Gmunden (Austria)

March along barbed wire 2015 - 35 km hike around Ljubljana / Pot ob zici 2015 - Pohod 35 km okoli Ljubljane

This year I finally did it! I attended the March along barbed wire on May 9th. I wanted to attend this event for at least 7 years and I never had anyone, who would also want to do it. Well, this year was no different but I forced my boyfriend a little bit to do it with me. Ahem, I mean I strongly forced him, because he definitely was not up to it. Given that I realized that it's perfectly fine if you do it alone, I am sure I will go again next year, with company or alone. What is this event? Slovenes probably know this event, but foreigners probably don't: ''The march called “March along barbed wire” was first organized in 1957. It is almost 35 km long route around Ljubljana, where between the Second World War the wire fence of Italian and later on the German occupiers was and is therefore called “March along barbed wire”. Besides the memory of the liberation of Ljubljana (9th May 1945) the event also wants to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage people to do something for themselves. In the last decade, the number of participants (who decide whether to march or race in a three member team run) is getting bigger and bigger.'' I got up around 5:15 because I wanted to start at 6:00 am (start was open from 6:00 to 8:00). We started the hike at 6:20. I admit that I was worried if we will be able to walk such a distance, because we have never done it before and so you can't know how long are you able to walk. We had a little bit of rain at the beginning, but it stopped pretty quickly. I liked the fact, that there were a lot of people and you always knew where to go, because you just followed the crowd. I was surprised, that for the first time in my life I saw children's lemonade stands with lemonade, coffee and muffins. This is common for America but definitely not for Slovenia. We walked for 6 hours and 41 minutes and at the end we were quite stiff. It seems to me,  that it's not that hard to walk 35 km, but I honestly can't imagine how could we walk 1 kilometer more. I recommend everyone to attend this march or any other longer hike in your city. It was the 70 anniversary of the end of the 2nd World War this year and while walking I thought a lot about what people experienced during any war, how we can be grateful for everything they did, how horrible it is that so many people lost their lives on both cruel and unnecessary way and that people are still losing their lives because of some nonsense reasons. Honestly, I had watery eyes at least 7 times. This is who I am, I think a lot, I feel situations of other people, I feel empathy, sympathy and I constantly appreciate everything I have, because I have such stories constantly in my mind. How grateful I can be to have freedom. This fact alone shockes me. I have freedom, how many people don't have it, in any kind of sense. Think about what you have and you take for granted, someone else would give everything for it to have it, but they don't have it. With love, Neja

Letos mi je končno uspelo! 9. maja sem se udeležila pohoda okoli Ljubljane. Tega dogodka sem se želela udeležiti že vsaj 7 let in nikoli nisem imela ob sebi človeka, ki bi si to prav tako želel storiti. Tudi letos ni bilo nič drugače ampak sem svojega fanta kar malo prisilila v to. Khm, hočem reči ZELO MOČNO sem ga prisilila, ker mu definitivno ni bilo do tega. Glede na to, da sem letos videla, da je  čisto vseeno, če greš sam, sem prepričana, da bom naslednje leto spet šla, v družbi ali sama. Zakaj sploh gre? Slovenci verjetno poznate ta dogodek, tujci pa verjetno ne: ''Pohod po Poti ob žici je bil prvič organiziran leta 1957. Pohod poteka po skoraj 35 km dolgi poti okoli Ljubljane, kjer je med 2. svetovno vojno stala žičnata ograja italijanskih in kasneje nemških okupatorjev in je zato dobila ime Pot ob žici. Poleg spomina na osvoboditev Ljubljane (9. maj 1945) je prireditev že s prvo izvedbo želela spodbujati gibanje in zdrav način življenja, kar je njen glavni cilj tudi danes. Predvsem v zadnjem desetletju se število rekreativcev in rekreativk, ki se odločijo bodisi za pohod ali tek trojk, vsako leto povečuje.'' Vstala sem že okoli 5:15, ker sem želela, da startava ob 6:00 (start je odprt od 6:00 do 8:00). Startala sva ob 6:20. Priznam, da me je skrbelo, če bova sploh sposobna prehoditi tako razdaljo, ker je še nikoli nisva in tako ne moreš vedeti, koliko si sposoben. Na začetku je malo rosilo ampak dež je kmalu popolnoma izginil. Všeč mi je bilo, ker je bilo veliko ljudi in si ves čas vedel kam moraš iti, nikakor se nisi mogel izgubiti, ker si preprosto sledil množici ljudi. Presenetilo me je tudi to, da sem 1. v življenju videla dve otroški stojnici z limonado, kavo in mafini. To je v Ameriki zelo pogosto, v Sloveniji pa niti ne. Hodila sva 6 ur in 41 minut in na koncu sva bila čisto trda. Zdi se mi, da se da čisto brez problema prehodit 35 km, si pa iskreno ne predstavljam, kako bi prehodila še kakšen km več. Vsem priporočam, da se udeležijo tega pohoda ali kakšnega drugega daljšega pohoda v svojem kraju. Letos je bila 70 obletnica konca 2. Svetovne vojne in med hojo sem veliko premišljevala o tem kaj so ljudje doživljali med katerokoli vojno, kako smo lahko hvaležni za vse, kar so naredili, kako grozno je, da je toliko ljudi izgubilo svoje življenje na tako krut in nepotreben način in o tem, da ljudje še vedno izgubljajo svoja življenja zaradi nesmislov. Iskreno, vsaj 7x sem imela solzne oči. Taka sem, veliko premišljujem, se vživljam v situacije drugih ljudi, čutim empatijo, sočustvujem in stalno cenim vse kar imam, ker imam take zgodbe nenehno v svojih mislih. Kako hvaležna sem lahko, da imam svobodo. Že samo to dejstvo me šokira. Imam svobodo, koliko je takih, ki je nimajo, v kakršnemkoli smislu. Pomislite, kaj vse imate in vam je nekaj samoumevnega, nekdo drug pa bi dal vse za to, da bi imel to pa nima. Z ljubeznijo, Neja