Joy of Running

Distance running is perhaps one of the best things to have happened to me in my life. It all started when I was contemplating how to celebrate my fiftieth birthday, which was round the corner. After much reflection, I decided to do something unconventional – celebrate 50 years of living by running my first half marathon. I had never run beyond 6K in my life, and visualizing doing a 21K was making my spirits soar. I was no novice as my school had conditioned me well by introducing me to road-running and cross-country at a young age.

The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2010 was a good eight months away and I started my practice with a bang, running daily and progressively, increasing my mileage to 20K. I was going great guns and aiming for a timing of 1:45’ but calamity struck in early December when I sustained an injury in my left knee. It was demoralizing, especially listening to my family and friends. “Running at this age? Are you crazy?”, “Osteoarthritis is normal after 45 years”, “You think you are 20 years old?” …!

I went to one of the renowned orthopedic surgeons in the city but he couldn’t detect anything and recommended that I see a physiotherapist. I had never been to one in the past. What luck, this guy turned out to be a Houdini. A few stretching exercises and my pain almost vanished. I was also advised to take rest and do some strength training, something I had never done before. ?I decided to stop running and only walk; and take part in the half marathon only if I felt fit on the penultimate day. A couple of days prior to the event, I decided to take the plunge as my knees appeared normal.?In a worst-case scenario, if any of my knees give way, I planned to walk the course and finish within the stipulated three hours to at least get the finishers medal.

Today is the 17th of January 2010 and I am at the Fire Station in Bandra, the starting point for the half marathon, an hour before the start. There is a lot of excitement in the air but anxiety is getting the better of me. I am psyching myself that all is well and I will run the entire distance at a steady pace of 12 km/hr. The countdown has started 9, 8, 7….and my first half marathon has commenced! I am maintaining a steady pace as planned and things appear to be hunky dory…I am feeling good at the halfway mark. I see spectators cheering and give them a smile. I have just crossed the 18 km marker and then out of the blue my left knee starts paining. ‘Nil Desperandum’ was the motto of my house in school and is deeply engrained. Quitting is not an option and I therefore, continue running albeit at a lower pace even though the pain is excruciating. The pain is gradually increasing. Should I walk? “Don’t you dare” …”No” ….”You have only two options - run or fall”… I can see the finish line at a distance. So close and yet so far! I cross the finish-line at 2:01’:06”.

I have done over 60 marathons, half-marathons and 10Ks across the country and even abroad. The half marathon in Berlin and the marathon in Paris were great experiences and will be written in special pages of my memory. Since my first half marathon, I have been doing constant research on running gear, nutrition & hydration strategy, exercise et al and this has enabled me to improve my running performance significantly over the years. During the pandemic, I did several certificate courses on sports nutrition, exercise physiology, obesity management etc. to find every trick in the book to run faster and safer. I wish to continue running in the future and keep the flag flying.

Distance running is a big deal for me because it has made me healthier, happier and full of beans. When I lace up my performance shoes at dawn, I feel as if I am strapping up in a high performance fighter jet, ready to go for a mission. When I am stressed, I find a run to be therapeutic. I believe that running over the years has given a new meaning to my life.

What are the benefits of distance running?

• You can run anywhere, anytime, anyplace! All you need is a good pair of running shoes and the mindset.
• Running will give you a big high due to the secretion of endorphins, serotonin and dopamine in your blood stream. As a result, you will feel energetic with a bias for action at the workplace. If I skip my run on any day, people ask if I am under the weather. It obviously shows on my face.
• You will find yourself in a new fraternity where you will meet beautiful and interesting people from diverse professions and industries. As you will be sharing the same passion with them, you never know…. you may find your knight in shining armour or Miss Right on the road ??
• During a run, you will find fellow runners or even strangers giving you a smile or thumbs-up or words of encouragement, which will make you feel good.
• Running will enable you to exorcise any frustrations that you may have and who doesn’t! Once you hit the road, you are in a different world.
• You will look younger than your age due to the salubrious effect of happiness hormones and endorphins on your body. In fact, most runners look at least 5-10 years less than their chronological age. Check it out!
• You will become healthier with time. There are cases where runners have got cured of cancers and brain tumours. I used to suffer from a constant running nose and frequent viral fevers but they have reduced significantly.
• Often, you will find yourself in a state of ‘flow’*. During this period, you will be running unconsciously and perhaps, dreaming. Your imagination will take wing. Your creativity tends to spike and you will find yourself finding solutions to some of your problems or writing the plot of a new story. You are in a different world! I get some of my best ideas for my blogs during my runs.
• A running event like a marathon or 10K is perhaps the only sport where hundreds or thousands participate but unlike other competitive events, everybody who crosses the finish-line wins. There are hardly any losers.

Small wonder that more and more people are taking to distance running and soon they find that it becomes their opium.

Distance running is a great teacher and like any other sport, it enables you to learn or sharpen some skills which will stand you in good stead in business or life at large. Some of them are:

• Strategy. You need more than stamina to run a marathon or an ultra. A sound strategy is an imperative otherwise you risk hitting the wall** or have some unpleasant experience and most runners learn this from experience. Amongst other things, you must plan your race-pace which will depend on distance, terrain. temperature, humidity et al; nutrition and hydration strategy, recovery plan etc.
• No Quit Attitude. Running will teach you to accept challenging goals and develop a can-do attitude to stay the course even when things go awry. Business heads and sales guys, are you listening?
• Failure. Like any other sport, runners also experience failure. It may be failure to cross the finish-line by the stipulated time or beat your PB (personal best time). You may abort a race at the final stages as you find yourself hitting the wall or nursing an injury. Distance runners learn to take such failures in their stride.
• Play the Game. Unlike other sports, you are competing with yourself and this teaches you to ‘play the game’ i.e. to be in the moment, do your best and enjoy the experience; rather than ‘play to win’ – a mindset which often tends to regress to winning at any cost.
• Discipline. Distance running is an extreme sport where you will be operating often at the edge of your envelope. Hence, it calls for ample discipline viz. doing the right things at the right time at the right place even when nobody is watching you. It starts with getting adequate sleep, getting up on time and a lot more. There is a big price to be paid for indiscipline.
• Humility. Like any sport, runners have their fair share of injuries and some can keep you off the road for weeks, if not months. There will be times when the call is loud and your heart aches to hit the road but you are unable to move. It is a humbling experience.

Need I say more?

“Readers, you were born to run! Hit the road, experience the magic of running and get high on life”

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*Positive psychologist,?Mihály Csíkszentmihályi,?describes ‘flow’ as a state of mind in which a person becomes fully immersed in an activity.

** A runner hits the wall when her glycogen stores are depleted in the liver and muscles.?The body switches to burning fat which is a lot harder to access. The?sudden fatigue, a loss of energy makes every movement harder.