From Freiburg we ran in the pouring rain to Emmendingen, 19 km away. The phrase, ‘It was raining cats and dogs’ was most apt today.

Despite the heavy rain and cool conditions we enjoyed the running as we met up with one local runner in Emmendingen town centre and the local journalist.

We also met an elderly lady who welcomed us most warmly and despite the rain the sun shone in her and our hearts.

It was a day of running through some beautiful countryside.

As we ran on the cycle paths next to the road we passed so many fruit orchards and cornfields. The orchards were abundant and ripe with colourful purple plums, pears and apples.

A few runners even stopped to pick some fruit to sustain them through their run. Others did some bizarre stretching to relieve their tired limbs.

We met up with local runners at Ettenheim and Kippenheim that ran with us until Friesenheim.

They enthusiastically ran with us through the rain.

Throughout the day we met people on the cycle paths that were curious why we were running, and once the runner explained they were always so glad to hold the torch.

In the afternoon we said goodbye to Elke who unfortunately couldn’t stay longer with us.

After 97 km we reached the border of Achern one hour ahead of schedule, and the rain had subsided. We stopped outside a café that had some marvellous cakes and pastries in the window. We couldn’t resist – we went in for coffees/teas and delicious cakes.

Outside the town hall we met Ms Hiegert who read out a statement of support for the World Harmony Run from the mayor of Achern, Bernhart Kostlin. She is extremely fit. She does triathlons-even the ironman (ironwoman). Ms Hiegert ran with us to the border of the town and we continued our running to Baden-Baden.

Just outside Baden-Baden we all met up to ready ourselves for our final run into the city. Our Petar was rather tired after running over 30km and had a quick nap in the bus shelter!

Our police escort met us 6 km from the centre of Baden-Baden and we ran along the cycle paths meeting people out on their Sunday evening stroll. Some very young children were so in awe of the torch as their parents gave them the torch to hold.

As we approached the centre many people waved and cheered and we made a loop of the city to finally end up at the city square, where the mayor warmly greeted us, Mr Wolfgang Gerstner. He so admired our efforts to bring harmony to people and was very proud that the World Harmony Run came to Baden-Baden. He more than gladly ran with the torch as well as "Mozart".

As we did the ceremony many people visiting the city listened and applauded. We met with people from Kuwait who were so interested in the Run and wished that next year we could run through their country.

They warned us that the best time would be to run in February, as the rest of the year the temperatures soar to 50 degrees Celsius. They said that we would melt if we tried to run in those temperatures! More and more countries are participating in the World Harmony Run, so lets hope within the next few years that the International Team can run in Kuwait.

Once again this evening we were most generously provided with hotel accommodation – this time at Best Western Queens Hotel Baden-Baden .

At the end of the day it’s rather pleasant to have a luxurious hot bath (duck included) and soak those aching limbs and muscles.

We met the General Manager, Ms Nora Schakaki who was so happy to be of assistance and provide the accommodation for the World Harmony Run.

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Distance: 130km

Team Members:
Anete Klavina (Latvia), Bernadett Hammel (Hungary), Elke (Germany), Mark Collinson (England), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Petr Machacek (Czech Republic), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Terezia Hammel (Hungary), Veronika Kuliskova (Slovakia).

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

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