My First Run

Akshat Ratanpal
Sep 2, 2018 · 6 min read

It was July 29th, I woke up early at around 4:30am as I couldn’t really sleep, because of the excitement of my first ever run at a mini-marathon. July had been a wet month, so I was a bit worried that the rains may play spoil sport. I got ready, and so did my sister, who pushed me to participate and challenged me to beat her. She has been a regular at such events, so she was confident she could beat me. She didn’t realise and didn’t take into consideration was…my will.

The run was to start at 6:30am, and we reached the place around 6:00. The place was filled with people. There were people of all ages and the same colour t-shirts. I decided not to wear that t-shirts given by the race sponsor, as I thought they looked terrible. I can’t be seen wearing something that bad on my first run. So I decided to wear my black “Dash” t-shirt. The race was about to start in like 5 minutes, when I looked at my sister who looked a little tensed. I just told her, enjoy yourself, don’t worry about how you are going to finish it, just enjoy the process.

The race was flagged off, and we started. My sister decide to pick up pace from the start, whereas I decided to take it nice and slow. After about 500m, my sister started walking and went past her in my pace, and asked her to push herself. The elevation was a little difficult at start, but I told myself that it’s just a few more meters, after that it is downhill, which will be a breeze. As I ran at my own sweet little pace of around 7.3km/hr, I saw people speed past me, some older and some younger than me. But there was only one thing in my mind…it’s my run, I am not running to compete with anyone else, but myself. I am out here testing myself. To give you some context, I have back issues for a while now, and just a few weeks before the race, the issue had gotten worse, as I had to get an MRI done and some 10 days of physiotherapy before I could even sit comfortably. I hadn’t worked out at all for almost 2 weeks after my therapy, and I just had two days preparation before the race. I knew the race was a battle of mind over body. I knew my body could take it, but my mind wanted me to play safe. But, I wanted to test my body and my will. It wasn’t just of my body, but also of my will.

I had crossed a couple of Kilometres, and now I started picking up a little pace, while some people in front of me started to slow down. I kept the same pace and increased by almost .01km/hr every Kilometre. I looked up in front, and could see some people way ahead of me, and it didn’t bother me one bit. I was just focussed on myself, and every step that I took. I still saw some people going past me, and it didn’t bother me at all. I was focussed on myself. By then, I had even forgotten that my sister was also running the same race. As I ran, my mind was absolutely clear. There was no thought of work pressure, impending deadlines, difficult colleagues, etc. None of that even entered my mind for even a second. I was in the moment. I was in a meditative state. Where my mind was completely with my body. I could feel my muscles getting worked up, I could see my breath moving in and out, I could feel the pleasant monsoon breeze brushing past my hair. I could feel my body temperature rising, and I could feel every drop of sweat as it fell off my forehead.

I wasn’t sure how many kilometres I had completed, when I saw the board saying 2.5 KM. That was when I gave myself my first mental ‘‘congratulations’’. I had completed 2.5Kms without too much trouble and I was ready for more. There was a refreshment stall at that landmark, but I decide not to weigh myself down with the weight of the water bottle. As I turned towards the next straight stretch of another 2.Kms, I smiled to myself, feeling a sense of happiness and achievement at actually doing this. The next stretch was the easiest as by then, my body was warmed up, and my mind knew that it can do this. It was during this stretch that I was again completely in my zone and didn’t care a damn about anything other than the road ahead. It was such a great feeling. The feeling that it’s just you, and nothing else. That’s it is all in your control. That you have the strength and the will to achieve whatever you want. But then, for a few seconds, I felt bad when I saw some runners already making their way back. It was really impressive. I had just only completed around 3.5Kms and they were already on their 7th Km. It’s normal to feel deflated at such times, when you see that others are doing much better than you, or they are faster than you, or that you are not even in the top 10 or something. But then, I told myself that it wasn’t about being first or even being in the first 100. It was just about doing it. It was just about competing against yourself, and against your mind. I ran blissfully for the next 2.5 Kms after that and just recognising and appreciating the efforts of people who had finished twice the distance in the same time.

I reached the half way mark when I decided to get myself some water. I took a bottle of water from a volunteer and took a few sips before I dropped the bottle, and kept on running. It was around the 6Kms mark, when I saw my sister on the other running towards the 5Kms mark, panting and struggling. I egged her on, and she pushed herself. The next few kilometres started getting more difficult. I felt my muscles tightening a bit, but then I pushed myself and ignored the pain. At around 7Km, I almost felt like stopping, but then I told my mind, just 1Km at a time, don’t think about the end, just get past your next kilometre. After that I picked up further pace, as I saw one of the runners had dropped their towel and didn’t realise it. I picked up pace, grabbed the towel behind him, and gave it to him as I ran past him. As I reached the elevation of the bridge, I got a little scared. I thought to myself that I did not have the strength to do it. I wanted to stop and walk the next kilometre or so. Again, it was the battle of mind over body, and I told my mind, let’s do this. I grabbed some refreshments before the climb, and just picked up pace as I went up the elevation. I knew the finish line was only a few metre away and I’ll be victorious, when tragedy struck.

I was about 300 metres away from the finish line when my left calf started cramping up. I could feel my left calf muscles tightening and I felt extremely anxious. Cramps are awfully painful and I didn’t want to experience that pain as I was about to finish something so incredible. But it happened, just some 50 metres before the finish line, I got a massive cramp in my left leg, as I hobbled past the finish line, raining my hand in joy, but agonising from within. As soon as I finished, I fell on the ground as both my calves had cramped up and I wildly started rubbing my calves and hoping for the pain to go away. I sat there for 5 minutes, stretching and rubbing my calves. As soon as I felt a little better, I got up and got myself something to drink. As I sat there, with my calves feeling better, and I getting my hydration. I felt good. My body felt good, and my mind felt even better. I couldn’t believe I had finished a 10Kms run in 1hr 19minutes without stopping just few days of recovering from my back problem. It was a great feeling when I looked up at the beautiful Sunday skies and told myself “Yes! I did it!”.

P.S.I beat my sister by almost 15 minutes. WoooHooo!!!

P.S.P.S My body hurt for the next 7 days. It was painful.

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