02 October 2021 | Helsin-cutie
The cutie method of manifestation is proving to be a powerful tool, at least for my taking. After a month in Tartu, I managed to crack my first out-of-the-country through a semi-spontaneous trip to Estonia’s immediate northern neighbor tagged as the happiest country on earth, Finland.
When a fellow Erasmus student pitched this idea of joining a half marathon, I ran out of good reasons not to give this a go because my heart specifically beats for this. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone – a huge motivation to run again on one hand, and a grand opportunity to travel, on the other. So, even with the lack of a proper pair of Running shoes and a mere 6-day window of preparation, I signed up for the 2021 Helsinki City Run. Expectedly, I had a rough time coming to terms with this trap I let myself fall into.
On Day 1 of training, I ran a meager 10k to break the ice and rust off, a preview of my underlying deathly fate. With no other choice but to push harder, I went on a 20-km trek in Elva as a recovery activity the next day. On Days 3 & 4, the previous day’s immature move took its toll on me. At this point, my legs could already feel the inevitable hurt I claimed to not feel the previous day, which prompted me to take it easy before gearing up for a bridging 13km run. I was supposed to run another 17km on Day 5 (2 days before the big day) but lacked the time to do so due to schedule conflict because again, I am a student above anything.
Finally, the day came. I had to run 21 fucking kilometers half-prepared. It felt like taking an exam and heavily relying on stock knowledge, except that the body doesn’t work that way. I did well on the first hour which was something I was able to at least partly prepared for, but the latter half of the run was disastrous is so many levels. I had to walk for the most part especially towards the tail end which was terribly shameful realizing that I was carrying the Philippine flag to some extent. Forgive me, kabayans.
Eventually, I managed to finish the run with a finisher medal despite my ugly pace. It was definitely an F performance merely looking at the stat sheet and ranking list afterwards. But then again, who am I racing against, in the first place?
