Cheering on the Athletes at the Prague Half Marathon

Today my friend Anna ran her first half-marathon! What a fun and exciting challenge to set. Gulnara and I offered to serve as her "Sherpas," the people who carry the water and raisins necessary for refueling along the way.

Over 6,000 people from 79 different countries had signed up to run. It set off at the Rudulfonium and went through some of the most beautiful streets in Prague. It was probably cobblestone most of the way.

This was Gulnara's first time at a race too!

A nice Czech couple who helped us find our way.

Three fun-loving ladies from Spain
ready to run!

Adorable Anna
preps for her first half marathon

Three pals before racetime

Milan from the Czech Republic

Marc, an auditor from Luxembourg
We enjoyed getting to know people before the race
and cheering them on.

Mohito from Japan
works here in Prague
as a construction engineer.

Czech native Karel
was excited to run.

Agnes and Stephanie
are U.S. Department of Defense civil service staff
working in Germany
They were off to see the Mucha Museum while
their friend ran the race.
Thank you for your service to our country, ladies!
We appreciate it.

This woman and I had fun
chatting about her height
we never spoke the same measurement system
though so let's just say
she was a good half a head taller than me.

We American ladies had to give our native friends
a hard time about the European
way of doing things.
Notice how the male numbers don't have an "M" for male.
Men are the default.
They put an "F" for female who are the exceptions.

The parade of flags

Another Prague native ready to run

Jorg from Germany

As the race gets close to starting
you can feel the runners get jazzed
as their adrenaline gets ready to be sprung.

And they're off!

The Prague Half Marathon
is officially opened by Vaclav Klaus,
the President of the Czech Republic.
The first piece of music played
as the runners take-off is
Smetana's "My country."

I shook the President's hand
but got a bigger kick
out of listening to two teenage Czech girls
literally squeal when they got to meet him.

President Klaus
of the Czech Republic
(he's better-looking in person than in the paper).

My compliments to him and his English teachers.
His accent when speaking in English
was practically native.

This man, who is Czech Secret Service
totally impressed me with
how graciously he did his job
with a constant smile
for those in the crowd
even as he protected the President.

The lead pack
halfway through the race.

A fun exuberant Czech runner.

It was nice to experience his enthusiasm
because Czechs in the crowd don't
cheer on their countrymen.
They just watch.
Anna said the only cheers she heard
along the way were in English.

Anna coming in strong and with a smile
near the end of the race.
Her goal was to run a 2:30.
She ran a 2:32.
Bravo!

I saw these braids go by during the race
and knew it could be only one woman:
Black Girl from Prague!
I was right.

Marco from Bavaria
blew us kisses as he raced.

Everyone should get a medal sometime
in their life, don't you think?

Anna happy, tired, and sore.

Can you get a better backdrop for a race well run
than Prague Castle?

Have Some Mucha with Your Mocha

One of the can't miss places to see in Prague is the Mucha Museum. My friend Sher and I recently spent a Saturday morning exploring the beautiful, wistful art of Czech patriot Alphonse Mucha.

The museum showcased many of his art posters produced in Paris for various products such as champagne. Many of the posters are not for a commercial product but represent concepts like the four seasons, parts of day, or arts.

Mucha's posters for Sara Bernhardt created such a sensation when they hit the streets of Paris she signed him to do the posters all of her future plays. We know her name to this day because of her business saavy in immortalizing herself.

Besides the gorgeous art, the museum visit was uplifting because of Alphonse Mucha's character and attitude. I made a note of one thing he said because I loved how he viewed his individual impact as a person:

"I was looking round for a means to spread light that would reach even into the remotest corners. I did not have to look long. La Pater[a book]. Why not give it's words pictorial expression."

Alphonse Mucha did all of the bank notes, emblems, logos, seals and signs of the Czech First Republic. The Czech Republic has had a few iterations since then so all of those designs have been replaced. Along with that service to his nation, Mucha also painted the "Slav Epic," a giant tour-de-force artisitic representation of the history of the Slavic people. A weekend trip to see that in the country is on my must-do list.

Our entire visit took 1.5 hours. So when out for a coffee of hot chocolate in Prague this winter, have some Mucha with your mocha.