So I often run in the Germia Park which is right down the street from my apartment and RIT-K. Today was a little cooler and a beautiful day for a run so after a visit with Beki in the lab I started running to the park. It is basically one long slow hill up to the park and then some steeper hills. So as I am slowly hauling myself up the hill, I look to my right and a spritely, gray haired man comes blowing by me. I thought to myself, “man that is so lame, you really need to get back to where you used to be” and watched him fly by waving at me with a smile and a “mirdita” which means good day in Albanian. A few minutes later, down the hill he comes on my left side and all the sudden, he is running next to me! We run for a few minutes and I think he asks me if I’m German and I said “American” which is always the right thing to say here. I get a huge smile and a handshake in full stride. As we run in perfect sync at a much slower pace closer to mine than his but still a challenge for me, I notice people smiling. This is a big park but everyone seems to know my companion and I could hear an occasional shoutout..”ehhh, Bravo Muhamet” and he skips and continues to run alongside me. I realize after a mile or so that he is wearing professional clothes and shoes which is not always common here, and I start to wonder if the shirt he is wearing is actually from a team or if he is part of a team so I am not surprised when he whips out a laminated paper that announces that he is Muhamet Rama Vusshrria an athlete who has broken two Balkan records in the veteran who ran 1500 meters (very close to a mile) in 5 minutes and 16 seconds. Ok people, I could not run that when I was 16 much less now! Muhamet and I ran about 3 miles together and it was pure delight to run beside him and will be one of the highlights of my time in Prishtina.
