Running my first Half Marathon

Ever since I can remember, I have always enjoyed running. I used to be a regular at football in my school days which inadvertently meant I had a decent stamina. Back at home, I used to run 2.5Ks in the mornings with my brothers but nothing more than that at a time. Then came high school and JEE prep, which put a full stop to all the physical activities. Fast forward to the 2nd year of undergraduate school that I decide to start getting involved in some physical activity and what better than running, arguably the most comprehensive physical activity. I remember trying to run a 2.2 (A 2.2Km round road famously known as 2.2 at KGP) and miserably giving up half way around. But I had to give it a try. I started running regularly starting with shorter runs and gradually improving my stamina and methods. I was content with running 3 KM a run for 2 years when the HM bug hit me. I came across a group of runners on Facebook who were very passionate about long-distance running and scrolling across the posts on the group gave me the necessary initial motivation to give it a try even when I knew I hadn’t run more than 3 KM in a single go.

February, 2015 : First began my search for a good event which I could attempt and start training for. Given that I live in Kharagpur, the only option for me was to look for an event in Kolkata. But to my utter dismay the only good long-distance running event Kolkata hosted was already over in January and I couldn’t wait for an another year to participate. Then suddenly I realized that I was to be in Bangalore in the summers which has one of the best running cultures across India with tons of running enthusiasts organizing regular events. Thus began the training for my first Half-Marathon. I searched online for all information I could gather on what should be the ideal training schedule for a beginner and planned mine accordingly to be prepared to run in June-July. The first big mistake that I had made earlier and learnt the hard way was Never run long distances regularly on asphalt. For anyone even putting in a regular 3 KMs, this is a strong advice. Running on asphalt messes up your feet gradually to the level that you won’t be able to walk for a strech of time. I had started training on a 600m muddy track in the stadium nearby. My training included regular runs of 3KMs daily for 5 days of the week typically Monday through Friday, a rest on Saturday and a long endurance run on Sunday to wrap it up for the week. I remember my first long run to be 5 KM at the end of which I was pretty happy with myself. But this was just a start with lot more to cover. I constantly ran the regular runs and gradually increased my longer runs setting targets high enough to challenge me and low enough to be achievable at a go. One thing that I took out of all the training sessions is that long distance running not only depends on your physical strength but a lot on your mental strength too. Soon enough I was putting in 12 KMs in my long runs and was happy with my progress.

April, 2015 : Regular with my training and gradually working on my stamina, I had come a long way from never attempting 5 KMs in a single go to running 15 odd KMs in a session. Now was the time to test my legs out for the big event. I knew that if I ran more than 20 KMs even once in training that would help me a lot mentally for the actual run. I decided to give it a try and was succesful in running 10 laps of 2.2 in my first attempt. That day I knew I was going to complete my first HM no matter what. I kept training steadily through the month at the end of which I had to move to Bangalore for the summers.

May, 2015 : In moving between places and setting up a stay at Bangalore, I lost 1 week of practice. But I joined the company gym where I was interning as soon as possible and resumed my practice on a treadmill given that I couldn’t find a track in my vicinity. Training continued and I came across a post announcing a 10 KM run which was just the thing I wanted as an experience before a big run like HM. So I went out there and throughly enjoyed my first run. Around the same time, Thump — Corporate Sports announced their annual running event on 28th June and I made no delay in registering for the event.

28th June, 2015 : Finally the day of the run came and I arrived at the venue wondering whether I would be able to complete what I was soon going to find out a tough trail. But the atmosphere there with people getting ready, encouraging one another swept every doubt out of my mind. There were families out there with all the members with the husband and spouse to their kids gearing up for the run which was really inspiring. The final call was made and we started running what was an serene and entralling scenery trail complemented well by the always awesome Bangalore weather. I smoothed past my first 10K with complete strangers greeting each other with a thumbs up and cheering for one another.

At the 13 KM marker came an extreme uphill which was to last for 4 KMs which was the toughest part of the run. But, I had months of training with me which pushed me constantly ahead even though my body was starting to give up now that the sun was up. The last KM of the run was the easiest with all the fellow runners, traffic regulators and even the locals cheering us up to not give up after all. Passing that finishing line was a memorable experience and I had finished the longest official run of my life. I knew this was just the start, but the first will always be a special experience. I’ll end this piece with an inspiring quote from the book Born to Run (which is an amazing book BTW, do try it out if you haven’t already!)

My learnings

• If you are in doubt that you can’t, you just read my story! I had average physical abilities but I still made it.
• I’ll reiteratre, Never run longer distances on asphalt. You may try it out every now and then but don’t go for it regularly.
• Long distance running involves preparing yourself not only physically but mentally too.
• You already know running helps a lot healthwise, but the satisfaction at the end of a good run is just unmatchable.

“If you don’t think you were born to run you’re not only denying history. You’re denying who you are.”
― Christopher McDougall, Born to Run

I’ll leave you with this interesting comic by The Oatmeal and this amazing answer on Quora!

Till next time,
~Aman

Originally published at amananiket.com.