Daria Shapovalova
If I fail my PhD at least I'll be able to say I ran half-marahton
Fundraising for Breast Cancer Now
Story
Alert: cheesy motivational fitness story ahead! I
am Dasha, I live in Aberdeen and am working on my PhD here. My research is about how to use international law to protect Arctic Ocean from negative effects of oil and gas development. I also run sometimes.
Almost 2 years ago, halfway through my LLM in Groningen I was in the worst shape ever. Sleepless nights at the library, unhealthy food, lots of energy drinks, smoking ( sorry mom!) and total lack of exercise have helped me to somehow successfully complete the most challenging educational and emotional part of my life, but also brought exhaustion, extra weight and loss of enthusiasm. Luckily, I met Liz. That girl went on 10k runs like 3 times a week, and thought 'What a crazy girl, why would anyone do that to themselves' while having another redbull. Lucky for me, Liz didn't let me off the hook easily. She was insisting I try it out and she was so great at it ( as in many other things), that I did. My first 2k were a disaster, I thought I would die. But then day by day, week by week, I got to 3-4-5-6k. I had to give up unhealthy lifestyle eventually, went to the gym, fell in love, and finished my degree being a little bit of a better person.
I am no fitness/running fanatic, but I do my share and half-marahton feels like an appropriate goal to achieve. To bring some meaning into this whole endeavour I decided to run for charity. Choosing THE charity is extremely difficult, because many causes are worthy. I chose Breakthrough Breast Cancer research because breast cancer has affected lives of people around me. Also, honestly, I am afraid that someone close to me or myself would suffer form it one day and it would make me feel better to know that I made my small contribution to fight it.
Please support my fundraising and thank you for reading my story!
Dasha
am Dasha, I live in Aberdeen and am working on my PhD here. My research is about how to use international law to protect Arctic Ocean from negative effects of oil and gas development. I also run sometimes.
Almost 2 years ago, halfway through my LLM in Groningen I was in the worst shape ever. Sleepless nights at the library, unhealthy food, lots of energy drinks, smoking ( sorry mom!) and total lack of exercise have helped me to somehow successfully complete the most challenging educational and emotional part of my life, but also brought exhaustion, extra weight and loss of enthusiasm. Luckily, I met Liz. That girl went on 10k runs like 3 times a week, and thought 'What a crazy girl, why would anyone do that to themselves' while having another redbull. Lucky for me, Liz didn't let me off the hook easily. She was insisting I try it out and she was so great at it ( as in many other things), that I did. My first 2k were a disaster, I thought I would die. But then day by day, week by week, I got to 3-4-5-6k. I had to give up unhealthy lifestyle eventually, went to the gym, fell in love, and finished my degree being a little bit of a better person.
I am no fitness/running fanatic, but I do my share and half-marahton feels like an appropriate goal to achieve. To bring some meaning into this whole endeavour I decided to run for charity. Choosing THE charity is extremely difficult, because many causes are worthy. I chose Breakthrough Breast Cancer research because breast cancer has affected lives of people around me. Also, honestly, I am afraid that someone close to me or myself would suffer form it one day and it would make me feel better to know that I made my small contribution to fight it.
Please support my fundraising and thank you for reading my story!
Dasha