On Running (Written in Sept 2010)

I'd been a poor morning person for as long as I can remember. Fitness was something I read about and figured it wasn't worth the sweat and stink.

Tried my hands (and feet) at swimming once in a way, but each time I was looking for excuses not to get into the pool ('Too cold' or 'Too hot' the easiest).

And I read more and more inspirational posts from friends who were completing Half-Marathons and Marathons and stuff. This sounded more interesting. The only problem was, in Chennai, running outdoors had to be an early morning activity, before too many people like me decided they need to go out and get in other people’s way

And one day it struck me – I didn’t HAVE to stay up late. Somehow that had become so much of a habit that I couldn’t even think of going to bed long before midnight. I could, I realized, go to sleep at 10. Or 9. And wake up at 6. Or 5 (But yes, I needed my 8 hours). Great plan. .

So I flicked my brother’s ancient and long-ago-consigned-to-the-bin Ipod Nano 1G. Then I dug out my shoes. And ran. Not much at first. It felt good. Was fun. But I realized I needed a target and a routine and more motivation to keep this up.

So, around the start of 2010 I decided I would run a half-marathon this year. I didn’t deceive myself – I wasn’t ever going to be a run fanatic. I wouldn’t skip social outings for running. Or cut down on my sleep. So I would be happy if I did 2 runs a week, very happy if I did 3. Great.

And then it got better. I learnt about the endless gadgets available for the runner.

So I did what a man has to occasionally do. I went shopping. Having very little knowledge on what I really needed, I was the advertiser’s dream. The first thing a runner is supposed to have is a good pair of shoes. So I decided, being an engineer and all, that I would do this very scientifically. Yes, I started looking at ad taglines. I hadn’t heard of Asics and Saucony and stuff then, so the choices were limited to :

‘The Road comes free. Run’ (Reebok)

‘Impossible is Nothing’ (Adidas)

‘Actually, it IS Rocket Science’ (Nike – Lunarglide)

No prizes for guessing which one appealed most to the tech-geek in me. So I went to the Nike store. Found a pair of Nike Lunarglide+ shoes on sale. Score!

Then I discovered a red ‘Nike +’ logo on the shoe. Went and looked up info on the Nike+ kit online. Couldn’t stop drooling when I read about all the awesome stuff it promised to do. So I had to go shopping again. It’s a bit of a blur, but I’m fairly sure I managed to drive to the Nike store without knocking over too many pedestrians. Picked up the gear. Got back home. Couldn’t wait for the next morning. Ran. It just worked – it was an Apple product and all, but didn’t expect it to be so cool! Speed. Check. Distance. Check. Lance Armstrong chiming in with encouraging words. Check. I don’t know if I lost more water through sweat or drool that run.

And then I ran more. Longer. Joined the Chennai Runners mail group and thought about how nice it would be to run with others. But the group seemed to consist of sleep mutants who didn’t need their zzzz. These chaps run at 5 am every morning. Hmmm, I could manage to drag myself up early once in a while, but would be groggy at work through the day. Unless I didn’t have to work. So Sunday runs could work.

The next problem – Saturday evenings! Unfortunately the usual choice for drinking and late nights. Try as I might, I couldn’t convince myself that drinking till late and running early the next morning were a good match. And I didn’t want to choose between running and a reasonable social life with people who woke up (and often slept) later than 4 am. So I ended up politely sipping one beer through most sat. night dos I went to. And felt pretty good most Sunday mornings.

Somehow I managed to be the laziest runner in the group, and still get a fair bit of miles under my feet. My longest run length increased from 5 to 8 to 12 kms. And then 15k on a muggy summer Sunday morning with the Chennai Runners. I would have given up that day, but I was on an unfamiliar route and didn’t want to lose sight of the last of the runners straggling along some distance ahead of me. I kept up and finished. Almost collapsed at the end. But the thing about running is, however much a run takes out of you, you get it back and more soon after. And, soon after, I felt great. Did a few more 15k runs.

And I registered for the Chennai Half-Marathon (Aug 29), ECR Half Marathon (Oct 3) and Mumbai Half (Jan 16). All seemed to go well till the end of July, and it seemed unreal that I was actually getting close to completing a New Year resolution, and with months to go.

4 weeks to go for Chennai. Hadn’t run longer than 10 miles and that had to change over the next 2 weeks. Then I pulled something on my right leg. A normal day, a normal run, but ended up feeling a little funny. The next day I was hobbling. I decided to take a break for a few days, then had to travel a bit, and then came down with a cold. So no running for 2 weeks.

Felt better eventually and decided to try a small run on the treadmill. The pain came up again. The doc gave me a bunch of medicines and asked me to take a break from running for 2 weeks. A week later, I decided to ignore his advice and restart training with the 6k Terry Fox run at IIT Chennai. Some pain, but felt better as the run progressed, and ended up running with the US Consul-General Andrew Simkin for most part of the run. Not the whole run though – the old man pulled ahead at the end!

Came back home. Pain again. A week to go and my training was shot and my leg in bad shape. And I had to travel on an important business trip to Europe right after the Chennai event. Every logical thought process said I should give up, try as I might to come up with an alternative conclusion. One more short run to see how I hold up, I thought. So I ran with 3 days to go. Still painful, but I managed to convince myself I was better.

Forward to August 29, Sunday morning. I landed up at 5.30 am at the venue with little training and a lot of trepidation and a bunch of enthusiastic runners from the Chennai Runners team. The bad news was I had forgotten my ipod at home. So no Lady Gaga/Lance Armstrong for motivation. Anyway, thought I would start running and see what happened. If I felt too bad, I would drop out. So planning, I set out on the 2 km walk from the parking lot to the starting point. Being Chennai, of course the event didn’t start on schedule. After endless announcements and the obligatory VIP speeches, the starting whistle blew at 6.30, just as it started to drizzle.

I started jogging apprehensively for the first few kms. The rain went away and it continued to be cloudy, but the humidity was oppressive. Took stock after 30 mins. Strangely, my legs felt fine. No pain. But I soon realized the month-long layoff had affected my fitness. My run pace was a good 10% off normal and the heart rate was shooting up. Decided to keep my pace easy and forget any timing targets. The faster runners were on their way back, well into their second half of the run. Reached the halfway point at 1:14. 7 mins off target pace. I shouldn’t be thinking of the pace, I told myself. It was getting warmer but the sun stayed helpfully hidden. And it was getting tiring. I trudged on. And on. Don’t be stupid enough to give up so close to the finish, I heard another runner telling his friend. I thought of breaking for a walk – but I knew it’d then be too difficult to start running again. Kept on, brushed past the finish mat in 2:33.45.

The pain came back, but I felt the best I had in ages. Fulfilled. More complete somehow, though my legs were by now threatening to split and go their own way. Kept walking and stretching as much as I could lest my legs locked up and I had to ask to be carried to my car. Limped back to the car, got home, ate and slept.

Still limping a bit a week after the event, but I’ll be fine. I’ll restart running from tomorrow. And I wouldn’t have given up on the experience for all this pain and more.