Today was a very hectic schedule as we had to cover about 70 miles of our 97 mile route before 11.00 am to get to Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, to make all our meetings. To do this we had three teams out running as early as 6.30 am.

Our first stop was the Sri Chinmoy Peace State Plaque dedicating the State of Florida to peace. This plaque was inaugurated by Governor Lawton Chiles in 1993.

We then split into two goups - one team headed for the Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of the Arts while the other team went to the Mayor's Initiative on Race, Culture and Human Relations - a ground breaking conference with attendence of about 500 Tallahassee influential people.

Over 750 students greeted us at the Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of the Arts.

The students had been preparing for our visit for weeks and had made a beautiful banner for our arrival.

Principal Ross Witherspoon holds the torch aloft and welcomes the runners.

The students shared some beautiful and heartfelt music with the runners.

It was smiles all around as the children shared their own hopes and dreams for a more harmonious world.

Peace within leads to peace without.

Meanwhile at Tallahassee's Civic Center, Tallahassee Mayor, John R. Marks, and Leon County Commissioner, John E. Daily, held the torch in an expression of unity and goodwill at a luncheon during the Mayor's Initiative on Race, Culture and Human Relations.

Children's from numerous schools in the county had created artwork which was on display at the conference. Here is one work inspired by the World Harmony Run.

At the conference our team was joined by representatives of Florida A & M University.

Later in the afternoon we rejoined for a short meeting before sending off our afternoon running team with our good friends - the Morrison family - to finish the final 22 miles to Quincy.

Dave Morrison, 14 yrs, ran three miles as a taste of things to come. Dave will be joining the US team for about one month from Seattle to Chicago later this year. What a great summer vacation!

Homagni and the Morrison family before they had to depart on their 5 hour drive back to Orlando - thanks so much for coming.

Good going guys - keep it up!!

Special thanks to the management and staff of the Holiday Inn Tallahassee for a wonderful night's accommodation.

– Salil

Distance: 97 miles

Team Members:
Salil Wilson (Australia), Homagni Baptista (Australia), Karen Metcalf (Australia), Uddyogini Hall (Australia), Shyamala Stott (Scotland), Banshidhar Medeiros (USA), Jitavrata Jacobs (USA), Dmitry Grigorevskiy (Ukraine), Anne Liennonen (Finland), Vladimir Salnicov (Moldova), Vilupti Christina Barrineau (Canada)

Gallery: See more images!