Tuusulanjärven Maraton

„How can I inspire others, when I fail?” – I thought to myself at the 25. km of the Tuusulanjärven Marathon, Saturday 23.05.2015. It was my 7^th marathon and the 3^rd time I was taking part in that event. 

Vege runners: Agata & Remi
Tuusulanjärven Maraton 2015

The marathon course goes two times around the lake Tuusula. There’s almost always windy and always hot, when the weather is sunny. This time the wind was really awful on the West side of the lake: around 11-19km and 31-40km of the marathon. What’s more, the West side is more difficult because of the hills. My run felt pretty good on the first round. I felt strong, comfortable and calm, keeping the pace around 5:20 at the first 11km. I knew that the other side of the lake might be more difficult, but I didn’t expect the wind to be that strong. Quite fast I realised that keeping my pace in that wind would be suicide, so I dropped it to 5:45 and hoped that I can work on it again on the East side, which was more still. But after the first round, with over 21km behind, I was exhausted and disappointed…

In tears at the finish line

My pace dropped dramatically. From the plan A, which was to run the marathon in time close to 3:50, I was forced to start the plan B: to get to the finish line without hurting myself too much before the ultramarathon, which’s coming in 2 weeks. Fighting with the wind took all the energy and I had nothing left for the second lap around the lake. I thought about quitting so many times: “maybe it’s a good decision to quit now and to consider this marathon a faster training before the ultra”, “is there any sense in collecting marathons and running all of them with such a miserable result”, “what will others say about my slow pace this season?”…  My head gave up and my body immediately followed. I was in terrible pain, my thoughts were down and I felt absolutely no joy of running. I was so exhausted that for the first time since my first marathon I had to walk on the hills. I tried to focus on crossing the finish line and relaxing at home on the evening party with my man.

The last kilometres went quite fast. It felt so good to cross the route marks: 35, 36, 37 (only 5km left!), 38… I got ahead of so many runners! I’ve never seen so many marathon runners walking at the end – looks like I wasn’t the only one, who took a beating from the wind. I crossed the finish line after 4 hours and 21 minutes (last year my time was 3:55!). I started crying like a baby, because of disappointment and self-pity. My man took care of me immediately. He run the marathon in 3:28 – it took him 18 minutes more than last year. I pull myself together in a few minutes; after all it felt so good to rest on the green grass in the sunshine, having run 42km for the seventh time.

Never underestimate your achievements!
You knewer know, who you inspire...

In the evening I was analysing my silly behaviour and sad thoughts on the finish line: why the hell I felt so disappointed of my achievement? Thousands of people in the world do sports. Only very little percentage of them do it for money and break the world records. So there must be some other reason behind it than achieving a good time and breaking the personal bests! Otherwise sport would be a very narrow activity only for the champions. Suddenly I realised that today’s experience was very precious for me. What if I run all of my competitions close to my personal best or a little better every single time? Today I had to face a really big crisis, dark thoughts of self-doubt, muscle pain and total exhaustion. What’s more I had to learn how to keep going in pain and how to deal with worse results than usually. All of these experiences were another barriers I had to go though. I had to experience all of that in order to learn to feel respect and happiness about my life and my achievements; to feel happiness of doing what I love, no matter what “result” I achieve, as the result is something different than time and the numbers. Having realised that I feel grateful for this experience, for the pain and exhaustion. Marathon is not always fun and sometimes it turns out very different than we think. It always teaches us something precious about ourselves. I embrace it and feel thankful, taking what it brings.

Tuusulanjäven Maraton medal series

Chasing my dreams...

I remember my first run: spring 2012, an old Black Metal cotton t-shirt and a few kilos too much. After 20 minutes and 2-3km I felt like choking in agony. I tried it maybe 3 more times, but it was so damn tough that staying at gym still felt more comfortable back then. Buying new running clothes (because my husband did it and I couldn't be worse!) made me enter the running paths again in late summer and this time it was for good. So it wasn't love from the first sight, me and running... Next year I was already a proud marathon runner, training to her first mountain ultra...

My first running competition: halfmarathon in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
It was in March 2013. At 15.km I was almost blind of exhaustion!

Back then I was a really unhappy person. I didn't show it to anybody, even to myself. I just felt like my life's not funny at all and actually I hated everything about myself. I came to the point that when facing obstacles and disagreements with other people, I blamed myself in the depth of my heart for everything, shouting at my surroundings with aggression and frustration at the same time. I didn't listen to anybody and didn't let myself to make deep, authentic bounds with others, nor with my true self. That was sad and destructive, for me and the people around me.

I didn't want to live that way, or rather I didn't want to live at all, because I wasn't aware that there were other options to choose. But somehow I knew that life must be something more than just pathetic complaining and delving into the past, so I decided to do some inner research. 

