In the hills, with the pines whispering, almost calling out to me, and the clean air giving me a boost, despite the altitude, running is not as difficult as you would imagine.
This half marathon in Mukteshwar (at over 2,000 metres), Uttarakhand, had not been easy to train for though: the last many months had been spent in a whirl of setting up house in Gurgaon, after being away from the country for a few years. I had had a sprain and had not been able to train as much as I would have liked to. Plus, I had never run in the hills. But when a friend mentioned it, my husband and I decided it might be fun.
The beginning
I started running only in my 40s—unless you can count all the running I did around my two kids!
But fitness enthusiasts tend not to.
In school, I never was any good at athletics, though I played everything else, from basketball to kho-kho.
In the three decades that followed, there was walking and gym-ing, but never running. Until my husband’s office decided to sponsor all their employees and their spouses for the first Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in 2007. The bug bit and I have been running ever since—at first mostly on the road, and now, mainly in the gym.
Because timing hasn’t been my driving force, I have never had a coach or followed a plan. I simply run, pushing myself on days I feel I can. I don’t set out saying ‘I will do 10 km today.’ I let my body dictate that. With most of us, the problem is starting out. Once you’re out, you can push yourself with little goals.
I tell myself: ‘Run upto that tree’; or ‘Run until the man crosses the gate’; or ‘Run until you get to 5 k.’
I practised solely on the treadmill for the hill run, about four times a week, using the incline facility, to train and target those specific muscles.
Out in the open
I don’t plug myself into music, and in the hills, where I ran for the first time, I could enjoy Nature, whether it was the chirping of birds, or the feel of the wind on my face. When you’re just concentrating on these, they touch your senses on a different level. Besides running, I also strength-trained, which helped in the recovery of my sprained ankle. I learnt the importance of it many years ago, much before fitness became popular, when an enthusiastic trainer helped me strengthen the whole body, not just the legs, explaining how you don’t just run with the legs, but every part of the body.
Active teenager trail running along rocky path high in the picturesque mountain wilderness of the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales.
Keeping fit
Besides building the body (it helps that I am a dietician and I know how to eat right while eating everything), running has a lot to do with mind power. The camaraderie in the hills was phenomenal—much more than any I’ve ever seen, with everyone pushing you on, sometimes stopping to say a kind word, with local kids offering you berries and cheering you. I met a trainer who was struggling with her run. We exchanged life stories, and when we met at the finish line, we had a mini celebration. Sport is all about this and about keeping you young, in mind and body.
