We had a nice breakfast prepared by our Russian team-members, including Duranta’s famous fruit smoothie, made from a kind of sour-milk and fruits. Before leaving Tver we received bandanas decorated with the city logo. So, dressed in Tverian style, we ran out of the city with some sporty local boys. Despite the rain, Namitabha almost ran a marathon from the very beginning of the day. The clouds and the sun took turns in representing our weather.

On we ran to the scenic city of Torzhok, the oldest city in the region: a paradise of green with beautiful old buildings lying along the riverbanks.

At a road intersection towards the city, kids from the local schools had been gathered by their gym teacher to join us. Before we ran we were greeted by the city representative and, in proper Russian tradition, offered bread and salt. We noticed that our kids were excellent runners, running 7k with us, and many without a trace of tiredness.

Our Russian team members invited us for “banya” - a Russian sauna. This consisted of a hot sauna, birch-branch-thrashing-massage (not as painful as it sounds, quite enjoyable, actually), followed by a cold shower, at which point many a high-pitched scream could be heard. This procedure is said to be very healthy and to rid the body of toxins and some fat. Then our Russian friends invited us for dinner. After this we left for our sleeping place, which consisted of a clean and spacious gym hall, with colourful paintings of athletes in action decorating the walls. The evening began with smiling faces while washing the vans. Job done, we went for ice-cream, just making it before closing time. A mysteriously glowing orange moon danced just above the horizon as night was falling. Underneath it, the haunting, mediaeval sounds of Phillip’s wooden flute rang into the night. By this time though, sleep had taken most of us... and wonder of wonders, no mosquitoes tonight.

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Distance: 60km

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