Yeah! I have joined the international World Harmony Run Team for three days in Poland!

The international team crossed the border between Belarus and Poland this morning and the Polish delegation of four runners (later on two more guys joined us) and myself (Indivar from Austria) met them at the train station of Terespol. In the town centre we had this year’s first reception on Polish soil.

It was the third time that the international torch relay passed through the border town of Terespol and the present Mayor had already welcomed the runners twice, so the reception was very heartfelt and warm. The Mayor, together with a town official, joined us for almost 1km when the team advanced on its route, as he had promised last time. He took up the inspiration and set a shining example of running together with us in friendship and harmony.

A regional TV team accompanied us from Terespol along the road to the next towns. They collected a lot of material for their report, filming the different relay teams running, eating, drinking, joking and recovering. The TV team even followed Dipavajan when he got a haircut at one of the stops. It seems they will bring out a very extensive and nice report about the run tomorrow.

The reaction of the people along the road varied quite a bit - some stared at us in amazement, some responded to our smiles and waving with spontaneous joy and enthusiasm, some asked for more details about the Run, and often the people in the cars blew their horns and waved intuitively to greet and encourage us.

About 2km before we entered the next city of Biala Podlaska, about 12 teenagers of the local school running club joined us. Among them was the girl who is the present Polish junior champion in the 5k distance. They enjoyed the run very much. After the nice reception the Mayor also ran with the torch, and the teenagers escorted us out of town.

As we headed for the next reception in Miedzyrzec Podlaski, it started to rain, but this did not impair the enthusiasm of the group of kids who joined us together with their teachers for a few kilometres.

As they are running regularly at school, they had a very moderate and even pace, which is quite unusual for children of their age. It was starting to rain heavily, but fortunately the next reception took place indoors with a few officials of the city and region, and a newspaper reporter. To our great amazement they presented us with a beautiful commemorative flag and a key ring with the World Harmony Run logo on one side and the emblems of the city and region on the other. The officials and participants in the ceremony thus expressed that they shared the idea and the ideals of the World Harmony Run. They received and welcomed us with happy and generous hearts and it was a wonderful and unique experience to feel the flow and exchange of inspiration and oneness.

So in spite of the outer rather unpleasant conditions, we headed on full of joy to the last part of today’s relay. 10km before Lukow a team of about 8-10 experienced local marathon and ultra-marathon runners joined us with great enthusiasm in the rain. As they were all well trained for long distances, they set quite a fast pace. In Lukow we had the last reception for today and the audience covered a few generations, from children in national costumes to an eighty-year-old couple. At night we were offered food and lodging at the local school.

Remembering all of today’s wonderful experiences and seeing the enthusiasm of all the participants in the World Harmony Run, it once again struck me what a unique kind of sport running veritably is - it is so simple that you can carry it out practically everywhere, even regardless of outer or economic conditions; all you need is basically a pair of running shoes- and look at the power of running: it makes people healthier, happier and even better citizens of the world! Thank you everybody for your inspiration.

Indivar, Vienna

---

Distance: 113km

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

< Belarus 7 August

Poland 9 August > Polska 9 sierpnia >

Polska 8 sierpnia