Tuesday, October 30, 2012

A chronic exercise shirker becomes a reluctant runner

IIMB run
I have always been a person who hasn't pursued any physical activity or fitness regimen beyond one or two months. I did a stint of aerobics about a decade ago and a four month stint at the gym last year. Some sporadic instances of walking and jogging in between these two along with a few weeks of Yoga here and there to add seasoning to my 'non-exercise' life. And that was about it.

My NRI sister had been hounding me since the past five years to get into running. On her advice I had tried out a little bit of running for a couple of days and given up. She had even got me all the running gear to inspire me to start running. My other NRI sister also got me sweats and walking shoes to get me to start walking at the very least. Bit their attempts failed each time.

My neighbour Pani was an avid cycling enthusiast and he had inspired my husband Ashok to take up cycling. I continued to watch the whole group setting out on long cycling expeditions every weekend. But I never got inspired to join them as the continuous excuse I had was that I have severe back problems which might get aggravated due to cycling.

After a year of cycling, Pani joined the Runner's High group, one year ago. During the last one year I had been watching him and then his wife Rashmi every weekend from the side lines and had even made tall claims that these two are absolute, raving mental cases to run like steam engines. Even though they asked me to join them, I didn't show any interest. The next attempt was made by my sister in law Anu, who joined the KTM marathon training sessions. She gave me a long talk and finally convinced and inspired me to join the bandwagon and finally I can proudly say that I am among the hundreds of total lunatics who wake up on a weekend at 4 AM from a perfectly good sleep and ruin a gorgeous Sunday morning by running their shoes and socks out!

It all began with Anu sending me the on line registration form, which I filled diligently and finally decided that this is it, its now or never. Finally the time has come for me to do something about my health and get into the fitness regimen. I had several self doubts and had a feeling all along that I might discontinue and might leave it in between. But I decided that this time I will not fall prey to my hubris of procrastination and quitting. I will start the training and continue and become a true "Runner for Life".

I thank Anu for being after me and hounding me till I joined. But for her ceaseless enthusiasm, incessant motivation, relentless follow ups and pep talks I would have found a way to wiggle out of this and I really admire her for her concern for my health and well being. Also a big thank you to my sisters for always being after me to take care of my health. And last but not the least, a very big thank you to Pani and Rashmi whose company and the sparkling and lively conversations that we have during our drives to and back from the runs have kept my interest alive and has kept me motivated to run better and strive for higher levels of fitness.

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