It was still raining in the morning but as soon as the first runner started, it stopped. The weather got better and better and when we reached the Japanese sea, the sky was completely clear. The first runner was a triathlonist, Mr. Takeno, and he ran very fast and smoothly with a smile always on his face.

From then on we had no guest runners so the Team ran alone to the very end. Most runners work during the day! In addition the schools have summer holiday just now, so we couldn't visit any..

We climbed up Myoko-kogen and then went down and through many tunnels, along the river and the sea and went along its shores to our final destination - Nadachi-eki.

On the way in Joetsu city we had a brief interview with a reporter from Joetsu Times newspaper. A policeman, nice family from Joetsu, little boy, nice lady from Joetsu (Hashimoto-san), who offered us her house to stay overnight, two young cool boys from Joetsu and others held today the Harmony Torch and expressed in their own way their support for world harmony. Well done, thank you all!

We stayed in a Catholic church in Joetsu city overnight (that lady had to go to an evening party so we couldn't stay at her place after all). Today's spa was indeed a very old one, but at least nobody was inside, so we had enough space.

Also this morning the teacher of those three high school students who ran with us last morning called Mr. Ito to tell him how happy the three boys were. They were indeed very very nice runners! We hope they join us again next year.

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7月25日 （火曜日）