Why do things have to be so hard?

The last few weeks have just been a big fat blur… so much has happened and now, it is just a few hours before departure.

The biggest setback has been that my stress fracture did not heal and both, the doctor and my coach have unanimously agreed that taking a chance with the Marathon on 27th April 2014 is just not worth the risk. There is a chance that I maybe able to hobble upto the finish line but it will definitely not be my best effort and the more impending issue would be the high risk of having my leg in a plaster straight after for many weeks to come. So, as some wise people have said many times over, you must always choose your battles. And, when medically and professionally qualified people have very categorically given you a piece of advice, you really don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure what your obvious choice should be. 

Now, my bookings for this trip had already been done. The entire idea was that I would reach a week before race day and acclimatize myself to the climate and place so that come race day, I would be able to give this race my best shot. And since, I was going all the way to Germany, I thought I might as well take a well deserved vacation and get some travelling done. As the SCMM prize, TUI, the travel partner had volunteered to sponsor this trip which included flying in a night before the event (26th April), accommodation for two nights, race registration and thereafter a flight back the next day (28th April). Any runner would agree that this is actually not a viable plan – factor in the time difference, brand new climate and terrain, jet lag, food and other variables – and this is just a recipe for complete disaster. I did bring this issue to the notice of the organizers and my procam counterpart was great at relaying this information to the concerned parties  – but nothing was done about it. This is the deal, take it or leave it and we will look into this issue in the following years to come.

Fair enough, since this was a first time attempt, agreed. I did not want to waste an opportunity that had come along my way so planned it in a manner that I could get my travel in and enough time to sync with the local time zone etc. So, booked my accommodation and tickets to ensure that the travels went as clockwork. Ankush had decided to join me so it was going to be fun. I usually travel alone so I am even more excited about the trip with a very dear travel buddy involved. Now about my injury, I have been upfront from day 1 but I think all of us were hoping against hope that it would miraculously heal and I would have a chance to go and own the course at Hanover. As soon, as I was informed that this would not be the case, I head straight to the travel agents office to pick up my passport and deliver the not so great news.

As I relayed the information to them, I could see the alarm bells ring in my travel agents’s head. I reassured her, that I would understand if the tickets are no longer sponsored and would be ok to pay for the tickets and the visa charges. She completely freaked out and pulled my passport from my hand and asked me to hang on for a few minutes so she could get a few things clarified. She walked back into the office and left me hanging outside utterly confused. After about 10 minutes she walks back out and refuses to “release” my passport to me. At this point, I got offended. I was enroute to a meeting at the other end of town and this lady has decided that she will now play cat and mouse with me.

I advised her that there really should not be any issue here, since I have graciously agreed to make the required payments ( although in effect, I don’t remember prizes coming with terms and conditions – once you have won something, its yours fair and square). After explaining to her that this statement of, ” I will not release your passport” does not make sense to me and that honestly I was in a time crunch and would not be able to sit down and resolve this issue over the next two hours, I gave her the option of taking ownership and ensuring that the passport reached my doorstep by Sat (19th April). She flatly declined.

Now, I consider myself a fairly rational person. Show me your point and if it has some sort of logic, I would gladly concede and even support your reasoning – but this situation seemed straight up stupid – instead of looking for a solution for a client who has been only co-operative right through, things were just being made harder and tougher. In comes my procam connect who played the role of knight in shining armor to the hilt. However, by the time any resolution was made, I was already on my way to the meeting. So, essentially, I was to pay for my tickets and visa ( as I had already offered) and I could go forward with my plan as per schedule. He also explained that the lady was hesitant in releasing the passport as her company policy did not allow passport to be released until a payment was received. OK fair – but remember this was something I was entitled to and have been reasonable about the entire time.

Moving on, the next morning ( Thursday and Friday – election day and Good Friday so the office is closed) I get an invoice which needs me to pay not only the tickets and visa as discussed but also the registration charges for the marathon. It would suffice to say that I got might peeved with this. So, hang on – I am going for a trip which was not on my itinerary to begin with, I have got you another paying client who is travelling with me, I am injured so stressed out about that as it is, I have been gracious enough in stepping upto the plate and offering to make a payment for what seems logical to me and now, you want me to pay the registration charges for a marathon that I will not be participating in – Are you kidding me? This is a fair case of adding insult to injury – literally. I obviously voiced my concern. After a hue and cry, I was issued an apology from the travel partner and that they would revise the invoice and send it over. Come Friday, I have a brand new invoice in my inbox – this time, it includes ticket + Visa + hotel accommodation. Hang on! I have already booked my accommodation, why would I want to pay for another one?  So back to the drawing board, some more discussions and finally an agreement to the original deal of ticket and visa charges.

So, off course, this morning I went over to the office, gave them the Demand Draft, got my passport and headed back home to prepare for the travels ahead. Now, there are so many issues I have with this situation. The first I have already mentioned. Do prizes come with terms and conditions? If you (athlete) don’t give us an opportunity to market ourselves, we (sponsor) don’t care about you? Was not the publicity already provided at SCMM? Is it fair to commercialize an upcoming sport to such an extent? Should honesty be punished? Would it have been smarter for me to have not mentioned anything, reached the venue and one day before the event claimed to have a stomach bug? When I went to the bank to get the DD made, the bank manager was appalled – he asked me how it felt to be stripped of a title that I had earned? 

I am unsure of how anyone else would have reacted. Am I disappointed? Yes. But I am lucky that I have enough savings to dip into to finance my own trip – although now it is a lot more dear and over the budget that I had originally put aside for it. 

However, now I have seven more days to look forward to. There is a new Itinerary and yes, I probably will head to Hanover on the morning of 27th April to witness and cheer on the runners at the race that I could have been participating in. My eyebrows are done and bags are packed. I have always wanted to visit the quaint villages, beautiful suburbs and cobbled streets around Europe. I plan to do just that. Another dream has been to salsa in Spain with a Spaniard. I have warm, fuzzy feelings as I set out on yet another adventure. This time there are no running shoes involved but I have a feeling its gonna be one helluva ride!

#BangaloreRunners #Protons #ProtonsRunning #SCMM