Basel Half Marathon: Friends Running for Iskra

What do I think of when I remember that the finish line is not the end?

A story that brought together so many good people that something like this should probably be done every year. That is why this story of mine, unlike Frankfurt, has more stars.

From Katarina, who ran her first half marathon in one of the hardest periods of her life, Ljiljana from the Iskra Parents' House, who accepted the initiative with open arms, the day I visited the Parents' House and met real heroes, Jelena, because through her everyone in Banja Luka and beyond heard about the campaign, Milena, who transferred my wish for a carnation to run with me onto fabric, Kica, who hosted us in Bregenz, the crew that came with us to Basel, and all the other people back home.

Overthinking kept me from changing quite a lot for many years, at least not in the way I would have been satisfied with. The moment I hear a comment where even the sound of the comment does not match some idea of mine, I would give up.

It cannot be just another half marathon, can it?

Combining something pleasant with something useful has already become a kind of habit. I admit, after Camino I went a little into the mode of: God, why do we go anywhere by car, we should just walk, but clearly that trip can last about three days. I return to reality and start looking for races around Europe. There are so many interesting races that I am thinking I need to live at least 120 years.

In a sea of interesting options, I choose something that could motivate someone else too, something I also needed at that exact moment, because I definitely did not need to just go and run a loop around Rome. Which does not mean I will not.

My stomach had spoken

The first star is Katarina, with whom I have wanted to share a half marathon for years, and who trusted me with the choice. Carried by a certain kind of responsibility... I am joking, but also not joking, because I loved being there for her first half marathon and I cared that she had an experience good enough to keep enjoying running tourism.

Then a race pops up that passes through three countries. Sold. I tell her: absolutely sold.

We can also visit a few more stars, Kristina and Srdjan, who live three hours from Basel. Even more sold. Give it to us, give it to everyone.

Basel half marathon, here we come.

More precisely, it is called Dreiländerlauf. A cross-border half marathon in Basel, Switzerland, 21.1 kilometers through three countries: Switzerland, France and Germany. It starts in the historic Marktplatz in Basel, crosses the Rhine bridges four times, goes through Saint-Louis in France, Weil am Rhein in Germany, and then back to Basel.

At one point, the route crosses the longest single-span pedestrian bridge in the world between France and Germany.

A scenic, mostly flat race: a little city, a little river, a little nature, a little borders, a little not knowing where you are, and somehow that works for everyone. Besides the half marathon, the event also includes a full marathon and a 10.1 km fun run, and it is usually held in mid-May.

Warm recommendation if you are looking for something different.

Two weeks that moved people

Two months before the race, we did everything needed for registration, and even before we said it out loud, we knew this half marathon would carry a more beautiful message. We did not do it for Camino, and now it was time.

Unfortunately, in our country it is ungrateful to single out anyone for fundraising, but we still proposed this initiative to the Iskra Parents' House from Banja Luka.

Personally, I think nothing has such a deep parallel with life as movement of any kind. That is why through this campaign we tried to reach each of you individually.

Health Beyond Borders was not just the name of the campaign, but a message and a reminder. First of all, for the children from Iskra, who run their own race every single day, without pauses and without the luxury of saying: I do not feel like it today.

The first thing that touched me, because neither Kaca nor I had ever done anything similar, was Ljiljana's reaction, my third star of this story. As banal as it may sound, I think both Katarina and I carried a certain fear about how the association representatives, and later people around us, might react.

The plan, without any previous experience, was for the campaign to last two weeks before the race, to sell kilometers for a symbolic price of 20 KM, and for the funds to go directly to them.

The first impression of how quickly one small idea can become something that is no longer only yours came with my fourth star, Jelena, who shared the content, and thanks to her social media, the whole of Banja Luka and the surrounding area heard about the campaign very quickly.

Thank you, Jelena.

So we used social media for promotion, work and contacts, as well as a few appearances on local TV stations. Neither Katarina nor I expected reactions like that, such strong support, but again, the truth is simple: we will never know anything if we never change anything.

