Running Logs 4 - My first 10K!!

Finally! A promise made to myself comes true. 45 days delayed but I am happy I could do it. Last few blogs tells my story of running. Started – Injured – Started – Discontinued – Restarted – Finish Line.

At Auroville after the run.

Yes’ It’s been a tough battle. On 15^th August 2015 – I restarted my journey, thinking I will do half / 10k. On 1^st September I joined a start-up, in October my father got detected by cancer, by Nov end I was desperate that it is now or never. On my birthday – 4^th Dec I registered for 10k @ Auroville, knowing that 10k is my only chance.

When I hit the finish line @ 58.39 seconds. The experience was worth every single battle I fought with myself. I never thought I will do 10k below 1 hr but I did it. I know there are many of us who want to run, it’s probably the most basic sports – which just needs a pair of shoes & practice.

In my process of completing this run. I learnt a few things:

Venkat - It’s all in the mind: When Venkat started me off on this journey a year back, he had written only 1 thing in the book he gifted me – It’s all in the mind! I think that’s the starting point. As I had mentioned in my previous blog – the biggest reason for any success is “how sincere are you to your goal”? Your doggedness to do your practice, see how you can avoid injuries, come back from your sickness & depression, learn from the existing runners – you have to be motivated all the time & stay focused on your objective. There were many days – when I would have slept only for 3 or 4 hrs after an outstation trip or a long day at work & did not feel like getting up – but every run @ Cubbon Park refreshed me & charged me up for the next run.  

Cubbon Gang - The smile says it all.

The Cubbon Gang – Run with friends: One of the big reason I could finish the run was because of my running friends with whom I started my morning jogs, walks, discussions. I am one of those persons who prefers to do it alone. But being part of a group really helped as all of us were chasing the same dream & we motivated each other, discussed our problems and had fun. The beauty of a group is that the sprit is infectious, we started as 3 people going from Natasha to Cubbon Park – now there are 7 – 10 of us, we take selfies every week & share it on our WhatsApp group, we recently started swimming and planning for cycling – football etc. I keep egging my colleagues at work to join me for the run at the park, share my experiences with them – once you do it, you want others to experience the success. A sense of nobility comes which is lacking in most of our robotic life.

Run Keeper – Measure your goals: From a simple data like “no of rounds of our apartment” to “no of km” is a big change. It’s critical to know where you are. When I did my first 5k I knew exactly how much more effort is needed before I reach 10K. Also run keeper’s constant voice on my head phone – total distance covered & time taken / km helped me pace up or down my effort during the run. It’s also important not to overdo it. When I was starting up – I downloaded videos, did warm up & cool down exercises, measure my food – sleep – exercise details etc. After some time I just walked / ran did specific exercises which helped the weaker portions of my body & kept a broader target of doing 5k / 7k etc in the end of the week. It helped – though for my half I might need to focus more on my training as compared to what I did for 10k.

As I get ready to train for my half at Kaveri Trail, I thought I will share what worked for me. Keep it Simple – Just Do It.

Wrote on 14^th March 2016 (1 month after my run.)