First things first: IstRUNbul

Sometimes sticking to your plan pays off even better than expected... 

I arrived in Istanbul Friday evening, and already Saturday morning I was running with Team IstRUNbul. It does not sound so overwhelming at first, and it was exactly as I had planned and was looking forward to before leaving. But I had perhaps not taken into proper consideration that this is not just a week's stay; this is actually moving. Typically, you enter the apartment and immediately discover things that need to be fixed. Even if you plan to be in bed early (because of the early run the morning after), you end up taking care of a lot of things and being very late. And then you don't really get a good night's sleep because you're thinking of all the things that need to be done the day after, which you still haven't figured out how. So perhaps the most natural, and even sensible, thing would be to cancel the Saturday morning run, and rather wait for the next one (Tuesday morning).

But boy am I glad that I was out there yesterday; early bird really gets the worm! First of all, one less thing to think about. Getting quickly into a running routine and meeting the new group was a big issue for me, taking quite a bit of space in my mind, and now it's done. And it was great fun and very rewarding! Secondly, everything seems better and easier after a run, and I was full of energy for all the other things that needed to be taken care of yesterday. And finally, I get to keep the rhythm of running without falling out of it again. Once you think you should wait until you have taken care of all the practical things, the break can get longer than first intended.

The one member of the group whom I knew, could not run yesterday, so I was on my own. At first I was thinking that this was unfortunate, but now I think it was perhaps a blessing in disguise.  I immediately connected with a couple of  group members and ended up running and chatting with them all the way. I was pretty nervous when I went to the meeting point, though. What if nobody showed up? What if they were too fast for me? Fortunately, as it seems to be the case with all running groups, everybody was friendly and welcoming, and after the start the group naturally divided into different paces. The people I ended up running next to are extremely nice, and it turned out that with one of them we have very similar goals for this year.  She has already run a full marathon, and she is a bit more experienced than me, so I have a lot to learn from her. Luckily for me, our paces for various zones seem to be similar, and we are now planning to work together towards our goals.

This morning she and I went for a new run, a bit longer than yesterday, all by ourselves. The sun came out as soon as we started, and it hid behind the clouds as soon as we were done and sat down to have our coffee. As I was back at home, it started raining. Could we have been more lucky? I think this is promising very well. I am also a bit surprised by how well my body works. No pain, just wonderful running feeling which I had missed so much and have not been able to experience since March 2015. Could it be the temperature? Perhaps running in the cold makes things worse for injured body parts, and at more pleasant temperatures it is easier to keep the muscles warm and happy? I am not sure, but whatever it is, it is working, and I am very happy and optimistic.

Today I met even a few more group members, and an idea for Runatolia (half) marathon in Antalya in March came up... Sounds really fun, but I'm not sure.  It's not among the goals and the hopes of this year, but we'll see.

"Life is like a box of chocolate; you never know what you're gonna get." (Forrest Gump's mom)