This blog is my running story. I’m no Mo Farah or Eliud Kipchoge. I wanted to document how and why I started running, how and why I went about making it a routine, and why I probably will continue running in the future. For the many people who’ve asked me how to get into running- this is the story. It probably will not inspire you to get into it, but will give you ideas on whether its worth it or not.

If you just wanna read about me running my half marathon- skip to around 60% of this blog.

As my legs lay recovering from my first ever half marathon I ran yesterday, I thought now would be a good time to blog about it. The marathon is still fresh in memory, and I’m stuck behind my laptop- mostly because of the exhaustion in my legs. Message to future me - I’m an idiot to not stretch well after a half-marathon.

How it started

I started running because of Covid. No doubts about it. I’ve been an eternal complainer about running. Even now, if given an option to run or to play tennis, I’d grab the racquet EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Competing was a big motivation in sports for me growing up, running was, and still is, too boring to replace any group sport. Covid left me with no other alternatives, I either grew fat or ran.

I needed something to force me to run, something like a tracking app or a marathon. No marathons during Covid- so I downloaded Strava. This is probably the single most lifestyle-impacting app I’ve downloaded.

Strava is less of a fitness app, and more of a fitness community. You share runs with friends, give folks Kudos! on their runs, and watch in dismay at folks running 20 kms in speeds you run 3 kms in. The important bit is the fact that you set a standard for yourself, and you visibly see yourself improving.

Strava is about stats, so let me bring them out. Run speeds are measure in minutes/km (or min/miles if you’re a lunatic), a more visceral way compared to km/hr.

My strava says my first run was 2.7 kms, in 18m 24 sec, pace at 6.40 min/km. Key point to note- I ran fast then. I was exhausted by the time my first run finished, and could barely talk by the end of it. My half-marathon pace was 6.15 min/km, for nearly 10 times the distance, and aside from the fact that my legs were ruined, I could talk normally. Looking back, this is pretty freaking awesome (my blog -> my adjectives) to see the growth.

Plus my run was shared with folks on Strava. I had publicly announced my intentions to run, and getting kudos from my 3 followers was something to be proud of. So I started running.

How I continued

Common running rules state that you don’t want to increase your pace by 0.2 min/km or increase your distance by 20% in a day. Common running rules don’t need to be followed for beginners. My runs varied vastly in speed in the initial stages. I found it very difficult to increase distance to 3.5km or a 5k, but pace increases were something which I felt were managable. Rule of thumb- speed=leg muscles, distance = cardio. It takes more time to build cardio, but takes roughly 3-4 days for your legs to get used to more intense workouts.

By around a month (acc to Strava), I was running my 2.7km Chembur route in 17.30 min, roughly at 6.05 min/km. I think I improved more in bursts, than say a steady increase in speed. There were days when I was running at 6.30 min/km, and one day you push yourself to run at 6.10min/km. Now that the faster run is logged on Strava, you make sure you match it the next time you run. Strava is basically peer pressure and self competition on steroids.

Increasing the distances of runs was tougher. It took me roughly 2.5 months and exactly 26 runs to run my first 5k, so stats say I was running roughly every 2nd/3rd day for my first 3 months. I increased to 3.5 kms after 10 runs, and 4.5 after 20. 5k was a adrenaline fuelled extension of a standard 4.5k run.

One thing I distinctly remember about my early runs- the runners high. It’s this mysteriously great feeling you have after you’re done with 80% of your runs. You start enjoying the run, and start running faster towards the end of the run. I would actually sprint for the last 300 odd metres to better my time, fuelled by adrenaline.

Point to note- running can get boring. I CANNOT run without music. I purchased bone-conduction earphones by Aftershockz when I started running more frequently. They don’t block your ears, and are largely zero-noise cancellation, meaning I could move aside when the cars were honking.

I stopped running whenever I had the chance to play other sports. Running cardio is transferable for long tennis matches, and it definitely made me a much better tennis player. The short bursts of accelaration required in football/tennis were something which my legs still struggled with, running cardio isn’t the best if you want to play better football.

Half-Marathon prepping

I started running in July 2020, the first half-marathon I registered for was supposed to be held Jan’9th 2022. That’s roughly 1.5 years of somewhat costant running before I reg’d for my first half-marathon. I could have run one by the end of 2020 if not for covid, but it was more so about me being distracted by tennis that I didn’t register for one.

I don’t want to romanticize running as a sacred activity, a person should play whatever he/she enjoys the most. The unique advantage with running was the fact that it was solitary- finding 10 folks for football or courts/people for tennis was challenging with covid. Additionally, with my job in consulting, which involved crazy hours and very little time, finding time to arrange tennis was impossible. All I had time for was a 30 min jog.

I ran most often on weekdays when I was working. McKinsey didn’t give me the liberty to spend 2 hours scrambling for a court, and the Bangalore weather with the gardens was enticing to run in. I didn’t cross the 7k mark till I registered for a 21k half marathon. I had probably done 10 5k runs when I had registered for the half-marathon, to be run in 1.5 months, but I was confident I could pull it off. I ran 2 5’Ks in week 1, 2 7.5’Ks in week 2, 2 10’Ks in week 3 and completed a 15K just before my Half marathon. I was fairly certain I could push my body to go till 21k. I was excited.

Then omicron happenned. The half marathon was cancelled. Quite gut-wrenching.