The first star of this story

Who knows why this is good / everything happens for a reason. I do not know if anyone has ever figured that out, and if they have, please let me know, because the timing of what was happening privately for Katarina at the moment when we started the whole story and campaign was very hard.

The truth is that waiting for the ideal moment probably will not lead anywhere, but the strength it took to continue and not give up is, at the very least, worthy of admiration.

I once read that people say life does not get any easier as it goes on... I OBJECT. Not because there is a recipe for making it easier, but because I am sure we can learn to carry it more lightly.

I mentioned that movement of any kind inspires me for the battles I know come to all of us every day. I believe Katarina will not especially remember those crises around kilometer 15, because apparently people in France do not believe in water. She will remember the way she carried everything that came her way.

And so the first star of my story masterfully finished her first half marathon without stopping, and we successfully brought the fundraising campaign to an end through our running for children with malignant diseases.

Katarina, everything is fine, but you will owe me for one thing only, and that is the fact that I went to speak on TV without you.

Carnation, my flower

Milena is another star of this story because she transferred my wish for a carnation to run with me onto fabric, representing love, empathy, care and compassion for everything around us.

It was not just a detail, but a reminder to see everything that surrounds us here and now.

Thank you, Milena.

We like a little start-line drama because, well, Balkans.

Cold like May in Switzerland, whatever that is supposed to mean.

The worst kind of rain is falling, the kind that both wants and does not want to fall, a familiar situation. We drive three hours to Basel, five of us in the car and maybe three open eyes in total. The familiar excitement did not let us sleep, and we probably passed it on to our hosts too, so not even the MERAK playlist could help us.

We did not pick up our bib numbers the day before, which is what you are normally supposed to do, because we thought: easy, we will do it when we arrive in the morning. Distracted by various other thoughts, we forgot there would probably be a huge crowd at the start. I see a mass of people who clearly thought the same and I think, we came here to run through three countries and we might not even cross the start line.

We start from Basel, from Marktplatz, the historic part of the city that a person might actually admire if they were not wet, freezing and in a mild existential crisis over a bib number, while I am smiling and quietly singing my own Balkan version of a song in my head.

The cheering through Basel was okay, a little shy, and through Germany and France even more shy. The race itself, in terms of atmosphere, was not spectacular. It was not that chaos where the crowd carries you and every few minutes you wonder whether you are at a race or what exactly is happening.

I am saying this for people who might want to run this race, because we certainly did not come for the atmosphere. What carried us was the fact that we were crossing borders. What carried us was that we were there for Iskra. What carried us was that Katarina was running her first half marathon. What carried us was that people back home were following, supporting, buying kilometers, sharing posts and believing that those 21.1 kilometers could be more than a distance.

We do not like borders.

The route goes over several bridges across the Rhine, through the city, along the river, through sections where countries seem to change more quietly than you expect. One moment you are in Switzerland, then in France, then in Germany, and then back in Basel. Excuse me, how can all that be only 21.1 kilometers?

Thoughts thunder through my head about how beautiful this symbolism is, and I keep thinking how much I love this day right now. The borders between “I cannot do this” and “here I am, doing it” are being erased. I think of the children from Iskra, I want them to have days like this too, I think of my grandmother who left me a carnation in March that year, I watch Katarina defeat herself, and I erase everything that limits me.

The end is not at the finish line; at the finish line is what you become on the way there

Two full weeks of organic promotion brought Iskra support in the amount of 3,547.62 KM. Thank you to everyone who was part of the story.

And for the best possible ending, we crowned everything with a gathering around a table with people close to the heart, a barbecue, and Kristina pulling an ace from her sleeve: pistachio cheesecake. Thank you, Kristina.

The meaning of this not-so-spectacular race, at least in terms of race atmosphere, was enormous, and it became the beginning of everything that would follow.

P.S. Katarina kept running :)