I didn’t enjoy running until recently. I would occasionally run a 10k and train for a week or two prior to that and that would be it. Once I moved to Berlin, one of the first things I did apart from hunting for houses was to sign up for the Berlin Half-marathon with a friend of mine. That was a life changing experience. Allow me to explain.
Stress buster
When I started, I always thought that running was just about having a strong pair of legs. But as I started clocking more kilometers, I realized that determination and grit count for far more than a strong pair of legs. Long distance running is a case of “mind over matter”. The brain keeps fooling the legs to run more. That’s it!
Running is meditative. When you are running the only things you care about is clocking more kilometers and clocking them faster. Everything else fades into the background - tunnel vision if you will. No matter how bad of a day you had, no matter how hot or cold it is, you feel alive and energized after a run.
Running is addictive. Like any other addiction, it is very hard to give up running after your body has got used to it. During my initial days of running, I would try hard to find an execuse to not run, but now it’s the opposite. Running releases endorphins which is a feel-good hormone and this causes you to experience a “runners high”.
“Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived.” - Dean Karnazes
The addictive high and the calming effects of running keep me sane to some extent in this insane and fast paced world.
No free lunch
Running doesn’t come easy. It takes perseverance and discipline, time and effort to make your way up the distance ladder. No one can run a half marathon overnight apart from a few youtubers! You will have to slowly and steadily stack up those kilometers until you reach the desired goal.
Like everything else in life, you will face a lot of ups and downs during running. On somedays you will do better than what you expected and on other days you might injure your shin or knees. Everytime you feel low or don’t feel like running, you will have to raise above yourself keep clocking those kilometers.
People
Although Nischal and I have known each other forever, we weren’t what you would call good friends. We did go to the same school and play football together, but that was about it. I met him after ages during my initial days in Berlin and learnt that he also shared a passion for running and we impulsively signed up for the Berlin half marathon. We started training together in various parts of Berlin and during our runs we would discuss about life, tech, drugs, music and what have you. Anusha, Nischal’s partner was gracious enough to feed us delicious food after our runs. This went on for quite some time and all three of us bonded quite well. This instagram post from Nischal sums up our love for “each other😛” and running.
Injuries
Running teaches you a lot about how your body functions. IMHO the modern version of the human body wasn’t designed to run longer distances. Unless you carefully listen to the subtle hints which your body is dropping you are prone to injuries. I recently developed shin splints, a condition where you experience excrutiating pain in the shin bone. This happenend because I totally ignored the warning which my body had given by means of a swollen shin after a previous run and ran a 10k. I couldn’t walk the next day and had to resort to using crutches for a few days. I am still nursing my broken shin at the time of writing this post. Once I am completely healed, I promise to respect my body with the respect it deserves rather than putting it through so much misery.
“Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed”