“Seriously, how is he half a lap ahead of me?”… That really was the frustrating part. Anyways, I had to keep running, thinking to myself that I can catch up. As the race went on, I really couldn’t catch up to him and I could see that he almost was going to gain a whole lap on me. Okay, I can’t let that happen. “Keep running and keep breathing”..
This was 25 years ago when one of my college mates and I were walking around the campus in IT-BHU (alma mater) and saw the signs for the “Athletic Meet”. We got curious, asked what’s going on and were told that there is an athletic meet going on. We asked if we could participate and were told anyone can participate.
So, both of us, looked at the sheet of events that were going on and signed up for 4 events over the course of that day and next. Bear in mind, neither one of us were into track and field but hey, what’s the worst that can happen. Gotta sign up, right?
Here’s where the story gets funny. The high jump and long jump events that I signed up for were happening as we speak and then the 5K was going to happen in 1 hour. I looked at myself wearing shorts and a T and said, “sure, I can do this”.
I got myself a bib and I was on the field ready for my high jump. I do think I had high hopes for myself given that I am 6’3″ and I didn’t know anyone at my college taller than myself. I got my 3 attempts (maybe it was 4) at the high jump into a sand pit, thoroughly embarrassed myself in my lack of any vertical and said, okay maybe I can’t go high but I might be able to go long with the long jump coming up. Different sport, same story. I had no technique and I probably landed somewhere at the bottom. I wasn’t the last one so that’s good.
Now, time for big event, the 5K. Have I had any training in running, no? Do I enjoy running, no. So, what made me do this? Not sure, possibly the excitement of just signing up for something out of nowhere.
Anyway, as the race started, it was 13 or 14 of us and we all started running. I felt good largely because I used to play about 3-4 hours of sports on any given day, cricket, volleyball and football so I was feeling good about my stamina.
As we started running, and I remember we were told we had 12.5 laps to do, I could feel my heart thumping in my chest around the 2 or the 3rd lap and I was like, WTF? Anyhow, the other guy who had signed up also had no training in running and he was starting to build about 2-3 arms length of lead on me while I was out there panting, not sure if I can keep running. Anyhow, I kept going and kept looking at him gaining on me and I said, I can’t stop. Not if he keeps running. I don’t want to go back to the hostel and be laughed at that I couldn’t even finish. Little did I know, he was thinking the same thing. Yes, he was ahead of me but told me later that he was ready to stop any moment I would have. So, it actually might have been a great thing that we weren’t in each other’s ears distance to be able to talk to each other cos who knows what would have happened.
So, let’s cut to the end. Did I win the race? No.. Did I finish the race? Yes. I finished it and I was one of the last few. Hey, a few people stopped running mid way so I wasn’t actually the last. I think I might have ended up around 9th or 10th. Who cares, what really made me happy was that I finished. I didn’t stop and both of us kept talking about how we didn’t want to stop because the other kept going. I still remember that day and how amazing it truly felt.
Oh, I also remember dropping dead right on my knees the next morning when I woke up. Yeah, my legs literally gave up.
FAST FORWARD 25 years… I still do not like running. But, I love playing any sport. Playing sports is the only way I get any exercise.
There are triggers in your life that sometimes act as amazing catalysts and this time around, it happened to my wife who is actually also not so much into running but had decided to run over the last month or so to take part in the “Bah Humbug 5K race”. She asked if I wanted to do it, but I passed on it. She finished her race well and her legs didn’t give up the next day. Super proud of her. Since then, I have been wanting to see if I can even finish 5K without stopping to catch my breath like I did back then.
And today was the day, I was watching my daughter at her volleyball practice and I gave her a bit of coaching with my gestures, she rolled her eyes and mouthed “I know”. I got a little pissed that she doesn’t really want me to coach and walked out.
There I see this beautiful field in front of me where I had seen two ladies walk earlier and said to myself, let me just go for a walk. Her volleyball coach is in there coaching, I don’t have to add to it, she has a point, let me just walk it off.
And, as I stepped foot in the field, I said, maybe I could just run a bit and see how much of the 5K I can do without stopping. Looking at myself again, this time I wasn’t in my shorts and a T. I had thermal, my jeans, my shoes that are about 1/2 size too small and a puffy jacket. Told myself, sure I can do it. And started…
I didn’t even know how long each lap around this field was, so I started my fitbit run. As I finish my first lap or maybe second, my heart is thumping and my mouth is getting dry. Pathetic I said to myself, I am not in a good condition. Anyway, gotta keep going, right? As a wise man once said “How do you eat an elephant?”… One bite at a time.
Just look at each lap as a milestone. I look at my fitbit and it tells me that one lap was about 0.2 miles. So, while I am running my third lap or so, I am just calculating. 5K, okay that’s about 1.609 miles, so it’s a bit more than 3 miles. Each lap was about .2 miles, so I gotta do 15 laps. Hmm, it’s possible. Let’s keep going. Another lap or so, I am thinking, this is going to be much harder than I thought. Keep going…. I said to myself.
Bear in mind, I have no water, my jeans are not helping, well, nothing really was helping. The weather was actually great, Cold and crisp air actually made me feel great.
A few more laps into it as I near 5 laps, I am thinking I am done with 1 mile only to look at my watch and see that it wasn’t yet a mile. So, now I am doing my math again and calculating. Ultimately, with all the calculations, I think I still need .2K to do after 3 miles, so instead of counting how many laps I need, I should finish 3.2 miles, that should do it. And, given that I still want to keep doing math to distract myself from the heart thumping fast, I realize that if I do 16 laps, I should be more than good.
Just keep going, is what I said every lap. Here’s what was fun about each lap, every time I was finishing each lap, it felt like a mini victory, one more bite out of the elephant. One more down, one less to go. And, my brain kicked into math every new lap. I am 33% of the way there, I am 40% of the way there. And then something happened on my 8th lap.
“I am more than halfway done”. And the second wind just hit me. Before you know it, 9th lap done, 10th done, 11th done, 12th done, 13th done.. 3 more to go, baby.
Having said that, in the 14th lap, I got that feeling when you feel like you can’t finish. Almost like, when you have to pee really bad and get to the house and you think you won’t even make it to the toilet. Anyhow, I made it to the toilet, I dragged myself through the 14th and 15th.. and the 16th (last) lap was just fun, the legs weren’t tired, I picked up my speed, took my phone out and
Here is the video of the last half lap
And, here is me after I finish my last lap
Here is the Fitbit recorded run
But, overall, I feel super happy to say, I can still do a 5K without practice. What’s next? Another 5K in 25 years, maybe a 5K with some training, 10K, not sure.
It’s a good day today. I am going to enjoy that with a glass of wine and thank my wife for inspiring me and our kids to keep ourselves active and healthy.
Why did I write this?
I write this out for a few reasons. For those of you who know me, you know that I sometimes go out of the way to create a disruption in my life. I need change, I need to do things differently every now and then. There are times I eat with my left hand, there are times, I try to hit a tennis ball behind my back.
There are times when I just have to run a 5K even though I hate running. If you are in a situation in your life where you are looking to put yourselves to learn a new skill, possibly have a new years’ resolution, I urge you to just dip your toes and just go for it. The first lap is always the hardest one. And then, you stabilize the pace and the then there’s the joy of finishing something… Well,
There are no words to describe that feeling, you just have to experience it.
(check out this graph, and that dip is when I dropped my phone while taking a picture and I had to stop)
The content was authored by me and title of the post was generated by an AI.
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Data Journey 
5k without practice is v good Babbar. You may join us for Himalaya Trek in 2024.