The 'Dosa' Tragedy!

"Oh no! Not again!" This was what he felt every day at the lunch table. For him lunch was a deja vu experience. Why? His mom made him dosa. Every day!

Monday, he opens his lunch box to find dosa. Tuesday, dosa again. Wednesday, oh man, it's dosa. Thursday, seriously! Dosa. Friday, "Yeah, yeah! It's dosa!"

This was the everyday tragedy of one of my colleagues, until he got married. Now he's a happy man. No guesswork needed why! With his wedding vows, he vowed not to look at dosa anymore! His wife makes him everything but dosa.

When I Almost Had A Baby!

"Push, come on! Push! You're doing really well, now push," he said. I say I want a break. He says I've got 5 secs... 1... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5. "Push!" And I push hard.

But wait, I'm not in the labor room. I'm running in Bangalore's Cubbon Park on a pleasant Saturday morning! What you just read was a dialogue between my husband and me midway during my attempt to run an "easy" 10K. It sure was an easy run for my runner husband, but it was more of a struggle for me.

And I ran. Jogged. Crawled. But walking was something I could not ask for. "You're a runner. Did you get up so early in the morning and come so far to WALK? RUN." Every time I asked for a 5 sec walk break, his counting went from 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 to 1.2.3.4.5, 1.2.5, 1.5. Numbers started disappearing from my precious 5 seconds and the generosity came to an end with "not allowed to walk anymore." So I ran. Or I tried. And reached 9K. Somehow!

That "I'm going to die" feeling crept in. But with the constant "push" ringing in my ears, I pushed. Finally, husband said "Only 200 meters." Then "Only 100 meters." ONLY! These numbers look and feel beautiful in math, they make calculations so easy. But when it's the last bit left in a run, it's as difficult as remembering the value of pi, 3.14159 26535 89793 23846. Now you know what I mean!

My takeaway from this 10k run is that it's extremely important to run with someone. Even better if it's someone better than yourself. It might be painful, but it won't kill you! Otherwise it's easy to give up. Unless you have extraordinary will power, iron legs, and lungs of a blue whale. I don't. So I chose to run with the fastest runner in my family.

It was painful, no doubt. But as they say "No pain, no gain." Bittersweet pain, I shall see you again!

I Ran

"Am I climbing a mountain, only faster? Oh my God, look at that slope; I can see the whole world from here. And I have to run on THAT elevation. WHAT!" This is only a fraction of what was going on in my brain, which I'm quite sure was bobbing up and down in my skull with every step I took.

I ran my first timed 10k with Ajmera Life Is Calling Half Marathon & 10K. And I'm alive! Considering the elevation chart of the race course, I was quite sure I'm going to die running.

Having started running only in May 2014, thanks to my awesome runner husband for inspiring me, participating in this event was a big thing for me. A hundred different thoughts troubled me before race day. "Will I be able to run the whole distance? Will my ankles, the thinnest parts of my body, be able to take the whole, heavy 65kgs on them? Will I be the last to finish the race?"

While I was crawling, there were runners who were flying. I could see wings on their feet. Oh, wait, I must have been hallucinating seeing the slope ahead!

Although I hated the slopes, I loved the whole experience. It was most wonderful to see so many people, all ready to rock it and run on a Sunday morning when their peers must have been well asleep. The organizers had done an impressive job too. The aid stations were at every 2km, and the cheering group dancing to the drums did bring a smile to many a runners' faces. There were ambulances, internal medicine facilities with beds, and physicians and physiotherapists to help the worn out runners. And of course, the breakfast. It was the best I had after any running event. It was overall a great Sunday morning indeed.

Coming back to running. When you're running your first race, even if not for competing or a podium finish, doing it takes some self-motivation. And motivate myself I did, before and during the run! Finishing the 10K run in 1hr 21mins is one of my biggest achievements since I've ventured into the world of running. I've taken the first step. And I'm not going to stop.