The Perfect Distance

The only aim I had when I began running about 6 years ago was the 4 minute mile!
There now – that feels much better.

I realized much later, that it was perhaps an impossible target given a whole lot of physical criteria. I then lowered it to a 5 minute mile in the background of the fact that even today, there aren’t too many runners under the 4 minute barrier.

Anyways, my attention shifted to the marathon almost by accident since I ran the Mumbai half marathon on a whim in 2004 (I had never run more than 8 km at a stretch before that day).
And once I had completed the half, I just had to run the full marathon.

Now the dream is to run a marathon under 3 hours.

Recently I have been wondering what I would do after my first 3 hour marathon whenever it happens. I had been telling myself that I should go for a faster half marathon than I can manage currently since I burn out after that distance. Maybe even a 10K. There are other lifetime targets including learning to play the guitar as well as pace bowling which shall follow the 3 hour marathon, but I can’t really stop running, can I?

This brings me to a story I want to tell. Long ago, I saw the movie Chariots of Fire and the movie left a lasting impact on a fairly impressionable mind, about being focused on one’s aims in life, in general (from Harold Abraham’s story) and being committed to one’s beliefs, while striving towards achievement (from Eric Liddell’s story). This has been a source of inspiration under various circumstances. Today I bought “The Perfect Distance Ovett and Coe: The Record Breaking Rivalry” by Pat Butcher. Reading the first few pages aroused the same kind of excitement I had when I first saw Chariots of Fire. Reading about lap splits for a 800 m and a mile race has left me far too excited to sleep at my usual hour.

I guess I now have an aim for atleast the next decade.