The other day a friend of mine was asking me what was my greatest achievement in 2014. I got a little puzzled and had difficulties in giving him an answer. Before I was able to make up my mind on anything, I wanted to know, which criteria should be applied to defining the eventual achievement and in which category it should be (e.g. intellectual, social, spiritual, physical, financial, professional, …). This made my friend somewhat annoyed and he responded in an irritated way that I should not create a problem out of his straight forward question. I should simply give him an answer. Hmm …

After a moment of pensiveness it was clear to me what my biggest achievement in 2014 was. It was something I was genuinely proud of, something that was the key to all the other achievements during the year. However, I also strongly felt that this was not my biggest achievement in life as that was (hopefully) yet to come. Should we not always look to achieve more tomorrow than we did today and strive to improve ourselves all the time? Should we not try to be as self-motivated and determined as possible, and in case of failing, learn from our mistakes and do it better the next time? Should we not show the world how dedicated we are at hitting our targets and that we always do our best to achieve what we set our mind on? These are good qualities to find in oneself and in other people as well, I was thinking, when my friend started getting anxious to hear my answer.

“So, do you have an achievement or maybe not?”, my friend was inquiring.
“I do indeed!”, I gladly responded.
“What is it then?”
“All the kilometres I have been jogging this year!”
“What? I do not get it. Could you clarify it a little?”
“As you know, I have always liked jogging. This year while on a sabbatical leave I have been more flexible in terms of organizing my daily schedule between doctoral studies, professional activities and free time. This has given me the opportunity to make sure that I can go jogging on a much more regular basis.”
“Exactly how many kilometres have you been jogging? Some hundreds?”
“All in all, these kilometres could be expressed in a number of times I have run from Helsinki in the south to the most northern point of Finland (a distance of 1000 km) or in a number of marathon races.”
“I do not recall you having participated in any marathon races this year.”
“I have not either. Expressing it as a number of marathon races is only a matter of calculation.”
“Now I want to hear the figures!!!”
“Slightly more than 2100 kilometres … twice from Helsinki to Utsjoki in the north of Finland or some 50 marathon races.”
“Wow! Not bad! Quite impressive! Well done!”

All the kilometres run have contributed to my physical and mental well-being in 2014. The hours spent on jogging have been a tremendous opportunity to reflect on my life and they have boosted my performance in other areas of life as well. Moreover, running is a good way (as all runners know) to get rid of any tension, aggression, frustration and irritation you may be feeling in your mind, body and soul. It is refreshing and purifying, it is something I have to admit being addicted to ;-)!

P.S. The photo (25 Dec 2014) shows the Observatory park in Helsinki from where I usually start my regular jogging round along the seaside.