Kim Mazejka, Senior Media Planner
As a runner and being New England born and raised, I live my life quickly. “No one” knows how to walk on the sidewalk, I measure my life in how many miles I can squeeze into an hour, and groan at traffic on the Pike. So when the chance came to work out of our Dublin office, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to challenge myself with a change of pace by way of immersion.
After acclimating to walking on the left side of the sidewalk, I slowly found myself winding down to the European pace. Instead of finding the fastest method of transportation to work, I opted to walk for 45 minutes every morning, taking in the sights and reminding myself it wasn’t a sidewalk race, just a commute. Instead of rushing through lunch in front of my computer, I joined my Dublin colleagues at the kitchen table to unplug (as much as I could). And my running benefited the most. I paused my training plan and ran for as long as I wanted, as fast or slow as I wanted, in order to maximize my time in each of the countries I visited. In Dublin, I took a different route every time I visited the beautiful Phoenix Park, allowing myself to get lost until I found some deer or a romantic meadow to jog through. When visiting Copenhagen, I picked a spot on the map that I thought looked interesting and far enough to meet the amount of miles I felt like running that day. It ended up being the most beautiful place I’ve ever run in my life; straight out of a fairytale. I took my first solo trip to Stockholm, and after learning a huge lesson in being able to pivot when plans changed (a weakness of mine), I took a canal tour and spotted an island filled with trail runners that I made sure to experience on my own two feet the next morning.
All of these experiences not only made me a more confident traveler, but also helped me have a greater understanding of the cultures I was visiting, which was the greatest gift of all. I can’t thank CP enough for this opportunity, and am so grateful to my Dublin friends for their warm hospitality.
