Today we started the day with a delicious breakfast supplied by Ananda Fuara Vegetarian Restaurant. Ananda Fuara is owned and run by our good friends and long time supporters of the Peace Run from San Francisco Sri Chinmoy Centre, and we were sumptuously fed for every meal of our stay, and more! Thank you so much!!
After breakfast, our first stop of the day was to visit Val McKeever, pictured holding the torch. Val is the father of peace runner and good friend of many of our team members, Sujantra, the tall man beside Val in the photo. Val has been a long time supporter of the Peace Run and we were all thrilled to meet him. All our gratitude to you, Val!
Sadly, today we are saying goodbye to Jorge. He is from Columbia but now lives in New York. It was his first time on the Peace Run, and he was a great asset to our team, we hope to have him with us again many times in the future!
Our next event of the day was to visit the home of Narada Michael Walden. Narada has a beautiful statue of Peace Run Founder, Sri Chinmoy, in his back yard. This was the first statue ever made, and now there are many similar all around the world.
We offered Narada our Peace Run Torch Bearer Award. He is a well known music producer, and when The Peace Run began in 1987 he played an instrumental role in making it happen. He invited famous musicians like Clarence Clemmons and Carly Simon to take part, and also the great Olympian, Carl Lewis, who became a great supporter and promoter of The Peace Run. He also wrote a fantastic theme song which gave tremendous energy to the project. His most significant contribution is the enthusiasm, love and heart power he has always offered, not only to the Peace Run but to everyone he meets. Thank you, Narada!!
Clarence Clemmons, Carly Simon, Sri Chinmoy and Narada in 1987!
Narada is pictured here with Shambhu Vineberg, the original Executive Director of The Peace Run. Sri Chinmoy received the Vision for the Peace Run in 1987 and presented it to Shambhu to make it a reality. Together with Narada and others he made it happen, and all of us who take part will forever be deeply grateful to Shambhu for everything he has done for the Peace Run.
Pictured here are Sri Chinmoy, Carl Lewis, Narada and Shambhu at the Opening Ceremony in 1987 in New York.
Narada enthralled us all with many beautiful, deeply heart-felt, and sweetly entertaining stories of his early experiences with Sri Chinmoy.
Narada is pictured here with Sri Chinmoy back in 1987.
Much gratitude from all of us to Prema, pictured here, who organised today's meeting. Narada introduced Prema to Sri Chinmoy many years ago. Prema spoke very beautifully about how wonderful it was that todays meeting took place.
We sang, meditated, received a rose from Sri Chinmoy's Statue, and all left feeling incredibly blessed by such an inspiring and uplifting time together. All gratitude to Narada and everyone who made the meeting so special.
On the way back we took a detour to the headlands above Golden Gate Bridge.
We could not resist a team shot!
Running towards the light...
At the end of the night, some of us took a brief visit to the historic stretch of pavement in Golden Gate Park where Sri Chinmoy began his long distance running career on June 1st, 1978. All of us who love running are deeply grateful to Sri Chinmoy for giving so much importance to running and encouraging us to run for Peace.
When my heart,
My heart's eagerness
And I
Run fast along
The road of life,
Peace proudly runs with us.
-Sri Chinmoy