I begun with daily meditation and the first deeper expanded states of mind came in. With meditation came also discipline and focus on work and solving the problems. I didn't know, where I go, but I felt it's the right direction. Shortly after that I started running: just put the boots on and went outside in that funny cotton t-shirt. The most simple thing on earth. Because our bodies are made for moving and our souls for creating ideas. I found peace in movment, joy in pain of crossing the inner boundaries, fascination in altered states of mind and being outside my so called "comfort zone". I discovered happiness in dreaming big...

The finish line of Sudetian Mountains Ultramarathon.
I just run 100km. Was it the first time,
when I felt love and respect for myself and my achievements?

"I am an ultra runner!" - I thought to myself after I'd run my first halfmarathon, halfalive, in 2:24. I just knew it. Yes, there were moments of doubt (and still there are sometimes!), but I was training like crazy and loving it like a maniac. Running made me grow spiritually. Spiritual growth took my physical activity to the top. Step by step, the inner problems, depression and suicidal thoughts disappeared. Step by step the fatty, intoxicated, full of insecurities chick turn into fit, healthy endurance runner. Focusing on the things that I love and I'm fascinated about was so absorbing that I just didn't have time for those silly suicide-low-self-esteem ideas anymore. My route was well marked, but I didn't know where it takes me. I just kept going and enjoyed every move, even if it felt tough, or I was in doubt. And the journey continues...

Working hard ang loving it!

I achieved everything that I dreamt about, when I took a decision to change my life, because I couldn't stand it anymore. Is it the right time to set new goals? Maybe it's not good to tell one's wishes loud, because it's said that they don't come true then. But I don't talk about wishes, I talk about plans for the future. I dream about showing people inspiring things: the joy of free moving in beautiful nature of Polish mountains and Finnish forests, the importance of spiritual and physical health and how both are connected to each other. I dream about being close to creative, adventurous and hard-working people, with whom we could make amazing things together in sport and travels. I dream about making a living by doing my passion every single day, because once I found it, I want to keep it close! I believe in success, because one cannot go wrong with love.

Before the ultramarathon of Dangers: Vaarojen Marathon 86K
Koli, Finland in October 2014.
Photo by Krzysztof Nigot & Dotfilms.pl

Kaukjärven Kierros 28K in Tammela, Finland

Tammela is a little village around 120km North-West from Helsinki. For the second time I had a pleasure to participate there in Kaukjärven Kierros, 14 and 28km running competition. Every year on the first Sunday of May the event is held in the charming surroundings of the lake Kaukjärvi. The course is a 14km lap around the lake and 28km is double the distance.

Tammela sport centre this morning

As always, I chose a longer distance. I wanted to make it a hard training before the Tuusulanjärven Marathon, which I’m running in 3 weeks. I had a goal to keep the hard pace as long as I could stand it in my head and in my legs. Did I succeed? Yes, a sort of! Last year I had a better time though, which gave me the third place in the race. This time I was fourth, but still extremely proud of myself. I push my running abilities to the very limits and it didn’t break my spirit at all. After the first lap, at the 14km, I was so tired already, that I could hardly imagine how could I make it to the end now. But somehow I survived! It was hard as hell though and my average heart rate was 186! All in all, I stayed focused  and didn't give up, cheering myself up by thoughts about my 7 year old daughter, who never gives up riding her little bike almost every day and my brave Mom, who at the age of 55 run almost 90km in Polish mountains this weekend - amazing!

Vege Athlete Agata ready for the race

The course itself wasn’t easy either. Major part of it goes along sand and stone routes, there are also some kilometres of forest trails, not to forget about lots of bigger and smaller hills. The views are very nice: Finnish countryside pictures, forest paths, the Kaukjärvi lake. But what I love the most is the very atmosphere of the event! 

The final uphill on the 14km course

It’s quite a small competition and very nicely organised: there are changing room and shower facilities for the runners in the Tammela’s sport centre with a little café opened during the event, 2 drink stations with water and sport drinks along the 14km route with the extra one at the finish line, very supporting organizational team, cheering up the runners all the time, as a souvenir runners get a little statuette and all ladies receive a beautiful rose at the finish line. So sweet, isn’t it? I just want to return there every year and I also recommend you visiting this charming place too! So see you in 2016, Tammela! Next year I’m gonna rock the distance again with even better result!

Thank you, Tammela! See you next year!

About me!

One of my favourite teachers, Alejandro Jodorowsky, says that it’s impossible to define yourself, while you’re still alive, only dead people can be defined. How can you put a galaxy of endless possibilities into words? I started this blog as a Vege Athlete, but it may be difficult to put into such frames everything that I’m going to share, as long as I want to do it in a honest and authentic way. It’s a pretty good starting point though, as this name contains two things that are really close to my heart: plants and sport.

