On 10 April student Christian Meckelburg will run his first-ever marathon, while lecturer Iris will run her first-ever quarter marathon race. Every week, either Christian or Iris will update us on their training for their respective races. “So far, every part of my left leg and right leg has protested.”
“The Erasmus Charity Run will be my first official race, since so far I’ve only trained to be somewhat fit and to be able to run away fast, should anything bad ever happen. Over the next few months, I will keep you, EM readers, posted on my preparations for this milestone, on the fun moments and the less fun moments, and on the inevitable blood, sweat and tears.”
Erasmus Education Fund
“Participating in the Erasmus Charity Run means that I will run a quarter marathon in order to raise funds for the Erasmus Education Fund. I myself was fortunate enough to be able to study whatever I wanted, and I’d like to help others do the same. First I’ll tell you a little bit about myself, though. My day-to-day business is lecturing students taking the International Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media (IBCoM), and in my spare time I like to read Scandinavian thrillers and watch Netflix shows.
In addition, I’ve been a fairly keen runner for as long as I can remember. I’m quite capable of running a ten-kilometre stretch. My personal, athletic objective for the Charity Run is to complete the race as quickly as possible, preferably in under 50 minutes. This means taking more than five minutes off my current personal best. In addition, I wish to raise as many funds as possible, and I will call many relatives, acquaintances and even former secondary school teachers over the next few weeks to ask them to sponsor me.”
Forced training
“The last few weeks have not been easy. So far, pretty much every part of my left leg and right leg has protested against my increasingly intensive training regimen. Even so, I hope to attain my ultimate objective through sheer merciless discipline. For added support, I have joined the weekly training sessions for students and members of staff who will be participating in the Charity Run. This forces me to do things I don’t like, such as taking breaks and doing interval training and walking exercises, but which I know deep down are good for me. I’ve also realised that I will have to sleep a few hours more and reject the odd drink every once in a while, so as to be able to run a lightning fast race in the long term.
Now that the nights are getting shorter and it’s slowly getting less cold, I hope to be able to get rid of my last remaining issues through additional training and much stretching, and so be able to take a few minutes off my time. I’ll keep you posted!”
