I ran my dream 10k route.
The girl is back in Paris, this time with another excuse.
Every time I flew across the pond (or a chunk of land) to the old continent, I'd come up with an excuse to stop by Paris, even for just a day.
My first time in Paris was a brief encounter. A 16-year-old girl with a couple hours to spare with family before the flight departed. Nothing really stuck. Second time the charm, 6 weeks in Paris and an enchanting spell just kept me going back again and again and again.
Paris saw me young. Paris cradled my blossoming love. Paris softly mended the pieces of my broken heart.
On May 13, 2024, I ran my first 10k in Paris, in nearly 1 hour and 30 minutes — that's an 8 minute kilometer, a very slow pace. But just 6 weeks before that, I went for the first run ever in my life — and it lasted for merely 10 minutes.
Over spring break, I suddenly got an itch to run. This came even as a surprise to myself since I never have the brightest record with sports. Whenever I work out, cardio is the most dreadful part — in high school, one kilometer left me gasping for breath.
Yet, my best friend challenged me with a simple question, “But have you ever really tried?”. She was right — I had never truly given it a chance. So on March 29, 2024, I laced up my trainers and went out for my first run.
I’m not the kind of person who can “rawdog” a run. I dread the monotony of treadmills, even with music — the heartbeats and foot stomps are too much. I need natural stimulants — the caress of sunshine, the slap of wind against my cheeks; I need the world’s rhythm to fuel my steps. And when you run, it’s best when you run with a goal. Just set up a goal, and you can figure out the rest later. If the goal sounds a little scary, do it scared anyways.
It dawned on me that since I will be in Cannes this May (more on this in another piece), it’d be lovely to schedule a run in Paris! Yes, yes, yes! A 10k run in Paris! That would leave me a total of 6 weeks to train from scratch — but for god's sake, who cares? I'm running my dream route!
Miraculously, by the third run, I reached a 5k, and I got runner's itch (and high) all the time. I realized the hard thing is not running a 5k — it's running a 5k regularly. And so it went, every time I found a 2 hour block in my schedule, I laced up and headed to Farmington Canal Trail, running for half the distance goal and made a lap back. Every single time, it felt fantastic before the run, absolutely horrible during the run, and even more fantastic when I finished. I made a playlist consisting of songs around 140bpm to pace myself for around 7-minute kilometer (did not reach the goal :()
May 13, 2024
It was a swelteringly hot day in Paris and I barely slept on the 7-hour plane ride the night before. Screw it, I’m still gonna do it. This is what existence-maxing feels like.
Paris looked and felt the same. Alive, bustling, and indifferent. Not quite, it’s been waiting for me.
And I did it!
I can do it, you can do it! And remember, now that it's not hard to run a 10k, it's hard to run a 10k REGULARLY.
Stay tuned for my next creative excuse to be in Paris. But maybe, I should stop coming up with excuses to be in Paris, simply because there’s no need for one in the first place. Paris is just a place to be. Paris is always a good idea. À bientôt!
