For some time last year, from July to October, they were reunited when Kotenko was in Lvov. They ran together on the weekends and trained together. It was a happy time. On December 31, their families got together to celebrate the New Year, and about a month later Kotenko came to Lviv to visit Yarovenko before being sent south for an operation. They stayed late, had a few drinks and talked. Russian troops were massed along Ukraine’s borders, awaiting orders to invade, but life in Lvov was normal, and that night the war seemed far away.