In the midst of war, a half-marathon brightens Kyiv

One man changed out of his soldier’s uniform and put on running clothes. Others wrapped the Ukrainian flag around their shoulders.

Kyiv’s Unbroken Half Marathon offered runners a brief respite from the daily pressures of war Sunday, along with the opportunity to raise funds for Hospitallers Medical Battalion, which has paramedics on the front lines of attacks every day.

The race, billed as marking the 431st day since Russia’s full-scale invasion, also included 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer events. Roughly 1,800 runners showed up in person, and 300 more participated virtually (without the 5K but with the option of logging any distance).

Following a route that took them along leafy trails and past a spruced-up expo center’s horse stable, skate park, restaurants and Soviet-era buildings, the brightly clad runners helped bring some cheer to the gray, cold day. Kosma Zalewski, 19, of Poland, who had polled his Facebook followers on possible outfits, ran the whole half-marathon in an ancient Spartan’s costume and sandals, coming in 203rd overall in under 1:43.

Coming just two days after a wave of Russian missile strikes left 23 people dead in the central Ukrainian city of Uman, the event was notable as a sign of Kyiv’s tentative return to large-scale public events. An announcer informed participants that in case of an air raid alert, the race would be put on pause and directed runners to the locations of several nearby bomb shelters.

Luckily, that was not necessary.

One runner, Dmytro, was taking a short break in military service and did not give his last name in keeping with military protocols. He said he was originally from Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed illegally in 2014 in a precursor to the war. His three goals for running the race said much about embracing this momentary sense of normalcy.

“I want to help Hospitallers,” he said. “I want to be here with my friends and feel happy. And I want to check what kind of shape I’m in.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.