I decided to start running (after much encouragement from some very special people) in December 2024. On the 2nd of September, 2025, I crossed a lifetime running mileage of 500km. The sheer insanity of this milestone isn't something I can get past anytime soon; 500km is roughly six trips to the Kempegowda International Airport and back.
Growing up, I was far from an athletic kid; The fact that I was pretty chubby didn't help my case either, as the difference made itself felt during sports. I tried taking part in many, many different sports (Basketball, Football, Badminton, Cricket, even) but none of them really clicked until I started running. I distinctly remember being the last one to finish in the 400m/800m running trials in school multiple times over. Outside of that, I absolutely hated running; It made absolutely no sense to me that people would enjoy the constant torture of being out of breath and struggling to move even an inch more without wanting to lie down. Fast forward five years, and I've accomplished what I think is a pretty neat thing. How did we get here?
Though I'd started with the "Couch to 5k" program in December 2024, I bought my first pair of running shoes in Jan 2025 and was keeping to a very unstructured, c25k-ish program just based on vibes. Around February of 2025, I experienced a loved one having a pretty severe health scare; this was an inflection point for me, because I realised that if I didn't change how I was living my life, I would be next. Cardiovascular fitness became a top priority for me. I took the plunge and bought a Garmin Forerunner 265, and decided to take my running more seriously.
Discovering Interval running (more along the style of the Run-Walk-Run method) was a life-changer for me. It suddenly made it possible for me to consider that I could do more than a 2km long walk (my longest yet) - and soon I was doing 3km in intervals, running for three minutes, walking for 30 seconds, and so on until I hit the mark. I slowly pushed that to 5km, and before I knew it, in April 2025, I ran my 5K PR time at the IIITB Miles 4 Meals race. This was my first organized race, and I chose to ran it in intervals. The elevation changes along the electronic city course were a sure surprise; I never expected to struggle so much. I ended up finishing that race in around 37 Minutes. Not a fantastic time by any means (I see you, sub-30 and sub-20 folks), but it was my first race. I had voluntarily signed up to do sports, paid money, even, to do sports, and not only did I do it, I did it a little quicker than I thought I could! This was insane. It set forth a chain of events that would eventually lead to me signing up for the Wipro Bengaluru Marathon, setting myself an ambitious goal of a sub 1:10 10k.
Running
Distance running is an endurance sport. Why is it an endurance sport? Because to do it, you have to endure your mind screaming at you for half an hour / one hour / etc and be in a state of consistent physical exertion
What I learnt
showing up matters. showing up is where it starts. This is the chief learning I've had from this entire experience. It does not matter how bad your day went. It does not matter if you're tired and want to lie down. If your workout for the day is a 7:00min/km 3k interval workout, and all you can manage is a 13:00min/km 1k, or lesser, or if you go a few steps and turn back, that's still a win. You got out of whatever you were doing, got ready, stretched, whatever you had to do, and you started. That's the win.
The converse is also true; some workouts you think will be really hard, or that you'll end up being unable to do, turn out to be not so hard or not as bad, simply because you didn't let the fear/anticipation of the workout change how you showed up. You prepared yourself, laced your shoes, and presented yourself to the challenge, ready to take it on. This is the win.
You can do so much more than you think you can - If you had told me five years ago that I walked (let alone ran) 10km, I'd have laughed - but I did do it! I ended up beating my adjusted expectation of a 1:20 finish by about 3 minutes, only because I put in the work, week after week, workout after workout, stretching myself a little more each and every time. You cannot start running 10km overnight; first you run 3 (two weeks in a row), 3.5 (two weeks in a row), 4 (two weeks in a row)... all the way until you reach 10km, multiple weeks in a row. gradual progressive overload is key.
Personally, I'm rather unimpressed by people who manage to pull off impressive race times without training. If it was just about the race, then you wouldn't have to worry about methodology, sustainability, anything of that sort - the people who followed a training plan, showed up day after day, week after week, are the ones who impress me. It takes grit, and sometimes, you acquire said grit, by following a training course.
easy workouts are extremely important - my longest run of the week is a zone 2 run. I've stopped measuring my long run by pace and instead measure by heart rate instead. This has made a massive difference.