Year 2011 I was inspired by the blog of a fellow doctor who had started running and blogging about it. He went on long runs in the nature and posted pictures of his track and videos of the runs. One particular day he ran in the rain to a waterfall where he shot a stunning video of the mighty waterfall rejoicing in a happy downpour. I felt proud when he ran his first marathon and posted the picture of the shiny medal and certificate.I asked him for tips on running and he did give me some, but I wasn't ready then .
Year 2013 I decided I would run. The above mentioned friend introduced me to www.dailymile.com. I started enthusiastically dreaming of a half Marathon as my goal. I couldn't actually start with running as my physical fitness wasn't enough . So I walked a few times and then fizzled out.
I couldn't believe anymore that I could actually run. Even Half a minute of running was exhausting. So I decided for a smaller target and my Half Marathon target shrunk to 5K. Shrinking the goal however did not really change anything I was still only walking on my treadmill and that too occasionally.
Then one particular day I came across an inspirational video which turned out to be a Nike ad. As the Law of attraction works I serendipitously ended up in a sports store the very next day and bought a pair of Nikes.
However this didn't help either. A few walks on the road and thats it. Seemed like it won't work at all . Read some training programs for 5K. Then it all took a back seat while I fought with health issues.
In November I happened to log on dailymile.com again and I realised that almost the entire year had passed without achieving even 5 minutes of running!!! I decided to start again. Fellow walkers and runners motivated me. I graduated from brisk walking to running in between and then I could run a km in 10 minutes . Which was an absolute breakthrough for me !!
I kept basking in the glory of my meager achievement. I didn't cross the 1km mark for several days until I was asked "It's great that you are running. But why do you stop at 1 km?" . That made me realize that I haven't gone beyond a Km not 'cos I can't do it but because I stop before I can do it. I ran 5 kms in 51 minutes two days later.
From there began an unbelievable journey for someone completely non- atheletic and sedentary like me.
I have been learning a new language of highly determined and focused people called RUNNERS. In the last two months of 2013 I have run 64.36 kms with the longest distance of 7kms (64min 46 sec) and the best pace of 1km in 8 minutes 43 seconds. Total distance spanned in 2013 including walking and running amounted to 114 kms !!!
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| My stats till January 4 , 2014. |
The next target is a 10K . Looking forward to a more fit and challenging 2014 .
Happy Running :)
