Rain! It rained all night and then it rained all day. Heavy rain, light rain, and everything in between, almost non-stop. It was best to forget about the chance of our laundry drying. Running in the rain was brisk, cool, and enjoyable, but the aftermath could be less so. At first darting into the warm cosy van was very nice, but, especially if you had left your dry changing clothes in the other van, after having cooled down and still finding yourself soggy was less... well, nice. However, the running was very good for most, many doing long distances and very good paces. Our hearty Frenchman Unnatishil did his first full Marathon since joining the World Harmony Run. Many were running along with him. Although at times he thought the speed became a bit too fast, he managed it, and we are all very proud of him!

During the day we bumped into some intrepid kids who braved the rain and ran with us for quite a while all the way to a regional ceremony. There we were greeted by the city representatives and offered traditional bread with salt. The joy the torch brings with its dreams of a better world and messages of harmony and friendship is strongly tangible. So, certainly no rain had the power to wipe the smiles from the locals’ faces.

Our team has picked up many new runners. In Moscow, Anita and Piroshka from Hungary, Ana from Croatia, and Phillip from Austria, all jumped aboard adding new freshness, energy, and inspiration to our team. Today, on her birthday, a shining smiling Svetlana from St. Petersburg joined our team in Novgorod. Handy to have a native Russian speaker when running through Russia, isn’t it!

Needless to say, it rained when we arrived in Novgorod. About a dozen umbrellas (they came with people, of course) waited for us at the square. They all held the torch together and sang the World Harmony Run song, the media secretly capturing the moment on film. We were well received by the city representative.

We were pleasantly surprised to find beds in the sports hall, which was to be our accommodation for the night. Here our Russian hosts cooked a good meal for us, and we celebrated Svetlana’s birthday.

Distance: 150km

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