Our friends Nina and Andre asked if we wanted to run the Svletluska 5K with them - it would be in the park that I always run in and it would be in the dark. It sounded like fun so we met up and headed to Stromovka at 9 at night. Svletluska means firefly so we were given headlights instead of t-shirts to be the fireflies running thru the night. 800 participants, with headlamps in the quiet of the night. It was magical. I was running on my own, and reflecting on the many miles I have run in this very park. New friendships that were forged, processing life, running miles of joy, many early morning runs in the dark, and ultimately running my own marathon here. This is my park and these are the paths I have run. As a foreigner living in a land that is not my own, I always long to fit in. To understand, whether it is the language, directions, inside jokes, or customs. But even more I long to be known. And that night running in my park on those paths I felt like a local. It was the meeting of my world and the world around me. All of the lights made this beautiful magical moment of sparkle sprinkled throughout the race course. I kept thinking this is my park, these are the paths I have run, and these are my people.
