I hold a strong appreciation for good ingredients and good food. As a little girl, I expressed this love of food by sampling sugary foods everywhere I went. My eyes would light up at the sight of sprinkle-ladden ice cream, cookies with that crisp, slightly crunchy and smooth icing, cakes with healthy amounts of coloured frosting and chocolate-covered anything. (I once mistook balsamic reduction on a pizza for chocolate sauce; it was the only time in my young life that I've eaten veggie pizza.) 

Sugar isn't a great way to fuel your body for exercise, and so you wouldn't have seen me on the track voluntarily. It wasn't until in the Third Grade (eleven years ago), when my school started having track and field days, that I felt the drive to not just run, but run fast. 

My running journey since then has been bumpy. During track and field days, I cherished cheering on my older sister as she ran in her races, and when it'd come my time to run I'd pull out my classic flat-out-sprint-then-rapidly-fade-and-just-barely-cross-the-finish-line-in-one-piece technique. My mummy and papa enrolled me in a running club later in elementary school. This practise in my more formative years programmed my body's cells to be comfortable and familiar with running. I'd stop running after I entered high school, and continued my on-and-off relationship with physical activity throughout. It was intimidating to think of picking athletics back up now as a university student; not only did it feel incompatible with my timetable as a student, but I also wondered if I was "too late". Just a year ago even, I wouldn't entertain the idea of running more than 4 kilometers.

A combination of people, changes and habits allowed me to run my first official half marathon today (!). 

I'd learned so much on my journey to training for today, but there were seven lessons that became set into perspective during and after my race. They are:

1. The best ideas aren't fully thought through to the point of doubt.

"Thinking" lies on a spectrum. I'd argue there is a big space separating "poor planning" (more on the left end of this spectrum) and "not overthinking" (more to the right end). If you think through something to the point of doubt, the doubt can now win. Wheraas if you start a project out of curiosity - where you care about your effort and not about what may go wrong - you avoid doubting the project before it even starts. This doesn't require spontaneity or  poor planning, but a limit on the amount of time that a crazy idea spends accumulating doubts in your brain. 

How I envision The Thinking Spectrum looks

2. Surrounding yourself with the people you want to be more like is the best place to be

I recorded a voice memo 6 minutes before my race when the nerves started to settle, and what came out of my mouth was "... I will do my absolute best surrounded by the people I want to become more like". The community of runners I met on the course and after finishing was so inspiring and instructive, and I doubt I'd have ever met them if I hadn't signed up for this race. It felt like the best place to be today.

3. "Spaced-out revision" is applicable everywhere

My professors, running blogs, productivity content creators and self-improvement books all postulate "consistency" as an integral trait. I call this "spaced-out revision". When you study or do research or write, the aim is to keep seeing and refining your work. When you train for a sport, you work to have muscles acclimatize themselves to the fact that they will be pushed. When you invest in learning more about someone or something, you need to see that thing often and in different environments. These all require revisiting and refining.

4. If it doesn't go perfect, that's okay. That doesn't mean it can't still go well.

My race was a technical trail race, which meant we ran through beautiful trails in the backdrop of waterfalls and stunning fall colours. But it also made it challenging to ensure we remained on the actual race course, as there weren't indicators aside from orange ribbons and trail blazes. I got off course three times in the race, and could have finished faster had I not gotten off track. I felt frustrated, but tried to focus on the remainder of the course instead of labouring on the imperfection of the race. 

5. Every so often, you should "stop and reassess".

After the third time I'd gotten off course, I realized that I needed to keep my gaze up - even when the rocks were uneven and the hill was brutal - or else I risked getting off course again. This is a metaphor that extends to our lives; even when we are going through tough weeks, we should continue to check in on ourselves. 

6. You can't do it entirely alone.

There's no way I'd have been able to endure this race without my family. From my mummy ensuring I had enough carbs the day before my race to my papa's pre-race advice to my sister's amazing taste in running music, I crossed that finish line because they believed and invested in me.

7. Sometimes it's good to lie to yourself

 The last three kilometers were tough; while the race route was easier and no longer technical, I was just tired. I had been tracking my distance with my fitness tracker, but having gotten off course three times I knew I couldn't trust what it had measured. So for the last bit of the race, I kept repeating in my head "You're almost there, babe!" (lending from Chappell Roan's earworm). It made me think that every next turn would take me to the finish line, even though it wasn't true.

Running is a privilege, and you need more than strength (paying the registration cost, running gear) to register in and run these long races. Yet, the lessons it has taught me are reinforced in other areas of our lives. It's a reminder that every experience we have can be a learning experience; no matter how outlandish or disconnected it may seem from our current areas of expertise, life has given us the foundation to try our hand at them all. 

Hopefully the first of many post race pictures. I was pleasantly surprised to have come third, but finishing the race is what mattered more!