WHY DO I RUN ?

 Why do I run ?  Recently ,after I realised my dream of running a half marathon, by successfully completing 5th Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, I asked myself this question over and over again . I think if there was ever a time to reflect on it, this is it.

 

I would have been around 14 years  when the idea of becoming a soldier had formalised in my mind , though it had  germinated some time  back ,and since  as per the  prevalent perception, then and even now, I had to be physically  fit.  However my  Class Tenth preparation had left me nowhere near  that  shape ,so in the summer vacations, after the exams ,  I stared going for a jog in the cantonment , Garhi Cantt , which was very close to where we stayed in Dehra : Tilak road   next to Bindal Bridge to be precise . The Garhi Cantt was and still is , like all other Cantonments in India,  a very beautiful place.

 

For most of the kids of my age then in Doon , going for morning walks in summers  also used to be the   friends time .It was kind of ” in” thing  , then, to go for morning walks in summer vacation where  you would find all kinds of people , from giggly girls , roadside Romeos to aunties trying to get back in shape overnight, in various kinds of attire including nighties , turning up for the morning walks  . Anyhow since I was among the serious souls , I  started jogging . I used to start from Bindal Bridge where the road   would turn towards Cantt, jog towards Doon school on a slight incline with a dilapidated Police station to my left. I would get out of breath pretty soon because of incline. I would   continue till Lal Gate and turn immediately left after that to a Kuchha track to come out to my school Cambrian Hall's playground .  I would reach back via Tel Bhavan at the same spot from where I  had started, completely shagged out . This would take me around forty minutes . Initially it was tough but I was getting used to the release of endorphins which  I never knew would get me soon addicted for life .The baby fat  started to melt and I liked the change. I did also manage to convince two more guys to run with me who would later very soon  give up to continue to stay with books . This routine of jogging however  was only restricted to  two seasons, that is summer vacations after class   tenth and  eleventh .

 

After joining NDA , National Defence Academy, immediately after class 12, I realised that my body type with thick thighs , shorter legs and  longer torso were not at all meant for middle or long distance running. It was really difficult for  me to  run cross country , a distance of 12 km  where I would always land up in fifth enclosure , (enclosures are a two minute windows for cadets to trickle in), so fifth enclosure would be 10 minutes after the first  cadet reaches the finish line, and once I even landed in   sixth enclosure . As if this was not humiliating enough, poor runners were really looked down in NDA, I could never improve my running when all my friends were improving enclosures with the passage of time. I would always stay at the bottom. Cross country was the first and main event in NDA besides being very prestigious. Hence I would always be looked down upon during cross country practices, which last for about first two months of a five months term in the NDA . Thank god for small mercies that I was never branded a Shaggo , colloquial term in NDA for a physically weak cadet , as I was reasonably okay in all  other forms of physicals. For all those who think that running  like everything else lies in the mind . I don’t agree with any of you, I think a particular body type does get to play a major role in the way you physically exert .

 

The same sad story continued in IMA ,Indian Military Academy, too and in fact I remember I used to barely manage to pass BPET(Battle Physical Efficiency Test) which involves a 5 km run in battle gear with personal weapon under 30 minutes, with under 25  minutes being time for excellent. For first five hundred meters I would always be among the first  few to make up for what I was going to loose later, in fact that was  my style of running in NDA too, but after the initial burst I would be ‘had’ .In fact I had to struggle to pass the confirmatory test for BPET in third term where in, even my company commander, a Major from Signals ridiculed me by saying that I had wasted  my three years in NDA.

 

There was no change  in situation when I got commissioned. In  the  first BPET, Battle Phsical Efficiecy Test, as an officer I was in ‘Excellent’ but in second BPET I was in ‘Good’ . BPET is a physical efficiency  used in Indian Armed Forces on a regular basis  which includes running , sprinting and climbing with expectation based on age . For a young officer in Army this test is one of the barometer for acceptance by your men as their leader. 

 First year in the service in 1993, like with almost all of us , saw me doing  many things from Long Range Patrols ( man pack trekking of 12 days ) to taking part in Football and Basketball competition . As a result when I went to Panagarh  on posting after the attachment period of one year with Infantry , I was in pretty good shape .Panagarh was and I guess is still a God forsaken place in West Bengal. That way Army is good in showing you  a lot of god forsaken places. It was a vast cantonment and my Unit was in one corner .The place was so pathetic that at times there was no electricity for a  full week .There I took up to running almost regularly , where I would mostly jog at a leisurely pace .In the first  BPET which was common for the complete station I did not run fast in the beginning since this time there was no performance anxiety , which many of us have experienced first hand,  is a real downer. I started slowly but soon I realised that I could run faster after I warmed up and I did. To my utter surprise  I  came first in officers and fifth in overall category . That day onwards I completely changed the way I ran way that I would now run slowly for some time till the time body warms up and get into a rhythm , as easy as that A total change from what I had been doing for years before that. I started loving  it, as an exercise . In fact till this day I find it  to be the best thing to clear my head.

 

Thereafter where ever I went or rather  Army sent me , I would whenever possible try to get to a routine of  jogging to get my fix  and to stay fit. Over a period of time, as now, whenever I ran I would run okay and not like a Shaggo, and did I absolutely love the change .

 

I have beautiful memories of running wherever I was posted to. Running  on the road from COD, Central Ordnance Depot , officers Mess  to Gun Carriage factory in Jabalpur ,on the mountain opposite Ammunition Point in Poonch, on the sandy landscape inside the Ammunition Company at night at Jaisalmer where even at 8 pm the winds were hot, on the circuitous route of Sita Pahari in Jabalpur ,running on the perimeter and inside Ammunition Depot  at Jallandhar, tea gardens adjacent to our unit in Jorhat. Now of course, running on and around Shanti path , Raj path in New Delhi and in Leisure Valley with Nishant, my friendand  a runner himself , who incidentally was instrumental  in helping me realise the dream of a half marathon.

 

There were   times when I would   run just to clear my head or run away from the World. I would  go for a small jog if I was pissed at my boss , would run before  a big party and would try to jog after the binges  too. Its one of my best times when I am me and I am not available to anyone else. If  I was not  okay with something in my life , a jog will make it better and of course nothing clears your mind and body  of alcohol better than a small jog.

 

So much so that I now carry a pair of sneakers on vacations too, so that in case there is  need to clear my head of alcohol,  the gear  is always handy. They have in occasions, more than few, proved very handy.

 

But the moot question remains , I still do wonder what is it that I like in running that gets to me and why should I run when I can relax  like others? Why  should I indulge in a monotonous looking   exercise wearing off my knees and the juice  in them? Why on earth I would agree to Nishant to run on a Sunday morning when I had partied the night before and slept late?

 

 I did ponder over these question and fortunately for this one, I guess,  I recently found the real answer  after I read a quote somewhere. The answer is  that apart from the fact that it helps me to stay fit , which in turn allows me to drink and smoke guiltlessly , and  gives me another fix , “Running gives me freedom from the  world and its lies  , when I run I am totally with me ,listening to myself, when I run I determine my own tempo, course and think whatever I want  and no one  ever gets to tell me what to do”

WRITTEN :DEC 12 , After the first and only half marathon