02 October 2021 | The cutie method of manifestation is proving to be a powerful tool at my expense. After a month in Tartu, I managed to crack my first Euro-travel, a feat I deeply looked forward to, via a semi-spontaneous trip to Estonia's northern neighbor known as the happiest country on earth – Finland!
Running like a headless chicken, academic-wise, in the last couple of days, I really ran out of reasons to procrastinate. And I took it as a sign when a fellow Erasmus student pitched his plans of running half a marathon. It's essentially hitting two birds with one stone – a huge motivation to run again (after a 2-month hiatus) on one hand and a grand opportunity to travel on the other. And so in spite of the lack of a proper pair of running shoes at that moment, in the midst of academic responsibilities, and a mere 6-day window to prepare, I signed up for the 2021 Helsinki City Run.
I had a rough time coming to terms with this trap I let myself fall into, as very well expected. On day 1 of my training, I ran a meager 10k to dust off the rust giving me a clear preview of my underlying deathly fate. Pushing harder, I went for a 20-km trek on the Elva hiking trail as a recovery activity the next day. On days 3 & 4, the previous day’s premature move took its toll on me when my legs could already feel the inevitable hurt I pretended to not feel the previous day. This prompted me to take it easy gearing up for a bridging 13km run on day 5. I was supposed to run another 17km the next day but lacked the time to do so. Fast-forward to the race day and circumstances looked bleaker to my disadvantage. Oh man, your boy had to do a half-marathon half-prepared. It felt like taking an exam heavily relying on stock knowledge, except that the lungs, unfortunately, don't work that way. Nevertheless, it went smooth during the first hour, unexpectedly. But during the latter half of the run, the gods showed no mercy, punishing me for signing-up unprepared, mostly characterized by unspeakable pain in my upper thigh. Fueled by the desire to get things done on a positive note to the very least, I pressed forward to at least clinch the finisher medal consolation 🏆 .
It was an F worth of performance judging by the stats afterward. But then again, I had to remind myself of who I am racing against, which was myself. And that there's really not a fault in running my personal races, at my own pace, for my own convenience.
