February is a month to celebrate love, so the marketers will have you believe.
And somehow the weather is just perfect, not too nippy, not too warm- just the perfect amount of non-commitment that makes it so appealing.
The weather wants you to fall in love, go out and explore. The flowers are in full bloom- it’s the season to make merry- sorry December!
So, I decided to explore my full potential this February- waking up before the Sun, blocking time for practicing my runs & riffs and getting out of my comfort zone ( my dear couch that is).
The Storytelling Challenge
The first challenge involved narrating stories to a group of children. Faced with an overwhelming number of story choices, I did the next best thing-I created my own.
Enter Piu, a tiny seed unceremoniously plunged deep into the soil, struggling to find her way back up while encountering elements of nature-Wind, Rain, Weeds, and the Sun. Some she battled, some she sang along with, and in the end, she found her way.
The experience was unforgettable. The children, fresh-faced and eager, sat in anticipation, waiting for stories to come alive. We were grouped in threes, and I was scheduled to go last. Anticipating the children’s waning attention, I divided them into groups, assigning roles for different elements of nature. Chaos ensued, but the best kind-the ground echoed with whooshing winds, thumping raindrops, clawing weeds, and blazing sunshine.
Their excitement ( and patience) was infectious, and in that moment, I was living my childhood dream of storytelling.
I have been in doubt about my writing for a while. Somewhere along the way writing on here started feeling like a chore- I have been getting the feeling that my writing is going nowhere and that whatever I write is insignificant- I know, I know it’s a common issue but when it gets you, it gets you. Sharing my story with the children helped in dissipating some of those doubts.
The Marathon
The next week was another milestone- the one where I ran a 10k- with the expectation of finishing it under an hour- so I can run a half marathon in June with a timing of less than two hours.
I had been training somewhat hard- a mix of strength training with slow paced log runs and high intensity runs. I was ready and raring to do.
The morning of the marathon, I woke up acceptably early- did my stretching routine at home and still managed to be late- not a good start.
The marathon had started and I hurriedly finished my warm-up and entered the marathon amidst loud rounds of applause and then 500 meters into it, I felt like I would collapse.
I somehow galloped for another kilometer and then just couldn’t run any further- I switched to walking.
Nothing worked for a while- around 10 minutes or so- I thought about all the things that could have contributed to this- the protein shake in the morning- a staple before my runs. The just concluded periods-a thing in my favor- not against and then it struck me- I bought a new pair of shoes- a pair of Asics GT 2000 for the marathon- breaking them in only on a treadmill. They weren’t painful, but something about them threw me off.
I wasn’t in any physical pain or any discomfort, but I just couldn’t run.
I decided to quit.
Then I thought I will just walk it all the way. I felt like a failure and then, inspired by a song, decided to restart.
I redid my warm-up routine. Drank an ‘electrolit’ drink and started to slow jog- surprisingly it went well. This continued for a kilometre or so and then I could increase my pace- my average pace is around 7-8/km per hour and I was able to reach it.
I finished the 10km in one hour and forty-seven minutes- not my best, but also not my worst which was my first 10km- it was around 2 hours.
I have come a long way- I like to believe because I had a timing of one hour twenty-five minutes in the last 10k which was just a couple months back.
But I was happy to have not quit. I think sometimes I tend to over panic and not trust my self enough- if I had quit, I would have always regretted the unfinished marathon.
There are a couple of lessons here- for me and hopefully, for those reading too.
But the only one I would scribble out here is that we are who we are because of all the memories we create and here’s to creating many more memories with us being the main characters in them.
Fingers in symphony 