I started running more than a decade ago to achieve sustained fitness. I enjoyed running more than I thought I would actually and got addicted to it quickly. Surprisingly, in addition to fitness, I got a meditative experience, which makes running my stress buster. It did not stop there. When you work hard in want of something and you do get it, your mind craves for more. The marathon bug bit me too.
I once heard a joke about marathons. They say that a marathon race is akin to a show where the audience pays for the show and also performs in the show. It is true in a sense, but there is more to it than meets the eye.
I thought marathon is not for everyone, specifically me, until I took the courage to register for my first half-marathon a decade ago. I huffed and puffed during most part of the race but managed to complete it successfully. The runner’s high from the race easily outweighed the pain that followed the run.
I still cherish the finisher medal from my first half marathon. Soon marathons became a regular in my running calendar and an added motivation for my running workouts. I have run many half marathons and a couple of full marathons till date. I continue to run races, though I restrict myself to just one or two every year to avoid burnout.
Every race, right from the first one, teaches something new, but the ultimate lesson is the right preparation for the race. Practice starts slowly several months ahead of the race, peaks a few weeks before and then tapers down during the days leading up to the race day.
In addition to the weekly run days with targeted mileage, strength and cross training days are part of the plan. Runners naturally set or revise their goals during the final phase of the preparation and the goal is definitely not about winning the race.
Leaving aside the small strength of professional athletes or elite runners, most participants run for their own goals, which is mostly setting a new personal best or personal record (PB or PR). Improving the PB by even five minutes could be extremely satisfying. Some people run to set a PR which would qualify them to run any of the major marathons around the globe. And many run to just complete the enduring distance and not end up in the DNF (did not finish) list.
In fact, the term race here is a misnomer as most people run to meet their personal objectives as opposed to race over the other runners or to attain a podium finish.
It is astounding to see thousands of people assemble in the early hours on race day. It creates an euphoria of ambience, which gets the adrenaline kicking and pumping before the race. Once the race is flagged off and the race timer ticks, there is a bit of chaos when every runner starts to run with the crowd. The chaos withers in some time and everyone settles to their own comfortable pace.
From that point on, their only thoughts are the road ahead and their self-objectives. Every completed kilometre seems like a milestone. When they get to the end, runners brush aside all the pain and sprint to get to the finish line. When they do, they feel an immense burst of endorphins comparable to none.
It is given that every race is a learning experience for the runners but it also teaches an important lesson for life. Irony is that marathoners, among all people, hardly realise it.
Wouldn’t life be a lot better if people consider every challenge in life as a marathon, setting similar self-objectives, preparing themselves and working to meet their own goals rather than competing against one another to get to the finish line first? Marathon is not a rat race, life needn’t be either!
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