I stopped seriously running for around 4 months post omicron, focusing my energy on becoming a better tennis player. Here’s the great thing about running- as long as you aren’t a couch potato for a quarter of a year, you can get back to your earlier running pace in about a week. By the time my next half-marathon had arrived, I was in good enough tennis-fuelled-shape to be ready to run in roughly 2 weeks. For my first half-marathon (yesterday- at the time of me writing this), all I did was run a relatively easy 10k a week prior, and let my muscles rest. I loaded up on Unived power gels, and was relatively confident 21k was achievable.

Half Marathon D-day

The day prior to raceday was a bit nervy, I basically went for a quick 20min run just to bring back some confidence. You get to carb-load a day prior to the half marathon, so I was basically eating without regret for the 2 days before the marathon. I tried to get to sleep by 11 pm (for the 4 am wake-up), but didn’t get much sleep.

Raceday morning was quiet pleasant, I was used to running in the harsh Mumbai heat, so the pre-monsoon coolness of the morning was really encouraging. I reached the venue at around 5am, and spent roughly 15 min getting warmed up. I placed the glucose gels in my pocket, connected my headphones and setup my strava. It was now just me and the road.

I started slow, to get my muscles to warm up. I was very very tempted to start overtaking folks. But if there’s anything I’ve learnt from serious runners, its that no one wins a marathon in the first half hour, but many lose the race in that time. For the first 30 min, I was glancing at my phone every min to make sure I wasn’t pacing too fast to save my legs.

Once the initial adrenaline was done, I think the most enjoyable part of the marathon started. Navi Mumbai is quite charming early in the morning, and having Palm Beach road to myself as I watched the sun rise over the concrete jungle Navi Mumbai is was quite fulfilling. The pre-monsoon haze coupled with the unusually clear pollution free morning air made the run feel more like a stroll in the mountains.

I was 30 min into my run, having gone past the 5k mark according to my strava when I began overtaking folks. I probably went ahead of about 50 people who has slowed to a crawl- my early restraint was paying off.

A great thing about running marathons is that random strangers and runners start cheering for you. There were old uncles and aunties out for their early morning walks clapping for us, organizers giving out water who kept telling us we only had X kms to go, and fellow runners helping out others by chanting a motivating “KEEP RUNNING!! LETS GO!” whenever someone slowed down. At the 1 hour 1 min mark, I had gone past the 10k mark, while being reasonably pain free.

I gobbled up one electrolyte gel, and slowed down a bit for the next 5 kms, so I could push for the last 5. I generally start struggling after the 12k mark, so I wanted to save my legs for this period, and hope that the adrenaline would push me through the last 5. Mind you- I had never crossed the 15k mark ever in life, so I was in uncharted territory.

My first roadblock came around the 14k mark- I hadn’t hydrated enough during the race, and my head seemed to be getting hazy. I stopped for about a min to gulp down half a bottle of water and finished my second electrolyte gel. A min later, I started feeling better and resumed race pace- hydration in Mumbai is key to finish any marathon.

I crossed the 15km mark at around the 1.5 hour mark, and every step I took now would add to my longest ever run. The last 5 kms were where the real struggle started. I started feeling my legs stiffen up, and stopped for 2 mins to stretch them up. BIG MISTAKE. Never completely stop during a marathon - always keep walking. When I tried to restart my legs after the 2 min break- they just didn’t respond. My left thigh was too stiff to add any force to my step, it felt like my mind was telling my leg to push, but my leg didn’t want to. I slowed to a walk, and after about 2 min and half a bottle of water, my muscles loosened up. I was back at my natural pace.

When I crossed the 17k mark, I knew I would finish the race, since I could easily just walk the last 4 kms if I wanted to. This freed my mind, and I tried to speed up, although my legs didn’t comply. Added to this, the last 3 kms had a serious climb, and each step was a struggle. I moved to a slower pace, and let a few folks overtake me.

As I entered the 19km mark, the lack of continuous long distance running these last 3 months really started taking a toll. Each time my left thigh made a mark on the ground, it seemed to be sending shock waves down my body. My ankles were not used to these levels of strain, and any abnormalities/potholes on the road were essentially inviting me to twist my ankle. I had to keep a close watch on the road ahead to make sure I wasn’t taking the paths with ledges or lumps.

With 350 m to go, I had my first glimpse of the finish line. Runner’s high took over, as I sped up. My thighs seemed to be screaming to me as adreneline tried to quench the pain. I honestly didn’t care- I was going to end with a sprint and could take care of my legs later.

100 m. 50 m. 20 m. As the last 10 m approached, I had this sense of satisfaction- I was going to be a half marathon finisher. As I crossed the finish line, I stopped for bit to soak it it. And then I found a bench to sit on. Silently. After you’re done pushing your body and mind to the extremes, I think you need a few minutes of silence to believe it. Others saw you cross the finish line,but you didn’t- you were in a mindless state of exhaustion, and only once some of that exhaustion has been wiped away do you actually realize that you actually finished the race.

I grabbed my medal from the counter, drank in about 4 cups of water, a juice and a glass of milk(why a milk company was sponsoring this idk), and just sat down in the grass. Grabbed a few pictures, talked to some other fellow first time runners and after an hour of just bathing in the hormones, left for home with the medal on my chest.

Long story short- if you ask me to run 21 kms today- I would still complain because of the lazy ass I am. If you ask me if I’m proud of running 21, I most definitely am. It wasn’t fun, prepping wasn’t fun, and watching my legs cramp up later in the evening DEFINITELY wasn’t fun. I’d use another F-word to describe this- fulfilling. You really won’t climb a mountain if you’re blindfolded at the top. Sometimes, it is about the destination.

Anyway, I’ll probably be prepping for a full marathon in the next couple of years- that is gonna pain. Sorry legs.