Apr

400days became 400dates

micke-midlife on April 30th, 2009

400dates at least for one race. We didn’t change discipline here. Although, it would be an interesting area to try out, too, no doubts about that…

How did this happen? The Helsinki City Run, the biggest long distance running event here in Finland with about 10,500 runners registered, is a half marathon run that takes place on May 9th this year. After having had difficulties to keep the planned pace at the Rotterdam Marathon, I decided it would be good to put some focus on endurance at higher speeds and a half marathon race would well fit into the summer planning. So, I thought, the Helsinki City Run, in which anyway a lot of friends are participating would be a good fit. However, it was booked out 4 weeks prior to the event and my decision came too late.

Asking around at work if someone would not use his or her registration helped. A colleague came around and told me of an acquaintance of his, Anni, who wouldn’t be able to take part in the run. Contacted her and she would handle the change in the registration details, which I sent her by email. Well, she handled the change over the phone with the organizers of the Helsinki City Run and this way out of 400days became 400dates. One could ask how this could happen. Was the guy in the organizer team just thinking about his date? Was Anni thinking about her date when she was on the call? Was Anni hoping for a date?

Well, we don’t know and probably never will. But if not for anything else, at least this name just might generate more attention (let’s see of what kind). So, why don’t we leave it as it is for this time only.

In a brief conversation later on Anni suggested “nomen est omen” i.e. to just fulfill the promise of the new project name. Well, we’d need to figure out first what’s a promise and what’s a threat.