Running mum, running addict

I am a 32 year old woman who loves to run. I can admit that I am addicted to it. I need to run to keep going mentally. To feel happy and satisfied.

I started running about 8 years ago mainly to keep off my weight. I was not really particular about how much I ran. It was more about how long I ran. And the weight loss gurus always said one hour of cardio and so I ran for an hour. Not really challenging myself or even seeing if I could run more. I had a baby in 2004 and running became a way to get back into shape. When my son was born, my loving husband wanted to buy me something. I didn't want jewelry. I wanted a treadmill. Best decision I ever made.

My husband is a runner too. He started running 10Ks and marathons sometime in 2006.  He was training for the SF Marathon. He had just gotten back from a run and I was finishing a 5 miler. He was impressed. He suggested I join him the next day when he was training and may be think about running a half marathon. I was sure that I could never do it. Anyways, I went with him to his training run. I ran a seven miler and burst into tears. That was the most I had ever run in my life. It felt so good. I was hooked.

The first half marathon I ran was the Napa Marathon. It was so hot and people were standing on the roads and spraying water on us runners. I then ran the SF half when my husband ran the full and then we both ran the San Jose Rock and Roll. In March 2007, I ran my first full marathon in LA. Every part of my body hurt but I will never ever forget the feeling of achievement. I was so in love with this training and running. I loved drawing up schedules and waking up Sunday mornings to go on my long runs. I loved the pasta eating. But all this was nothing compared to what I was feeling inside.

Running has taught me so many things. One is to be completely humble. When you run either by yourself or with a group of runners, it's just you and the elements. It doesn't matter if you are a techie, CFO or a CTO. It is just you competing with yourself and trying to achieve your personal goals. That's why I feel I connect best with runners. We have all learnt the same things from running. We all love the same things. We all have the same goals. We are all mad. We have to be, to wake up early at 4 every weekend and drive about 20 km to run. People ask me why I do it. I just love it. I can't explain it. I have some great friends and all of them run. I can tell them that I can't party on Friday night because I need to run Saturday and they know what I am talking about. I say that I can't run some morning because I can't find a sitter and they know exactly how bad I am feeling. I just love my runners! 

I am glad that we have the RunnerGirlsIndia now. It's awesome that we have a group where a group of women can run together. My goal for RGI is to get more and more women into running. What better way to keep fit and feel good. I love that we have so many girls thin and not so thin, fit and not so fit, fast and not so fast rocking Cubbon Park on Saturdays. Body image unfortunately can create complexes and deter a person from running. I am not thin. I doubt I will ever be. People who look at me refuse to believe that I run. I refuse to justify that I run. Yes, I do agree that when I was younger it used to bother me but now, older and wiser, I don't care. I will never look like a runner but hey, you can't stop me from feeling like a runner. That's what RGI hopes as well. If there are girls out there who are shy to run because of their body image, we want to be a support structure that will help them break out of that. Because, I will love and respect my runner girl even if she doesn't look like a runner. Even if she doesn't have flat abs, sculpted calf and a well-defined rear. And I want my runner girl to love herself for just that. 

I don't have any great motivators, so can't quote Galloway or Dean Karnazes and I definitely don't want to be Paula Radcliffe. But I want to be what running has taught me: I want to be myself. That's my goal.