We are very grateful to the Hilton Hotel for providing us with a luxurious sleeping place right in the centre of Prague. We can truly recommend this accommodation to any visitor; the location, services and comfort of this hotel are at the highest level. Thank you!
Today we started running through central Prague again, with a big group of runners as we headed out from Wenceslas Square.
We passed across the famous Old Town Square, where many people greeted us. Honza Levy (holding the torch) joined us today, for the rest of our journey across the Czech Republic. He is our youngest runner, but an excellent member of our team.
We were very happy that Nina from the U.S.A. joined us for the run through Prague; thank you for your cheerfulness and enthusiasm. We hope to meet you again.
From Vltava river, we climbed a steep hill on Letna where we met a great trainer, Mr. Zdenek Havel. His daughters Pavla and Petra are among the best uphill runners in the Czech Republic. We could not resist taking a picture with him at this beautiful location.
After running through the busy city centre, we enjoyed the peaceful environment of Stromovka Park.
Just before getting to the zoo, we passed through the beautiful gardens of Troja Castle.
There was a very special ceremony at the zoo today. Some of the Czech World Harmony Run Team members were there from the very early morning, arranging Harmony Day at the zoo.
It covered all kinds of activities for children; they did face paintings, big puzzles and paper paintings, and watched theatre plays and pantomime.
There was also a musical performance of the Japaka Orchestra , a very cheerful and entertaining music group performing songs composed by Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the World Harmony Run.
When the runners arrived at the zoo the small outdoor atrium was filled with children, their parents and other people, including the ambassador of Mongolia, Mr. Enkhtur Ochir and a colleague. Mr. Ochir was also present at yesterdayâs special event and we were happy and honoured to see him again today, showing his support for the ideas that World Harmony Run represents and apparently enjoying himself during the activities at the zoo.
After the World Harmony Run presentation, we joined Japaka Orchestra to sing the World Harmony Run Song in a very dynamic and cheerful way. After this musical intermezzo we went on with the more official part of the meeting, which was actually a very happy exchange of honours, gifts and surprises.
First, the World Harmony Run presented Mrs. RNDr. Iva Vilhumova, the vice- director of the zoo, a certificate of appreciation for the zoo, along with a donation from the World Harmony Run for the adoption of a huge turtle for one year. Then Mrs. Vilhumova gave us a certificate from the zoo.
And then a big (long) surprise came! Mrs. Vilhumova asked Ondrej, our team-captain, if he is afraid of animals; we all were wondering what would happen. Then one of the zoo workers opened a cooler and some of us thought we maybe were getting ice cream.... but instead of icecream, the man pulled out a huge boa constrictor!!
It was about 2.5 metres long and very thick. Its name was Cenda and we learned that it was not poisonous or dangerous. We could all touch the snake but it was still a reptile (and not a fluffy koala), so not everybody dared to come close.
The next part of the program was a symbolic harmony run around the zoo.
Finally, we could visit of our adopted turtle child (about 50 years old and 1 metre long).
We went to the turtle habitat and enjoyed seeing and touching these huge and ancient beings. The first one we encountered was a dominant male and he was extremely dynamic (and basically, wanted to get us out of his territory, we understood later from the keeper of the turtles).
So we headed for a few more peaceful turtles, which did not budge an inch. We tried to move them a little bit with the help of their keeper, who offered them an apple. But that did not help either - we had to move their shelter to get close to them. It was a nice gathering.
Then we continued our run through the zoo and saw many other beautiful animals. After a delicious lunch there, we had to move on to our next and very special destination.
We started running up a very steep hill, from which there was a nice view of Prague. One of our Czech runners, who is not from Prague, noted that she has finally started to like Prague now that she realizes that Prague is not only a railway station and subway system, but also many nice parks and places.
We also made a little stop on the hill near the astronomical observatory, and viewed a large part of the northern Czech lands from that point. What a feeling of vastness!
We continued on our long and hot way towards the Emil Zatopek stadium at Houstka, where Emil Zatopek and a few others have achieved 33 world records in running and athletics.
Some members of our team had to admit that they felt that we were also performing a world record on our way there. It was about 35 degrees or warmer, sunny, humid, and it was intensive running; some of our runners ran the whole distance from the morning till the end - about 42 kilometres, a real marathon!! Well done!
We arrived at the stadium after 4 o'clock, and the deputy mayor and the president of the athletic club welcomed us. They both spoke kind and inspiring words to encourage us on our run. The deputy mayor mentioned also that there are so many different cultures and nations but that there is something they have in common, and that is sport.
Then we were invited to run a special honorary round the track with two young runners from the athletic club. It was so special to run there, the whole feeling was like a victory lap on a sacred track, where great records have been set and where some of the best athletes in the world have trained. We were also invited by the president of the club to see the museum of athletes that have trained here, which displays many pictures and some of the prizes that were won.
The last part of todayâs route led us through a nice forest, a footbridge across the river Labe and around a big lake up to the town of Celakovice. Tomas Hatka and Partik Uher from the Athletic club Stara Boleslav Houstka accompanied us on this route (they said they would also run back after saying goodbye to us).
To end our inspiring day of running and admiration we went to a lake to cool down a little bit, and afterwards had a great Mexican meal. Thank you coordinators for this nice day, a big congratulation to all those runners who ran so well and special thanks to our guest runners, Mr. Petr Kovar with his wife, Mr. Stefan Krc and the Czech record holder in 24-hour running, the well-known Michaela Dimitriadu . They were fantastic and inspired us to go on and on.
Distance: 42km
Team Members:
Andrea Fidrmuc (Austria), Annemijn Schuringa (Holland), Arthur Schafer (Germany), Friederike Makowka (Switzerland), Jadranka Grbic (Croatia), Jaroslav Werner (Poland), Namitabha Arsic (Serbia), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Prafulla Nocker (Switzerland), Roberto Barth (Germany), Roger Rogge (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Vladimir Salnicov (Moldova)
Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.
Gallery: See more images!
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