It was the month of August in the year 2016. I was preparing for my first solo trip to Hyderabad and all I wanted at that time was to purchase a DSLR. I had never traveled before and always had this wish that whenever I decided to sneak out of Delhi, I would capture every memory in High Resolution.
As it happens, once you get a DSLR, you eventually start considering yourself as an expert photographer but, I had something different in my mind. I wanted to be an expert videographer. Slowly, I started to divert all my leisure time to learn the art of video editing (yes, all this was happening during my final year at college when I was supposed to study for my placements :P). My Google searches ultimately led me to a guy named Casey Neistat whom everyone referred to as the most creative one. I started following his videos on YouTube. Slowly, my YouTube suggestion feed started filling with his videos. Till this time, I had never run even a hundred meters.
There was something about him and his content, especially Mind Games, a movie about running that made me push my boundaries. I was already under a lot of pressure then, handling my responsibilities as the student Training and Placement coordinator at my university as well as preparing, myself, for the interviews. It used to take a toll on my stress levels at times. I thought why not try running for 30 minutes every day, where it will be just me running, striving to be better and nothing else. That’s when I first started running. It was difficult. No, it was very difficult. I wasn’t using any applications like Nike Run Club, Strava etc. back then but, I know that total distance I ran during those 30 minutes was mostly spent in walking to recover my breath rather than running. I got my first job offer 1-2 weeks later, and I realized how those 30 minutes every day had made a difference in how I feel about my body. I had started to stay cheerful and ready to take every challenge head-on. I had become more resilient, mentally.
It was the first week of September 2016 when I returned from Hyderabad and realized that my 103 fever is not any normal fever but it’s Chickengunia. This disease doesn’t just make your body temperature high but also weakens your joints. 3 months went by and I was still not able to walk fast, running was obviously a thought that didn’t even strike me.
Chickengunia had effortlessly broken my relationship with running without any of us getting through any emotional fuss or drama. None of us had any plans of reuniting again.
Slowly, it was March and I was alarmed by the fact that my farewell was soon approaching which implied that I had to drape a saree. Wearing a saree implied toning my body a little. This was a critical situation. My previous experience with my ex (Yes, you got it right, reader! I mean running) had made me realize that working out indoor was definitely not an option for me (read: Gym). That’s when running and I decided to give another chance to our relationship. I started running again and then there was no turning back. From someone, who couldn’t manage to run even 100 meters continuously, I was now able to run at least one kilometer with little effort.
Months passed and finally, it was time for me to leave Delhi and start a new phase of my life in Hyderabad. I had been to the city twice in the past year and I was already in love with its culture. Seeing people running and cycling on the streets was something that I had never experienced in Delhi. All I had witnessed was theft, pollution, accidents, honking and road rage. Hyderabad was the city for me to explore my relationship with running and maybe push it to the next level. However, I was accustomed to running in a park in Delhi, I was not really ready to accept this culture of running on roads. That took me on a break for another 2-3 months from running but this time it was just a break, not a break- up.
Eventually, I bought myself to terms with running on the roads and that’s when this journey restarted and I have never looked back again since then.
A strange thing happened after I moved to Hyderabad. Back in college, I had an aim in life. To work hard, to study well and get myself a decent job. The aim was accomplished. That freshman year student in Computer Science had never thought that right out of college, her first job will be at Microsoft. I was really happy with my life but at the same time, I was confused about what to do next. There had to be things in my life other than the aim of doing well in my job. I needed my space. I needed another aim to pursue apart from my 9 to 5 job. That’s when I decided to focus more seriously on running. I set my next aim in life to run a Half Marathon. For someone who could not run more than 5-8 Kilometers, I knew this was going to be a difficult journey. However, by that time I was already involved with Yoga and Cycling, so my physical fitness had improved. Attempting my first 10 Kilometers didn’t leave me out of breath which was against my expectations but my PR to 10 kilometers was not easy. I had to watch my diet, take care of what I was eating, what I was drinking and how the food I was eating was being prepared. The last one played a really crucial role. Eating anything that had spices used to leave my stomach irritated which obviously meant I had to miss my run for that day. For those who know me, they know how much I dread cooking. To add to my horror, the food I cook, I term as unfit for human consumption. Training to run for a Half Marathon got me to do the impossible. My mother had to leave for Delhi just 2 months before my first Half Marathon and I was forced to feed myself on my own. Food at the office was spoiling me. It used to leave my stomach irritated every day. Forget running, I was not even able to do Yoga. That’s when I learned how to cook. Believe me, when I say it, I had never foreseen in my life that a day like this could come but alas, running got me to do that one thing that I knew I never wanted to do.
As I write this, it will be wrong of me if I don’t mention the crucial role that Instagram has played in my life. It was and continues to be my sole source to deliver my daily dose of motivation to not give up. It helps me keep accountable to the promises I make to myself. I can sometimes possibly lie to myself and cheat on my target distance for the day but when I post a target distance on IG, I know I cannot. I never knew I can influence someone from my journey but I did. Every person who has once sent me a message to help them run, how to get started with it has unknowingly inspired me to not give up.
I sometimes wish if I could go back to my school and tell my 10th class sports teacher that you gave me a B grade in sports not because I couldn’t perform but maybe because you lacked in your responsibility as a teacher to motivate me enough.
I am immensely proud of what and how I have achieved the impossible. Here’s to never giving up again and continuing this journey to get better in my every run! Everytime I run, I cannot thank Casey enough for the role that he has played in my life. I never thought a person who is miles away could leave me influenced and powerful like this. Today, I am not just a distance runner but I have evolved as a person to become more determined for every goal and aim that I set in my life.
I finally put my words to rest here and will go and grab my shoes again to take that run that will make me a better version of the athlete that started this run.
PS- In case you are wondering, if I was able to lose weight for my farewell, then the answer is no. I did lose, maybe an inch but that hardly made any difference. However, it did teach me a lesson for life that falling in love with running has to be a journey that is above the concept of weight loss. :)
Follow me on my journey on Instagram: diksh795