God willing, I will be running the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, 29 Sept 2024. This will be the first time that I attempt a full marathon. I have run a handful of half marathons but it’s a big jump for 21.1km to 42.2km. I think the challenge will be more with the training ahead of the event rather than the race itself. In a pleasant coincidence, it will be the 50th edition of this prestigious race, which is part of the World Marathon Majors. Because the demand is so high to get a spot to race, I wasn’t able to get an entry through the public ballot. However, I did manage to secure a charity spot and I will be fundraising for Save the Children.
Choosing a charity to fund-raise for is an interesting process. This will be the second time I fund-raise for a race. Last year, I participated in the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London while raising funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians. The race took place on 8 Oct 2023. While I had planned this fundraiser for months before, I could not have known the events of 7 Oct 2023, which have subsequently resulted in the plausible genocide of Palestinians by the state of Israel. I was hoping to find a similar opportunity for the Berlin Marathon, however there did not seem to be any charities with a focus on Palestine. That being said, Save the Children does have a Gaza Appeal so I felt comfortable in my ability to do the fundraising work, between that appeal and the need to help children globally. More than 11,500 children have died in Gaza due to the attacks from Israel.
That this race is held in Germany, with its recent discrimination towards the Palestinian cause, will make the event even more special. I hope and pray that a ceasefire comes into effect soon.
I have many ambitious goals for 2024 though one of the biggest focuses will be the marathon. I admire and respect the discipline and effort required to run such a race and I hope that I can carry those two things into other parts of my life. I’m also trying to read and write more this year. So far I’m off to a good start, having finished 3 books already, while having a running themed audiobook also in progress. I’ll save the details for another post, which will also hopefully give me more to write about. But back to running for now…
My entry to the Berlin Marathon comes after 2023 was my “best” year for running. I ran the most numbers of kilometres I have in a year ever (granted I only really started running seriously in 2021). I also set a new personal best for the half marathon at the Valencia Half in October. In my excitement, January 2024 also became my highest volume month since I started running. I know that I have to balance my excitement and manage how I increase my total running so that I remain injury free, god willing.
It’s not far-fetched to say that I’ve developed an obsession with running at this point. I’m hoping it can be a healthy obsession and that it doesn’t veer off into something harmful. I think from an “outside” perspective, running is a very odd activity and an even weirder hobby. Rarely does anyone ever enjoy running in gym class and it’s really more of an “acquired taste.” However, when you do acquire it, you are rewarded with a very fulfilling activity that benefits your physical health, your mental health, and dare I say, your spiritual health. That might be something else for me to write about at some point.
Whether you enjoying doing activities on your own or in a group, or whether you want to be casual or competitive, there’s a way for you to do so while running. In addition, it has the benefit of intersecting with a few of my other hobbies, namely music and fashion. While some people run without listening to anything, I often listen to some media while running. I particularly look forward to choosing some music for my weekend long runs. These are usually somewhere between 80-120 minutes, so it’s a good opportunity to listen to an entire album or two, or set up a nice long playlist. Spotify does a good job of creating running mixes for my shorter weekday runs, where I usually don’t want to think too much about my choices.
Without knowing too much of how things have been historically, it seems like the COVID pandemic spurred growth in the general public’s interest in running. As such, it feels as though there’s a sort of running boom. Then again, this might just be confirmation bias on my part. But it’s also lead to a number of boutique running brands, ranging from the super technical to the more luxurious to the very utilitarian and everything in between. And I’m not just talking about running shoes, which are a realm unto their own, but also all manner of shorts, tops, caps, scarfs, watches and various accessories. In this regard, I’ve taken to hear the term “look good, feel good.” There’s something particularly pleasing to a certain running aesthetic. Perhaps more about that in another post as well.
Hopefully this is the first of many posts this year. Do subscribe if you want to keep up with my updates. Many of them will probably references running, but it’s also become a good vehicle to discuss other interests of mine. Let me know what you think!
Bonus: here’s a TikTok of my run today. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM63TMTRW/