Today marked the start of the third and last installment of the World Harmony Run in Iceland in the year 2005. Already the Run had gone via route 1 around the country, lasting for two weeks and ending on July 16, and there had also been a little run a week later when the Torch was handed over to the Canadian explorer Geoff Green and his arctic expedition Students on Ice, which, in turn, organized a World Harmony Run in Greenland.

The World Harmony Torch was back, however, and was this time accompanied by the runners of the European World Harmony Run, who are in the midst of a monumental relay through 45 nations! Iceland was their first country of embarkment after a scheduled start and, thus, it was deemed appropriate that the Run be short and significant.

The best place for a significant run in Iceland is, without a doubt, Þingvellir national park. Þingvellir, which literally means "parliament plains", was the site for the parliament of the Icelandic chieftains founded as early as 930.

Not only is Þingvellir a place of historical depth, it is also a place where one can see the awesome forces of nature at work, as the runners found out as they ran from scenic Öxarárfoss waterfall through Almannagjá canyon, a canyon which was formed when the two tectonic plates of North-America and Europe pulled away from each other. Almannagjá is thus a reminder of the unlimited power of nature and the terrible beauty that sometimes ensues, and Þingvellir is a testimony of the young and wild, yet pure and beautiful nature of Iceland. Due to its connections to the nature and the history, Þingvellir is, therefore, in many ways a sacred place, a spiritual heart of Iceland of sorts.

From Þingvellir we had an easy 33 km run to the outskirts of Reykjavík city. Due to the short distance we decided to run two and two as much as we could, and so "hosts" and "guests" ran together as the Icelanders and the veterans of the European relay doubled up.

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