Why Running?

PRELUDE: If you are looking for one of those ‘I hated sports all my life and look at me now’ story’s you are reading the wrong blog! I was the girl who could play any sport I was introduced to – swimming, badminton, tennis, squash, skating, cycling, football, volleyball, basketball etc. But it was the unglamorous world of Field Athletics that took me beyond the boundaries of my school playground. Then, I grew up and got sucked into corporate rat-races – not a real sport, but then neither is professional sports really a ‘profession’ in our country unless one is a cricketer, is it? :)

So, the real running story began after I had won part of the corporate rat-race!

THE STORY: After spending something-teen years in the travel industry, some years ago, one day I ended up at the wrong airport. The quickest way for me to get to the right one was to run. Well, I didn’t just almost miss that flight; I also almost had a cardiac arrest running for just a kilometer. I took a good look at myself – I was still at my peak pregnancy weight, using my ‘just-born’ 6 year old daughter as the reason for being over-weight telling the world ‘but she was delivered by c-section’!

It wasn’t just that – I love to wear what I love to wear (except Jimmy Choo shoes) and the problem with the human anatomy is that we can see how others look but not how we look (yup, that’s why photography was invented)!.. And, here I was imagining that I look like Cindy Crawford when I really looked like an eggplant. So that is the incredible and rocking story of how I returned to sports – squash to be precise – with Raghu, my brother-in-law (our families are so increibly lucky to have not one but two sports stars – us)! We started running a little bit so that I could lose weight to get faster on the court and thrash him at squash. The only way I ever succeeded in thrashing him was by aiming the ball at him or with my racquet!

Then that silly boy went and became an entrepreneur and started skipping our play dates. That was really when I started to run more and more. The rest as they say is HISTORY!

So here is why I am still running

• After dropping 2 sizes down, I can aspire to get to a Cindy Crawford size, at least before I turn 50 – even if eat my kids’ stock of chocolates.
• It allows me to show off with non-runners like nothing else does
• I can challenge most 25 year olds to a 25 km race, especially when they throw up idiotic comments like ‘Age is just a number!’ – as if I am some 40+ year old ‘aunty’!
• I don’t have to suffer television soap operas because I am busy running!
• I save a lot of money because my weekends are spent on dirt tracks instead of expensive shopping malls.
• I don’t have to stay in bed because I have three herniated discs
• I can get a ‘high’ without having to smoke weed!
• I don’t need to go for Anger Management classes because running somehow makes EVERYTHING alright – even when I want to put someone on the electric chair.
• It allows me to take my cacophony from the bathroom to the streets as I enjoy my music uninterrupted.
• I love the energy of races – and of course of my medals.
• It is the perfect loner’s sport and the perfect group sport!
• It is the one thing I can do anytime, anywhere with as little equipment as possible – all I need is I, me, myself!

And, what do I really want from running

• More racing and medals
• A race on every continent
• A sub 2 hours Half Marathon (yes I am a really slow runner and so are my Personal Record aspirations)
• Graduation to full marathons at 42! (You can follow this story here )
• Injury free running
• A huge fan following – obviously! :)

P.S – About these (and all my other) picture(s) – I try very hard to look glamorous when I am running - like all the super-models who endorse running events but I rarely have the chance to go to the beautician before a race, so I apologise that I don’t look my best in any of the photos I update. Generally speaking though, I look a diva when I am not being photographed