Reinvent – Series

It is easier said than done.

My previous blog Reinvent touched many readers and they could relate to the topic. Thank you for the feedback. So, here is another blog related to the same topic.

Reinvent – the word looks very interesting, and the concept can create a buzz in our mind to do something about it.  It is a piece of cake, provided, you have some clarity on what you need and ready to work towards it. At times, it is good to look around, observe and decide on what you can take up. I am planning to cover stories of some common people like you & me. Will be writing about the hobbies/activities that they have taken up, to come out of the routine tasks and their experience with the change. Hence, the title for this blog is Reinvent- Series.

Before starting with other people, I am sharing my own journey. Here is my experiment with Run.

Run

I used to run when I was in school, participated in races and enjoyed it. As I grew up and went through the different phases like college, office, motherhood, the joy of running went somewhere down the memory lane and I have lost the touch with it.

One fine day, my friend asked me whether we can register for the 10-kilometer run. As I was immersed in mundane activities, it was a totally different thing to take up and sounded exciting.  With little pep talk, she could convince me, and I registered for the Run. So, the first step was taken in a new direction.

After reaching home, I told my family about this and they were happy to see me with such excitement of something new! I was thinking about the Run, while sleeping too.  My mind started questioning me… based on what you have registered for the Run? You have not run for almost 15+ years, you do not have time to practice, not enough fitness to complete 10K, you have small kids to take care and so on…It is easy to get bogged down by our own mental chatter. If the resistance is from outsiders, we try to defend ourselves. But, when the inner critic takes over and starts questioning, we tend to surrender. It requires more energy to face ourselves.

However, I thought of giving it a try and run in the early morning. On Friday, I kept the shoes and dress ready before I went to sleep. I wanted to get up early and start so that I won’t get embarrassed if I could not run well. Next morning, December weather was trying to convince me to stay at home. Somehow, I pushed myself out in the dark and cold weather around 5:30 am.  I could hardly jog for 300 meters, I was aghast! All the years of sitting in the office for 9 hours and juggling with household chores, have left me with this kind of fitness! Decided to face it anyway and continue running.  Started walking, when I could not take a breath to jog further. Continued to move run/walk for 30 minutes and came home with a determination to get fit for 10K run.

My morning adventures continued for two weeks and a day came when I could jog without any walking break for about 2 km. I was so happy, celebrated the joy with my family. I even told my colleagues in office that I reached the milestone. Had gradual progress and the within 40 days of registering for the race, I was ready to face the day of 10k Run.

Spoke to my friends, made arrangement to reach the race location and wanted to sleep early so that I could get at up at 3:00 am to reach the location on time. To my surprise, excitement was too much to handle, I could not sleep. I kept looking at the clock every 30 minutes! By the time, I was a little drowsy, and the alarm rang.  Felt the pain in my legs, had a slight headache and burning eyes. Enthusiasm towards the run took over, got ready and reached the location on time. It was all women run event and it was a delight to see thousands of ladies who have come to participate. It was a place to be! Women with the Run Day T-shirt, foot-tapping music from loudspeakers, stalls decked up for selfie-takers and medals of completion, so much excitement in the air! It gave me the much-needed adrenaline rush to start and finish the run. I could complete my first 10k in 68 minutes!

I was very happy, took plenty of photos with friends and fellow runners.  Completion medal was my pride! My kids were happy to see me with a medal. I did boast about it with my family, friends, and neighbors :o)

Thus, the journey started. I got new friends due to this and got interested in shopping for running gears. Developed interest in reading about fitness, food, and practice.  Started registering for the different race and within two years, I could finish my first 21k run.

This journey from 300 meters to 21 kilometers, came with a lot of benefits. It had transformed me, both physically and mentally. Though it seems that running is all about physical fitness, it requires mental stamina. When we get tired, the mind starts pestering us to stop.  To push our limits and continue to run, we need to convince ourselves that we can do it.

This is one of my stories on reinventing, others are on the way. However, before that, I will be writing about the experience of people around me. What change they have made in their life to reinvent themselves and their impact on them. Stay tuned for more insights.

If you have your own story on reinventing and want to share it, please contact me at blog.resonanceoflife@gmail.com

—Anitha KC

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