Why I Run

"I believe God made me for a purpose. But he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure. To win is to honor him" - Eric Liddell

I saw Chariots of Fire in 1994 for the first time. I have never been more inspired to run as much, although my own story is closer to Fauja Singh's than Eric Liddell's!

Fauja began running to get over the sadness of his wife's passing away, while I was running away from something! One of the several stories I narrate about why I began running is this one - While I played football at IIML, I realised that I was running more than anyone else on the field trying to be in step with the best forwards on the rival teams, being a defender. Although I could always eventually catch up, I did little else. So I thought I should atleast be dedicatedly running and quit running around!

The road along the perimeter of IIML is 2800 m and I had started completing it in about 14 mins when I started and was steadily improving.

And then my brother who had taken up running seriously told me about the Cooper's test..

I realised that for the first time in life, there was something I could do which borders on above average physical fitness. So I began running the course as regularly as possible. And my best friend during my days at IIML, Abraham kept me company for most runs serving as some kind of a pacemaker. And in those days, I thought that if I could do a 5 min mile, that would be it. Much later I realised that short runs were not my forte. My best at 2800 m was 10:39, when I ran alone. I never again went under 11 mins!

Running has helped me remain fit. It has also cleansed me of a depressive tendency which dominated me for much of my engineering days primarily stemming from the lack of an outlet for expending myself. It has added to developing a sense of action and a stronger mind since I run more on determination and less on fitness.

I believe in the Steve Prefontaine (Pre) style for inspiration. Here are some quotes which paraphrase his approach -

"A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. "

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. "

And finally, another quote which perhaps best sums my reason to run ->

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."

At the time of his death at a young age of 24, Pre held 14 American Track and Field Records from 2,000 meters to 10, 000 meters.

There's a certain exhilaration that comes from endomorphines coursing through your veins that can't be described or matched by anything else. Maybe, I am addicted to a drug produced by my own body! Now that's what I call a healthy addiction.