A run in the park that ain’t a walk in the park

Learning to run may seem quite easy, just like walking in the park, but running in the park ain’t no walk in the park, well unless you do walk in the park, like I did today. The weather in the park can be quite moody, showering with you little drizzles and then vanishing altogether, adding to the humidity. And then you have the slopes and the inclines.

At the start of the race you are all smiles, greeting one another, and hoping, chal atleast ek dang ka picture milna chaiye jismay no t-Rex hands. Around the mid point you have your limbs screaming at you, abhe motay kitna kaam karvayenga tu humse, chal take a deep breath and take in more fresh air. Then at the end you’re limping, you’re crawling, trying to get over that finish lines. You legs are smelling of Violini and have been iced, you try to run but your muscles keep pulling you back, then every ounce of energy left in you pull yourself across that damn line, and even if you have to crawl on all fours you bloody to get over it.

Throughout the race you keep telling yourself to take it easy, taking walk breaks, whose frequency and length seemed to increase. The weather didn’t do you any favour (as if it was going to make it easy for you). You keep cursing with every slope and incline, who plans these routes, who put this incline here, why lord why me... and the list of curses of a weary mind keeps going endless. And when a runner who was quite behind overtake you, you’re tempted to give chase.

They say you should smile all your troubles away. I tried applying that, I am not sure about the success, but I sure did start looking quite freakish, almost like a creepy joker, think Pennywise from It. I was afraid that they would catch me and put me in Arkem. But then you had an awesome set of volunteers who had one time poured cool water down your spine, much to your surprise and delight, and who did an awesome job at it. 

Crossing the finish line (after almost slipping on muck) you begin to analyse your run, especially if you had a run like the one I had, and all I could think of is , abhe sale tu to mota aur budda ho gaya. So now it’s back to the drawing board, but not after preening and posing and screaming and cheering and congratulating.

On a closing note firstly kudos to the BNP Greener Runners for putting together such a well organised and managed event. Thank you all the volunteers and photographers and people who came to cheer. I may be far from my best but I know I can persevere and pull through and today proved just that, I endured through the BNP Endurathon. So now it’s time to drop some weight and train well, but enjoy every run.