My running journey so far
I used to dislike (read: hate) running during the PE class in school because I just wanted to go play basketball. I wasn’t interested in running laps around the football ground to warm up my legs even though it was for my own benefit. Fast forward to today, 15 years later (I feel old), I can’t help myself chasing PBs in half marathons. So I just wanted to write a little something about my running journey so far. Hope you enjoy reading! And if you want to chat about running or fitness in general, my email & Twitter is always open!
My first half marathon was in my hometown, Ahmedabad, in 2015. Two of my friends and I entered the race on a whim thinking we could just wake up one day and finish it. I mean, how long could 21 kms be? We all finished it but at what cost! I finished the race in approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, ended up with a torn ligament after that, obviously, and had to rest for a month to recover. The only practice run I did before the race was a 5k and that’s about it. So, yes, it was pretty dumb of me to do something like this. After that, I never ran again until I was in the US starting up my first job out of graduate school and wanted to start getting into some post-work exercise routine.
I requested an archive of all my Strava activities in the last 10 years. After this half marathon in Ahmedabad, my first run was in the US in April 2021 when I ran exactly 1.07 miles at a pace of 11:37 mins / mile. Like they say, you need to start somewhere!
Eventually, it became a routine. Work from 9-5. Then, go out for a small run. A few months later, I moved to Boston, oblivious to the fact that Boston Marathon is one of the most iconic marathons in the world. As I settled into life in Boston, I started seeing loads of runners running along the Charles river. One could also see many young folks at MIT, Harvard, Northeastern or Boston University running in groups along the Charles river and it was a wonderful sight to behold. It’s hard to not get motivated / inspired when you see so many people out there doing various activities, just trying to keep themselves fit and healthy. As such, I also started running along Charles in summer and autumn and that’s how I got the running bug! I must say that Boston is one of the most beautiful cities to run in, although it’s not too welcoming in the winter!
I was lucky to witness multiple Boston Marathon races because one of my very close friends qualified for the Boston Marathon twice. It is one of the liveliest days in Boston and you can feel almost the entire city on the streets at some point in the day. The atmosphere is wild and believe me, if you go out on the streets that day, some part of you might want to take up running as an activity, maybe.
Running has now become a part of my routine and it is also one of the ways I love experiencing new cities. An explor’un in cities like Barcelona or Brussels or even a small 2-mile run in a tiny Swiss village called Iseltwald has been a core memory for me from visiting all those places. It feels like a great way to experience neighbourhoods or streets in these new cities that I otherwise would not have been able to. Such runs keep me excited about running and also make me look forward to visiting new places and going out for a run in them!
Experiences like these keep pulling me back to running, even when my motivation to go outside for a run dips sometimes, especially when the weather sucks. I’ve been running on and off for the past 5 years. It’s sort of a love-hate relationship that I have with running. It is the easiest and most accessible way of keeping myself fit which I love about running. All I need is a pair of decent running shoes and I can just start running from the doorstep of my apartment. But, if that’s the only physical activity I do for a long time, I feel burnt out by it. I’ve found that mixing up a few different physical activities has worked out the best for myself and gives me some sort of balance in the exercise world. For instance, when I was training for the Great North Run half marathon last year, I was following a Runna training plan that had me running 5 days a week. Once the race was over, even though I ran a decent time, I felt a bit exhausted by running and missed doing some of the other activities like strength training or playing some racquet sports like padel or squash. So for my most recent half marathon this year in Lisbon, I set up a more balanced training plan on Runna which had me running for 3 days a week and strength training for the other 3 days. I feel like that has worked out a lot better for me and I would like to continue exploring some sort of balance while still training for running events in the future.
If there’s anything I’ve learnt from all of this in the last few years is that if you like to run but that’s not the only thing you like doing, it might be a good idea to set up a more balanced training plan that gives you the time to focus on other physical activities too. Or if you’re someone who wants to get into running, try not to focus too much on pace, weekly mileage, etc. Just go out for a run and enjoy yourself while doing it and that should be more than sufficient to get into running!