"Vege" for Vegetal. Plants are medicines.

Fruit medicine, never enough!

I truly believe that everyone of us should find a unique diet for themselves. It’s extremely important, as we become, what we nourish our souls and bodies with. What’s more, everybody's different, so what's good for me, is not necessarily good for others. However I believe, that plants have everything that human body and soul need, if one’s open and ready enough to take what they offer. When I decided a year ago that I don’t want to eat meat anymore, I wasn’t sure if it’s for good. Before that I had some periods of vegetarian diet (even to 6 months), but somehow I started eating meat again. This time the calling of plants was too intensive though. I started working with vegetarian and vegan food, I learnt what to do with different fruits, vegetables, cereals and spices, I spent more and more time in nature, running on trails, studying also the shamanic medicine plants, surrounding myself with different kinds of them all the time. I realised that plants are powerful medicines for human body and soul and I was the one, who desperately needed a cure...

"Athletes" for Sports. Working with body through run.

Looks like somebody has stolen my kilos :)

My romance with sports started about 6 years ago, in 2009. After pregnancy I was 85kg, with 162cm height. In deep depression, with auto destructive behaviours, blinded by really nasty, bad habits, I hated myself and my body. With help of some unhealthy diets I reduced my weight to 70kg quite fast. Then I started going to the gym and learning more and more about health, food and well-being. I discovered running in autumn 2012 and in short time I completely fell in love with it. 

Straight from the very beginning I knew my goal: marathons and ultras. After a year since my first 15-minute jogging, I run a full marathon in October 2013 and a couple of months later, in June 2014, my first 100km mountain ultra.

Tuusulanjärven Maraton - Finish, April 2014

Meanwhile my weight was still dropping and my figure was changing, but it wasn’t that important for me anymore. The most important thing is that I found a deep connection with my body, stopped treating it as something separated from me, but started seeing it as a wonderful, integral part of my true self. I learnt to consider it a spiritual manifestation in a physical unique form of mine and to treat it with love and respect, for the first time in my life. Running is my beloved discipline, as it involves me in a total way: spiritually and physically. I even replaced meditation, that I had practiced for 2 years, with running, when I discovered how purifying it works for my soul. It’s a beautiful way to make body and soul resonate as one, with every single breath.

Besides that, I’m a 30 year old mom and wife. I came from Poland to Finland about 8 years ago. I speak Finnish fluently, but I want to run this blog in English, so that all of my old, new and future friends can understand. I work as a cook in a kindergarten, but I’m almost done with my Master Degree in Tourism and recreation (specialisation in Sports management) and soon I’ll desperately need a new job :) I love nature, arts, tattoos, music and my freaky life is throughout spiritual in the strangest, most fascinating ways. 

For runners: my PB in 10K is 50:35, half marathon 1:48, marathon 3:55, longest ultra 100km in 16hours :)

15K race in Poland, February 2014

Drink Life: benefits of juicing

A couple of years ago we spent lots of money on fitness supplements such as BCAA, fat burners, protein and recovery powders, pre-workout stuff, vitamin and omega-3 pills etc. Hundreds of euros every few months! Enough to say, that was really stupid… Actually, I have nothing to defend myself, but the lack of knowledge and a shallow desire to achieve fast results. Useless, harmful and expensive… Be wiser, don’t do it, please!

Fortunately, with vegetarian diet there appeared a need to increase our veggie and fruit intake. Plants take a really big part of vegetarian and vegan food pyramid. For example, veggies are quite low in calories, so you have to eat really LOTS of them to cover the daily calorie intake not only with peanut butter, honey, cereals and chocolate. How much lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and spinach can you actually eat during a day? Well, that was a challenge back then, but not anymore.

Source: http://oldwayspt.org/

After some research, we decided to say goodbye to above mentioned supplements and invest our euros into a classy whole cold press juicer. I must say that it was one of the best nutritional decisions of the year. We just fell in love with delicious veggie and fruit juices and so did our bodies.

Why drinking fresh juices is so beneficial to our health?

• It’s a good way to get fruits and vegetables in, as it takes many servings of fruits and vegetables to produce a single serving of juice. Problem in eating half a red cabbage for dinner? Not anymore, it’s only a glass of juice. You can do it! However, unlike whole fruits and vegetables, juice has less fibre, so during a day it’s good to have part of fruits and vegetables also in a form that you have to chew.
• Nutrients are quickly and easily absorbed from juice. It's the easiest way for our bodies to get them and it happens really quickly. However, it’s good to remember that also sugars are easily absorbed and that juices are full of calories.
• It’s easy to add a wider variety of fruits and vegetables in our diet. How many boring salads can you actually eat during a day? Juices are a good alternative to lettuce, cucumber and tomato with some dressing on. It’s also a good way to clean up your fridge: don’t know what to do with those mandarins, parsley and lime? Juice, drink and forget. Your body says "thank you!". As simple as that.
• It’s so tasty! Nothing tastes better than a banana accompanied by fresh fruit juice after a long run. Also, I was so surprised how good can be fresh vegetables in a juice form, especially mixed with some lemon for even better taste.

