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HSE Student Runs New York Marathon
HSE Evidence-based Educational Policy master’s student Sergei Vinkov ran the New York Marathon in 1st November. In an interview with HSE News, he explains how to get into the most famous marathon on the planet, what the marathon and research have in common and the power of a big ambition.
Marathon — contest or event?
I think that marathons are more than sporting events. Although now you can win a third-class sportsman prize for finishing or hundred thousand dollar prizes, most people aren’t in it for the glory. I’m one of those who is competing, not so much with others as with myself. Nowadays marathons are a tourist attraction and draw big crowds and runners from abroad.
One way and another marathons are driven by motivation, and if you’ve decided to run the distance, a lot depends on that.
And in this it has the advantage of being different from defending a dissertation which depends a lot on other people and circumstances: experts, formal procedures and regulations in specific fields of study. In long distance running you can move more freely and independently from external constraints, there’s less interference from others. You have an aim and a plan to achieve it.
Why did I run?
It was the crisis which started me thinking about the marathon. At the training sessions I was going to, they kept talking about how running helps to change your outlook on life, to think about what has been happening to you. A lot of books on business and health recommend running. So I decided to start making a change and gave myself the long-term aim of running a marathon. Running had been a part of my life for a long time but there wasn’t any structure or focus to it. I set myself a target in February 2015 when I almost spontaneously bought a ticket to fly to New York selecting dates that would coincide with the marathon. After that I started to gather greedily all information on how to get into the marathon. Looking back now I realise that getting into the New York Marathon is even harder than running it.
How to be a participant
There are several ways to get into the New York Marathon. The first (by qualifying) - during the year you have to finish with the winners in one of the accredited marathons. The second (by charity) - find a charity (from the list published on the marathon website) which has a guaranteed quota of places in the marathon and, having made an agreement with them, start collecting donations for their proposed project. If you raise enough money, you get a place in the race. The third way is the most accessible but least reliable - take part in the lottery. And there’s one more - the most expensive - buy a tourist package.
Psychologically, after the marathon you realise that to fulfil any professional or personal aim in life, strategy means more than tactics
I started by registering to take part in the lottery on the official website but I didn’t win. As someone not living in the USA I had only two options to continue, either the tourist package or to join the marathon’s charity programme. I didn’t even bother investigating the tourist package because it was out of my price range but went for the fundraising. As I my research interests are in education innovation and digital inequality I chose Camp/Interactive — a non-commercial organisation which teaches the basics of programming to low-income families. I am absolutely convinced that through education we can resolve a lot of poor teenagers’ social problems and the computer industry is an ideal environment for them to socialise. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to fulfil my fundraising target but Camp/Interactive gave me the support to run in the race anyway for which I am truly grateful.
Problems: preparations, trip budget
A lot of runners write that during preparation they found it hard to stick to the training schedule. I also had a few little problems here. But I tried to give myself some intermediary targets - official races that helped me to keep on track. One of them was a half-marathon in Rome which I completed in two hours and one minute and another in Moscow - a full marathon which I ran in 4 hours and 14 minutes. These races were part of my general training plan for New York. Although I only fulfilled 70% of my plan, overall I had 117 training sessions. Taking photos and keeping a training diary on social media, recording my runs with a special online app, all helped me stick to the schedule.
The trip to New York was complicated by limitations in my financial budget. I didn’t have the money to stay in a hotel in the city so I started looking for ways to live in New York for free and through social media I found some guys who put me up for a week.
My Marathon attainments
In terms of physical condition, when you cross the finishing line you feel the indescribable joy and euphoria of getting to the end of a long project. My finish time was 4 hours and 4 minutes. Psychologically, after a marathon you realise that to fulfil any professional or personal aim in life, strategy means more than tactics. I had a big ambition and a long journey to go in terms of time and space. My training went through several countries - Denmark, Russia, Italy and USA - and months - from February to October 2015.
Taking part in this kind of event definitely teaches you how to cope with problems and ride the wave - the event itself, the wave of movement and the wave of a running crowd. It all helps you to keep up your pace of life. The marathon is also a brilliant networking opportunity. One of my aims for 2015 was to widen my field of social contacts. In New York people talk everywhere and to everybody. At the beginning of November the whole city lives the marathon.
I’ve found out for myself that the sprint approach doesn’t suit academic research but the marathon has many things in common with it. The first kilometres are like preparing a draft of an article on your research results, - the middle distance is talking about your results in public at a conference or seminar - and the final stretch is putting the finishing touches to your material which often happens when you are exhausted and you can’t see straight, working with reviewers, and the finish is when your research is finally published.
And another thing, now I know that volunteering and donating are not the only ways to do something for charity. You can just register in a special apps which collects information about how physically active you are (running etc) and that can be used in developing medical research. It’s amazing how setting yourself one goal you can achieve so many results - losing weight, meeting new people, unique impressions, etc.
Thank you to everyone who supported me on my journey to the marathon and in the race itself.