Expedition notes 3: Insights while running 400km
Some notes stayed untyped after the expedition was over, though scribbled on papers. Yet, they are still notes from this venture and, as such, are part of the previous series of notes.
While preparing for this expedition, I tried to decrease unexpected circumstances as much as possible. But somehow, I mainly focused on the external circumstances and ignored the internal ones. And after the seventh day of running, my body and mind reminded me that I pushed them too hard and needed time to rest. So I decided to take a break from running for two days and consequently sacrifice two stages. It turned out that that time was not just for resting but also for the adaptation. I inferred it when I continued running. In the following days, after each running stage, recovery not only came much quicker each day, but all other elements were readier for upcoming challenges.
The first seven days of the expedition seemed like a training session for the upcoming stages. And during this period, the whole complex system of body and mind was rearranging their inter- and intra- connections, getting fitter, and adapting to tackling new situations. However, like with any training session, fatigue was inevitable. Though initially, I wanted to quit the whole expedition, I decided to rest and go by bus to the second checkpoint after a brief consultation with my support. After deciding and starting a rest, I turned off the thinking process and let it go. I knew that the human organism is a complex system that takes care of itself and is intelligent enough to provide its survival. All we need to do is listen to its messages when it alarms us to stop and let it do its purpose, or better to say, to lean on its survival job.
On another occasion, on the following days, I had to run for approximately 4 to 5 hours. But the weather forecast was not promising. Thunderstorms would follow me for two hours up in the mountains. Well, out of precaution, I checked the bus schedule in the town, which was my checkpoint, not to get wet at another checkpoint. During my running session, I noticed heavy dark clouds approaching me. ‘This is not good,’ I thought. In a second, calculations went through my mind, and I realized the bus would pass me in 10 to 15 minutes. So I stopped it and went to the next checkpoint. But it wasn’t my resting day, nor was I tired, so I decided to make up the missing kilometers for that day and went running. It was a conscious decision to be consistent and responsible and not to succumb to the temptation of laziness or comfort.
Of course, not all days are the same, but it seems that some of them are training sessions, even if we didn’t plan it, and our complex system of mind and body treat it like that. But all the art is to recognize when our organism is in training and when it is not.
