Today was my greatest run. Not because today I ran the longest or farthest in my life. But because I had all but given up on today’s race after about 2 Kms. There was such excruciating pain I started feeling in my legs after about 15 mins into the run, that it became impossible to run even for 2-3 mins at a stretch.
I don’t know the reason why it happened. I want to blame it on non-fitting shoes and me not doing proper warm up before running. But the most important thing is that at the end, I didn’t give up. I decided to stay on the field for about 80 odd mins even if I have to cover the whole distance walking.
And believe me, I just don’t like walking for long during my runs. But walk I did, for 5-10 mins after running for just 2-3 mins. There was so much pain in the lower leg that it was difficult to even walk but I didn’t give up. I had made up my mind that I would make this run count (after giving up on a friend’s plan of eating his homemade pizza).
And something extraordinary happened after about 55 mins. I started running but the pain had become manageable now, so I easily ran for 5 then 10 then 15 mins. And after that I just kept running for 45 odd mins until I finished the race.
I had mentally prepared myself to stop after about 10 Kms, but then I took on the challenge and completed over 7 miles (today’s target run), ending up running for over 100 mins covering 12+ Kms.
Those who say that marathons show the true human spirit are right, I just experienced it today. I believe this experience will give me the strength in my future difficult situations, not just running but elsewhere as well.
Right now, I remember Martin Luther King’s quote:
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
But I have to figure out what the hell is wrong with my feet. I don’t want to go through the pain I experienced today, again. Also, today I just ran in a 2 Kms circuit in multiple laps over and over again.
This one's for you... 