It all started on October 2, 1999. I was in my early forties then, quite late in life, but not very late. I started four major daily habits on that day: walking and jogging was one of them.
Now, I have logged roughly 35,000 km since I started in 1999. In my younger days, I participated in several cross-country walks of more than 500 km each. During the past 15 years, I have been alternating between walking and jogging. Wherever I stayed, at home or elsewhere, the first 90 minutes of the day after I wake up, are reserved for my walks. On several days, I even continue in the evenings. I never go to any trip, even if it is for a day, without my walking shoes.
All along, I had only been walking and sprinting on my own for several years without bothering about events and tournaments. My sons found my walking and jogging regimen impressive and suggested that I start running half marathons. In fact, without waiting for my response, they registered me for a half marathon in Coimbatore Marathon in October, 2014. I was a bit sceptical, though I was confident of finishing. In that maiden half marathon, I finished around 900 out of 1100 participants in 3 hours and 54 minutes.
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A couple of months later, I was once again registered for Chennai Marathon in December, 2014. This time, I improved my time to 3 hours 28 minutes. During the Auroville Marathon scheduled for February 8, I hope to improve my timing further.
It’s never too late to start running: in fact, many of the senior citizens who participate started their training after retirement. Start in a small way: walking for 15 minutes, slowly increasing, then jogging for short distances, then slightly longer. Take your time and give yourself a break if you develop pains or complications and then start again.
The benefits of walking and jogging are too good to ignore — great for your heart, improves your immunity manifold, brings in a lot of personal discipline, keeps your insulin secretion optimal, and above all, it is real fun.
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It’s easy to commence any good fitness programme, but much more difficult to sustain it. Stress more on sustaining your regimen. Don’t worry about the scale of your effort, just keep going on a daily basis. Come what may, never abstain.
Keep logging your activity. Seeing your performance and progress in a journal is a great motivation.
If you have a smart phone, install an app to monitor your progress. You will certainly create records and then better them. The high you achieve after every major running activity has to be experienced to believe. It is yours, everyday, if only you can motivate yourself.
It is possible to get addicted to this wonderful habit. Once you become an addict, the intoxication you derive out of it will be divine. So go ahead, get addicted.