RunT!lt után
On July 20th, we stepped out of the world of pixels, and after the anonymity of comments and the closed doors of Facebook profiles, Lifetilt became a tangible reality. We took the first few steps of a long journey on Wednesday evening on Margaret Island, and it looks like the Lifetilt cult will be meeting every two weeks in the future. Let's start with the three most important and memorable moments of the Runtilt run. 1. I was late. 2. There were 19 of us, which completely humiliated Vado Jani and Nike. 3. This is the biggest point. There was a guy who arrived with a bag, and after putting down his phone, he asked where the grilling area was, because he would put his bag there and anyway, would there be a barbecue or not, because his friend wouldn't come to run but would drop by for a barbecue if there was one. You think I'm joking, but I have at least 10 witnesses to this conversation. The guy was a huge character. Stupid, I thought I'd fall into the Danube right there...
As for the run, after 10 minutes of getting acquainted – during which I didn't remember anyone's name – I split the group into two. One group consisted of the quasi-slow runners and those who weren't sure of themselves, i.e., the girls, and the other group was us tough guys. I asked everyone not to leave anyone behind, and to maintain a pace that the last members of the groups could handle, because as I mentioned a few times, we don't leave anyone behind. We managed to fulfill this request without error, and running 4:23 minute kilometers, we started off like hell. This 4:23 means that if we had run the whole island at this pace, we would have completed the distance in less than 21:40. I don't know everyone's personal best, but even for the best, it's almost certainly well under this. The field reacted to this pace with a split, whereupon I went back to those who had fallen behind, so they wouldn't stop. There was one guy who particularly struggled with the exertion. In numbers, this means he runs 3 kilometers in 18 minutes. He was the last person. There were two other guys with us at the back, whereupon I said that the four of us would pull each other along and run the whole way, no messing around, no stopping. Around 4km, the guy was at his last breath, so I asked his name. He didn't understand why I was asking, so I explained to him that if he stopped, I would post his name on the blog with some added spice.
Everyone ran around, in fact, the first part of the group did it in 24:30, which is an amazingly good time. As for the girls, there was some interference there. One girl at the finish line said that this was the first time in her life she had run around the island without stopping. That's very nice, but the problem was that the other girl had mentioned 5 minutes earlier that the other girl hadn't come with them because she had stopped at the athletics track on the other side. We witnessed another fantastic social manifestation of the "women for women" movement, but I'm not even surprised by this anymore. But since we're talking about women, three girls came out of the 19. Why so few? Where were the girls? Because it's one thing that the girls I was with, who said 1000% they would participate when I was with them, weren't anywhere to be found, I understand that, but where were the others? 80% of the blog readers are women. I'll say it slowly, in that Ildikó Lendvai-style "there will be no gas price increase" manner. Where were the women? Their absence was the biggest surprise for me. Among the big absentees, I could also mention the comment warriors and the emblematic figures of the blog like Dani, Petra, and Laura. Petra was at a dress fitting in the countryside, I don't know where Dani was, but Laura, for example, simply didn't want to be recognized and anyway, didn't want to run with those who had criticized her.
The Runtilt initiative can be interpreted in two ways. It was successful because 19 people showed up, and a rather informal, "bacon-roasting" atmosphere developed by the end, providing further confirmation that the blog is read by a qualified audience. It was also a success because after the run, we agreed that Runtilt would continue, taking place every two weeks, next on August 3rd. The social reorganization, however, will be interesting around November, when the first negative temperatures start to appear. It was also a failure because if thousands of people read the blog - and they do - then how should I evaluate these 19 people proportionally?
It doesn't really matter, because the main thing is that Lifetilt, and everything it entails, took shape on the island today, and perhaps something new and truly good will start, reminiscent of the group formation of the 1988 graduating students of István Bibó College.
Should I say something else, Ildikó?
