For Nadia, an experienced marathoner, running is a quest for truth, her
personal truth—helping her understand who she is and how she fits in the
world.
Things she has never understood about who she is, or could be, slowly
but surely become verifiable and indisputable facts as she runs. By
better understanding herself, she connects to the universe and mankind,
and the eternal question: Why are we here?
A brief and mysterious phone call by her maternal grandmother, Oma,
gives the 40-year-old plenty of food for thought as she embarks on her
biggest challenge yet, a 62-mile ultramarathon on Canada's West Coast.
Oma, now 94, reveals clues to a secret from the time she fled with her
only child, a baby daughter, into the forest to seek shelter from the
brutalities in the Second World War in Sudetenland, the part of
Czechoslovakia annexed in 1938 by Germany.
Her grandmother immigrated to the Netherlands in the early 1950s as a
young widow, escaping Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of a Communist
coup d'etat.
Though close to Oma while growing up in the Netherlands before moving
overseas as an adult, Nadia reflects during the race on the hardships
her grandmother endured and the impact it made on the way she lived.
Realizing she knows far less about her roots than she always thought as
the miles—and unexpected challenges that put her at odds with longtime
boyfriend Tony—pass under her feet, Nadia also sees that the freedom she
feels as she runs parallels the one her grandmother struggled so hard
to find.
Thinking about Oma's life helps Nadia gain perspective and courage as
she recalls stories and clues of family lore to join them together in a
full picture while the race unfolds.
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