Home Fitness 21.097 kms, 13.1 miles, 23,056 yards….

21.097 kms, 13.1 miles, 23,056 yards….

by Tanya Agarwal
my first half marathon - Running & Living - WellthyFit

4 years back..this day…I ran my first Half Marathon

It was a Running and Living event. You might find a bit of your own in my very first….

  • It was my first 21.097 and my first timed event
  • On December 13, 2014, I had celebrated my first eve of being anti social. I walked out of a Christmas party within 30 minutes – because ..next morning I was to run my first half marathon
  • I didn’t know a single run quote to fuel myself up with inspiration.

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  • I promised myself I wont walk. I’ll just jog. But not walk.
  • No expectations. So then – I was free of disappointments.
  • I didn’t know what a tempo was? LSD – what???? Love sex and Dhoka but definitely not Long slow distance!
  • Hydration meant water
  • Nutrition meant banana or Parle G Biscuit
  • Run shoes? – I ran in my 2 year old Reebok shoe. I thought they were great! Ankush mendiratta ( The man behind Runbugs)– kept telling me they weren’t meant for running. Thanks Ankush. You were right 🙂
  • No smart watch/ app.
  •  I was fast and slow whenever I wanted – depending upon how my body felt
  • I wanted to finish 13.1 without stopping
  • I didn’t care how I looked
  • I didn’t care if they took a pic of me while running. And they didn’t. I asked for one after the run
  • It was drizzling the first 5 kms. I felt euphoric
  • It was the first and the last time my husband came to cheer me up at a race. After that race he realized I cared about the post-run selfies more. Truth be told.
  • It was the last time my husband posted my achievement on social media. After that he figured I had turned in to a run-narcissist. Truth be written.

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  • I know you are still curious about my timing. I finished  in 2 hours 16 minutes.
  • I earned a medal that day after 18 years. It meant something. Even though I saw it was a mass possession!
  • The one woman who left an indelible mark on me that day – well, at that time I didn’t know her name- Vaishali Kasture – She was dressed impeccably as a runner and was running with tiger focus. She made running look good.
  • I didn’t know exactly when should I start feeling tired. I really knew nothing.
  • Suchi Gupta very graciously drove me to the start point. I didn’t know her at all.
  • My focus was my run. Nothing else.
  • The only limit I tested was of finishing it without stopping. That was my only bar.
  • I remember feeling really happy while running.
  • After the run, I didn’t get a minute of rest that whole day. But I couldn’t stop smiling all day. After running my first 13.1, everything looked easy.

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  • It was an absolutely new experience for me.
  • There were some people running with a flag with certain timings written on them. I didn’t know they were called pacers. In my mind I thought they were really arrogant runners pre-announcing their run timings. yes – you can roll your eyes to your brains and back!
  • I knew I would do this again and I knew I had many things to learn.
  • My son was 11 months old that time. I had regained my stamina. I was now getting physically strong. Mentally stronger.
  • Runners high – what?
  • The best part – I wasn’t feeling tired at all. Standing at the finish line…holding my 4 year old daughter. Showing her my first running medal. In a rush to go back to my 11-month old son. But inside – there was so much happiness, hunger and satisfaction.

3 years back I didn’t know that-

  • the real joy is in training, pushing the limits, sometimes going back to the unfulfilled dream, sometimes setting new targets.
  • I would turn into a self-acclaimed run blogger.
  • I would be sharing my stories to motivate people to get active.
  • the direction in which am going is more important than my goals. the goals keep changing, perhaps. The direction has more character!
  •  today, my ‘almost turning 5 year old’ son would know that – not only would he remember but also would be able to pronounce the names of his mom’s two current fav runners – Kilian n Paula Radcliffe.

But there it is, an incredible and incredibly rich journey. My body becomes restless thinking how far I’ve come and how much more I want to do, am yet to do a full marathon, yet to go on long trail runs…the goals will keep changing, but as long as I have the direction, I have nothing to lose – Do I?

Author

  • Tanya Agarwal
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    Welcome to Wellthyfit.com! Wellthyfit is my ‘writing venture’ on health and wellness and a constant reminder that health is our only everlasting wealth! Who am I - you can read here. But at the core of it all, I’m a mom who loves to run!

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