BOULDER, Colo. — Half a world away from home, Valentyna Veretska races for her country.
"We’ll try to do our best because we know our country looks at us and they are proud of us," Veretska said. "They support us and we try and do the same, support our country."
Monday’s BolderBoulder will see thousands of people running through the city for the annual 10-kilometer race. For this pair of Ukrainian women, just getting to the starting line has been a challenge.
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Veretska is a professional runner. When Russia invaded Ukraine, she fled to Poland while her family stayed behind. She still lives in Poland, traveling around the world for races and calling home to speak with her husband.
"If I call my husband, I’m speaking with him and hear bombs, bombs," Veretska said. "It’s really stressful."
On Monday, Veretska and her teammate Valentyna Poltavska will run in the BolderBoulder, dressed in their Ukrainian uniforms. They said they feel the support of the people who’ve welcomed them to Colorado.
"We’re here and we really feel this emotion," Veretska said. "Like people support us. We see how people unite for us. Europe, America, everyone unites for Ukraine."
>The video below ran during the 4 p.m. newscast on Monday, May 30.
There are no Ukrainian men running in the race. Only women. All the men Veretska runs with stayed behind to fight for their country in the war.
Exactly one month after Veretska fled Ukraine with her daughter, she raced in the Jerusalem marathon using a pair of shoes she borrowed. She won that race, by 16 minutes.
"The last three months I feel a lot of depression," Veretska said. "When I travel and meet people here, I take power and take energy. This energy, I take to Ukraine. When I speak to my mom and my sister, I just say, 'People really support us. Everybody says they wish Ukraine all the good.'"
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