Dr Shweta Patil
I have been running practically my whole life. During school days, because of mandatory sports period and sports day, I have been trained to be physically active and it has stuck with me since. One thing out of many, that I am grateful for. What we learn during our early childhood and school days stays for a lifetime. Apart from sports, habits that have stuck with me since childhood, thanks to my school and home, are reading books, avoiding junk foods, solving puzzles, trying new hobbies, taking risks, to name a few.
I do enjoy an occasional game of badminton. But running is my exercise of choice. Mainly because, being an introvert, I don’t have to rely on a partner or a team. All I need to run is a pair of good running shoes, and headphones with my playlist. It teaches me to enjoy my own company, especially when I am feeling down. Everything I need to cheer myself up is within me. A good cure of depression or boredom or loneliness.
On the days when I am really down or lazy, I have conditioned myself to just get up and step out. Once out on the road, muscles and the brain automatically take the hint and it gets easier to run. It applies to other sports too. I hit the gym 4 days a week, training all muscles. This applies to life as well. When I am dreading to do something I am supposed to do but don’t want to do, I know,from the experience of running, that by just getting out, I will be able to go through it. Most of the time, difficult tasks are not as difficult as our mind perceives them to be. Our mind has genetically evolved to keep us safe, to survive, not to take up challenges. So it’s up to us to go against the tide, to face the difficulties, to face the fears and still be able to do them. After the first step, it just gets easier. When it feels difficult, just focus on one step at a time.
I take pride to say that I am a continuous runner, without taking breaks or without walking. Not a fast runner, but definitely a long distance runner. The first three-fourth is easier. The last couple of legs take a toll on both body and mind. The real challenge. Running turns around everything inside out, in the body and the mind. I start to hate everything around me. Small sounds or the sun, the sweat building up, everything feels a burden. One rule I follow is to keep going no matter what. Because I know at the end of the run, it’s always the same. A sense of satisfaction, pride, and the most important is the peace of mind it brings.
So to speak, I am a slow but long distance runner. Even when running in a race, I try not to compete with other runners, but try to outdo my previous pace. As long as I achieve my personal best, I am happy. I don’t get defensive anymore in life as well.
As I mentioned before, running acts on both the body and the mind. For me, running is a meditation. While running, thoughts just pass through the mind like clouds in the sky. What I think during hours of long distance running is nothing specific. Random thoughts just arise and pass by. After finishing a run, it’s like a calm after the storm. No overthinking, no over-reacting. Just calm. Many times this acts like a motivation for me to start a run or keep going.
What good in life comes without a challenge? I know I have to build callous hands and legs and callous my mind to lift weights, to run, to go through life. Being soft will take me nowhere.
My life has significantly changed due to sports. I am not afraid of pain. I don’t expect it to be easy. I keep on adding challenges by increasing my pace or distance or running uphill.
I don’t want to merely survive or exist. I want to break barriers. So running has taught me my limits and that my limits are not fixed, that I can push my limits by just keep going. Running taught me to push my limits and to know when to stop, to live my life to the fullest and to live in the moment, to win humbly and lose gracefully.
(The writer is a Medical Officer at Mawsahew PHC, Sohra)
