Confessions of a first time runner

In the recent past, we have been bombarded with images of runners, advertisements about marathons. It feels like every one in Hyderabad has started running. It was hard not to get intrigued and drawn into that world. This year that is what happened to me.

Let me start from the beginning. I was confident that I was pretty much in good shape, my weight was under control and i walk a lot compared to my peers and try to take stairs whenever possible. But, last year a trip to Bhutan changed my perspective. All the walking and hills we climbed made me realise the shape my legs were in. I couldn't walk for more than 10 minutes without having a muscle cramp, i couldn't walk fast, i was just loitering about. It was a rude awakening. I decided I needed to get into shape. So what should I do? Obviously my morning walk, yoga and diet was not working. I was not able to fit Gym or active Yoga into my schedule. Sports activity was one option but finding a partner proved difficult (my life-partner having abandoned me on this venture of mine!) Then I came across a running enthusiast and found that people get trained for running, you are not completely on your own. That should work for me. Once trained, I can run on my own without any dependency. The only hitch - I never ran in my whole life, even as a child I always avoided running, no idea why.

Thanks to the multiple useless forwards on WhatsApp groups (i am not going to get irritated by them again), I came to know of couch-to-5K run program. It is a 8 week course, where experts guide you through the process of running, give you tips, the dos and don'ts, and at the end of the 8-week course you would be ready to run your first 5K. Simple, right, so I rushed to sign up before I got a chance to rethink and change my mind and vowed I will not revert on it, till at least the end of the 8 weeks. And boy oh boy that was the longest 8-week in my life.

Week 1: It was pretty simple. The coach kept it real simple and I breezed through it without a hitch. I was beginning to think I overreacted, I seemed to be doing just fine. The coach used to meet us three days a week and then we were supposed to work on the exercises rest of the week. Easy. End of the week, my legs started hurting. Calf muscles were the worst, coach suggested change in shoes - the ones I had were not for running hence were giving me the trouble. I obliged and bought a pair of running shoes.

Week 2: That is when all hell broke loose. The sessions became intense, we started running and I couldn't run beyond a minute. Legs hurt the entire day, I was limping in office. I was in a dilemma. Some said I should push myself, ignore the pain, just go with it. Some said listen to your body, slow down, why torture yourself. Whom do I listen to? And the biggest demotivater of all "Is it worth all the trouble?" The days when we were by ourselves were the worst. I got a fitbit and the figures were pretty depressing. By the end of the week it was 2 minute non-stop run. Time to call it quits.

Week 3: I took couple of days off from the entire running exercise. I had two people telling me I give up easily. That did the trick. I needed to show them I am not a quitter. I re-evaluated my approach. First, I was not in it to win marathons. My objective was totally different, I am trying to get into the habit of a physical activity. I want to get into shape and be able to run. That's it, anything beyond that would be a bonus. So speed did not matter. Second, I rephrased my goal. I am not aiming to be a runner, I will survive these 8 weeks and complete the 5K at the end of the 8 weeks in a decent time. With that in mind, I revisited all my reading material and started looking for stories that matched my requirements, instead of reading about the glorious and spectacular medal wins.

There was another thing I realised. My priorities were proving to be an hindrance. I was being obsessed with the work I needed to accomplish at home and then at office, I was not able to concentrate and enjoy the one hour I had assigned to myself. I needed to think about myself and what I was doing to myself before I let anything external bother me. I had not been happy with my lifestyle and had decided to do something about it. And now that I was doing it why am I feeling guilty about it? I decided to change my thought process, too.

Week 4: With this changed outlook, I survived 4th week with minimum humiliation. Another thing I realised was I needed some company at least to tide me over initially. Though we were having training session weekly thrice, there was a group that met every day. I started going with them. That is when I realised company matters. We were partners and we corrected each other, encouraged each other and shared our strengths and weaknesses. With this new found friendship running started becoming fun. That is when I achieved my mini-goal - I ran 10 mins non-stop. It might sound silly but from 0min-run to 10min-run was a big deal and I was super elated.

Weeks 5-8: That small 10-min run milestone carried me over the rest of the training sessions and before I knew it, our 5K was round the corner. To boost my spirits, I registered for Pinkathon 5K and completed it in around 50 mins.

My first 5K: It was good, but still there were times when I really wanted to give up. For the first 2k, it was fine but then it was a torture. There was a lady singing and running, I still cant figure out how she did it. She was singing the song “Ruk jaana nahin, tu kahin haar ke” which loosely translated to don’t give up, your goal is beyond all these hardships. It tided me over for the next 1k. Till then the route was along busy roads and it was self-motivating, seeing so many people around. The final lap was within desolate roads and with an incline. I nearly gave up when our mentor met me. He encouraged for the last leg. Told me not to look at my fitbit to see how much more, but just keep on going. By then I was walking. And miraculously the finish line was there. People waiting with the medals. I DID IT, I COMPLETED MY FIRST 5K. Never will I attempt running again!!!!!!!

To be continued.....(10K)