Whole cold press juicer is a quite expensive machine. It was like a 500€ investment in our health (of course, you can find cheaper versions on the market), but absolutely worth it. Besides that, I’m sure that we used to spend even more money on those expensive fitness supplements, which gave nothing to our well-being.  

Vege Athletes on tour: Marathon de Paris 2015

Our goal was 39 edition of the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon. It was 7th marathon for Remi and 6th one for me, but actually it was the first time for us both we’d participated in such a big running event. Marathon de Paris is the biggest one in Europe. Also, a new participation record was established this year: 41342 runners including 18000 international competitors represented 150 nations. 25% of the runners were women.

Vege Athletes Agata&Remi meeting Scott Jurek

Our trip begun on Friday evening. We stayed at my friend’s place in Versailles. Next day we went to Paris to visit Salon du Running, where we had to collect the bibs. The Expo was quite chaotic: we had to wait in so many queues! First to enter the venue, then to present the medical certificates, then to collect the bib. Besides that there was something wrong with Remi’s bib, so he had to queue to the information desk in order to solve the problem and get a new bib. But it wasn’t the end of queuing! We had to wait for the pasta party tickets, then for the food, to the toilets… I must say that organisation of the expo was quite annoying and the food at pasta party was really disappointing. Also, the prices of running stuff were ridiculously expensive. 

Fortunately, there was a highlight of the expo: we met Scott Jurek at the Brooks stand! He’s such an inspirational vegan ultra runner, an author of a book “Eat and run”, which is in my opinion one of the best books about running ever. Meeting him was a real pleasure and made visiting Salon du Running really worth it! 

We spent rest of the day on walking in the centre of Paris and dining in cafés and restaurants.

Sunday, 12.04.2015. We woke up early in the morning to have a good breakfast and a calm travel from Versailles to Paris. The city was already full of runners walking towards Champs Elysees and Arc de triomphe. There were over 40000 runners, many with their support crews, friends and families, but contrary to yesterday’s Salon du Running, everything was perfectly organised: bag deposits, toilets, information, start areas. There were several start groups, depending on target time. 

Start of the 39 Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris

Remi started at 8:47 and me at 9:00. I was high and excited by the atmosphere of the marathon! So many people in one place, driven by one passion, running full of history streets of Paris, cheered up by hundreds of people excited by this great event. It was really incredible to see so many marathon runners gathered in one place, because of their love to this sport. All of us different, but driven by the same passion...

My goal was to keep 5:25min/km pace, but as usually having fun was even more important. Surprisingly, the route was not that flat as I had expected.  Around the km 25 we run through a 1km long tunnel, where the air felt really heavy and at the end of which there was a bad uphill.  I realised then that keeping the pace would cost me too much, so I decided to drop my speed and run the last 17km in the comfort zone, enjoying myself and breathing in the atmosphere. Still, I think that it was a good decision.

There were drink and food stations every 5km. Before the race I was afraid that they could be crowded, but they turned out very long and well organised: water was served in small bottles, which were so comfortable to take with; there were also bananas, juicy oranges and dried fruits. Also, every few kilometres there were sponge and shower stations. Weather was quite hot that day: sunny and around 23 degrees, so it was really nice to feel drops of cold water on my back from time to time.
Support of the audience was amazing: we passed by so many bands, musicians, drummers, dancers and other people cheering up the runners along the course. They made the marathon a true celebration and I really felt like doing something amazing and kept smiling despite the fatigue.

And the route itself! I’m sure everybody would love to run along Champs Elysees and Seine River, passing by beautiful squares and parks, museums and the famous Eiffel Tower! Even if I'm rather a trail runner, who enjoys calmness of Nature, being a part of the Marathon de Paris was one of a kind experience.

I reached the finish line in the time 4:11. Remi’s result was 3:14 and he was waiting for me, having a massage and eating oranges and bananas in the refreshing zone. We received the Finisher’s t-shirts and medals and walked slowly to the train station to get back to Versailles. After the shower, short rest and a couple of delicious French cakes, we spent rest of the day walking in the gardens of Versailles with our friends, dining and relaxing in beautiful weather.

Next day we had to wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to get to the airport. We had some sleep during the flight to Finland, but I had to go to work straight from the airport. I was at home at 19:15 in the evening, after a 9km bike ride, so exhausted, but high on great memories. What a wonderful trip it was! We're going to continue collecting the Europe's biggest marathons for sure.