This morning the team has been joined by Jason, founder of Mustard Seed Running Club. He met us early at the Visitor Information Centre of Dalby to escort the Peace Torch out of town on its way towards Toowoomba.
Jason is a very enthusiastic runner and in recent years experienced the benefits of this sport. He is now selflessly giving back to the community by organizing running groups and giving free coaching. He sees a great parallel in the running community with our Peace Run goals and feels that any activity that brings people together is beneficial.
We wish you good luck for the Sydney Marathon, Jason!
The men's team enjoy the warmer and drier weather today. As usual, sharing the distance in relay style makes it swift to cover the daily mileage.
Pulling up on the side of the road is what we normally do. This time, however, was not as straight forward to get going again. The van was stuck and we were rescued by Ash who saw us trying to get the van out of the mud.
Ash stopped and pulled us out. He held the Peace Torch and was offered our certificate of appreciation for participating in the Peace Run in a unique way!
We can now continue our run towards Toowoomba. Hurray! We noticed a greater density of traffic and received many waves from drivers as we approached the city centre.
We visited Toowoomba’s Japanese Garden where we met many locals who held the Peace Torch, offering their wishes for peace.
We were happy to meet with Matias and Divana. They held the Peace Torch and offered their prayers and blessings for peace in the world.
Is that a real workout?
Stacey during her run meets with two walkers in Toowoomba with their dog Nemo, training for a 75km walking event.
Go Emily!
Akzhanar, our most enthusiastic runner, from Kyrgyzstan.
Saranyu, our Aussie member, increases her speed day by day.
Gianluca, from Croatia, trying to be faster than a racing car. Children really inquired about this at one of the schools we visited this week.
Marion, Charissa's friend, holds the Peace Torch. Charissa hosted the women's team in her lovely and welcoming farm.
In Toowoomba we are open-heartedly received by Yunfeng Bao and Xue Zhang at James Street Motor Inn. They kindly hosted three of our runners and embraced the vision of Peace Run. We felt their enthusiasm and good will.
Some other runners are very fortunate to be looked after by Garden City Motor Inn, being offered a warm room, saving them from a cold camping night. We are immensely grateful.
A big thank you to Woolworths for supporting the runner's meals!
What better way to end than with an ice cream after a running day?
The day finishes with a lovely meal and many lovely stories shared by Unmilan Howard, a local resident of Toowoomba. He is a legend in the Peace Running World. Unmilan was an organiser-participant in the first Peace Run in Australia in 1987. He regaled our team with many stories.
