Pragnesh’s story is short, sweet and one that made me smile. Son of a farmer, he spent his childhood growing up helping his father out at their farms. And then one fine day – Running happened. Currently, he is an IT professional from Baroda, Gujarat. He loves to travel and explore places with natural beauty.
Since my childhood days, I was always good with physical activities coming from a farmer family. My father is a strong man & is my hero. He used to take me to the farm by walk. We plucked cotton/ground nuts, made way for water by digging, removed the unwanted bushes, loaded up crops in bullock-cart. I also took care of feeding the farm animals. I enjoyed exploring various part of village and surrounding areas by walking/running with rolling over two-wheeler’s tyre using stick. Playing outdoor games like Gilli Danda, Hopscotch, Langdi, Dodgeball, Aamla-peepdi, Marbles was lot of fun. I even had to walk 5k to reach school numerous times due to non-arrival of bus on schedule.
As I moved to bigger city Vadodara for my secondary education, I haven’t been into running for almost a decade. It was the year 2015 when an incident changed my life and perspective about importance of health. Some of my office colleagues organized an outdoor event to visit resort at Ahmedabad. We played cricket for almost 4 hrs. and then indoor games.
By end of the day, I was exhausted so as everyone. Next day, soreness & stiffness felt in my legs as well as back for almost 4 days and I remember having difficulty doing day to day activities during that time. In early April days, I was seriously looking out for options to keep myself fit & healthy.
About few days later, I came to know that my friend Janak Afinwale was running/walking daily since couple of months at nearby park and more importantly he usually starts his running activity after 7 am. So it was kind of perfect schedule that fits me very well and I jumped into that very next day to join him. It was really feeling great on coming back on running track after a long gap of few decades. As soon as I increased the distance in few weeks, I felt lot of soreness & stiffness in legs as it was new to my body. I knew it bound to happen to novice runners and I persisted with running even after pain. I searched for the remedy online and trying to find out what could be the best way to run injury free. I didn’t know what would be the best form to run and how to avoid injury until I join BRR group.
BRR group is providing lot of knowledge on how to run, where to run, what is the percentage to increase the running distance weekly, various kind of running workouts, nutrition guide & what helps to build strength in novice/experience runners. It was the BRR who brings in best out of myself and help me to realize my potential of becoming long distance runner. I started running slowly & gradually increased the distance bi-weekly. In about few months, I was able to run my first 10K without being stopped. When you achieve something that you haven’t done in entire life really gives you mental peace & healthy mind.I have added cross training as a form of cycling, hiking, yoga, strength training, and circuit workout to compliment the Running. Running helps to boost to my confidence and self-esteem. By setting and achieving goals, I feel a great sense of empowerment that will leave me feeling much happier. Running is one of the best forms of exercise for losing or maintaining a consistent weight. I almost lost 8 kg in 2 years with quality food intake.
Advice to people who want to change the lifestyle by adding Running in their life:
Wake up & start doing walk/run whatever makes you feel good. You will require dedication & commitment to go out at least 5 days/week to make yourself healthy. You can join local running groups to keep you motivate & help you to find answers to your questions. There will be soreness/pain after your few runs, but that shouldn’t stop you for doing what you want to achieve. You can take rest for few days or do cross training and you’ll be back on track. It only requires 21 days to make or break the habit. Believe in yourself
Some of my achievements:
- Completed almost 10,000 km of Running & Cycling in about 3 years.
- 4th position in Relay at Vadodara International Marathon 2017
- 2nd Runners Up at BRR Duathlon 2017
- 1st Runners UP in 10k at Solefest 2.0
- 2nd Runners UP in 10kVadodara International Marathon 2018
- 2nd Runners UP in 10kRuntoAddLife 2018
- BRM200 Bike Ride at Kavi 2017
“Each sweat drop adds the happiness in your life.” – My Quote
1 comment
Thank you very much Tanya for sharing my story. I am feeling blessed to have my story on your blog. I loved your blog articles.
Keep inspiring.