of Shiri’s friends were at the first exchange to show their support for her at the Brooklyn exchange point. Mary had 2 awesome guest runners, Richard Barshay & Scott Ruplinger, who took her dirty laundry as souvenirs! Newlyweds Taeko and Jason ran first with Melissa, then Taeko's leg to complete 20 miles together, for the third day in a row! They were pleased to greet Jin's niece Faith, her husband Jan and their son at the end of Taeko's shift who they hadn't seen since the Czech Republic. Richard had two incredible guest runners with him for two miles on his shift: 9 and 10 year old Avalon and Daniel!

The South Street Sea Port final ceremony.

Blue Planet Run founder Jin Zidell gives Dow's Patti Temple-Rocks the baton that traveled around the world.

Sunila’s friends came out to the exchange in Westhampton to show their support for him and the cause. Anonymous members of Team Yellow decided beer would be more appropriate to hydrate themselves with than water during this last shift; hopefully the sunny afternoon they were in store for did not make them regret this decision. Floral Park marked Team Yellow's last leg, they went out in style by having the whole team (Laurel, Rudy, Heiko, Paul, and former runner Jason Gross) run the last 1⁄2 mile together! Emmanuel ran the leg to the United Nations with guest runners Charles Anderson and Kim Richmond. Mary ran the last leg from the UN to the Finale at South Street Seaport, joined at the end by the entire team.

The Finale was at Pier 17, right on the Atlantic. It was an excellent location, with a lot of people there and a lot of opportunity for more people to learn about the Run. There were numerous speeches given, including BPR Founder Jin Zidell, Will Kennedy with the UN Fund for International Partnership, Vice President of Global Communications and Reputation for Dow's Patti Temple-Rocks and all the runners. As Jason Terauchi-Loutitt put it, we're happy to have finished running around the world, but it's also bittersweet not to have the next run to look forward to. There's always 2009!

The runners, happy to stay put, accept trophies on stage.

Sneakers that have literally been around the world, finally take a break.