Scaling 21,098 meters

"Olympus mons" - a volcanic mountain located in mars measures about the same height and no I am not claiming to have somehow reached Mars and scaled the peak. Although it would be worth an attempt when we do manage to collanize the red planet. For now however, I am quite content to have covered the half marathon distance which measures the same.

After covering the 10k distance, I set my sight firmly on half marathon distance. Bangalore Half Marathon run was within my sight. I intended to follow the same approach to training as done for the 10k distance. I put together a plan on paper which involved 13 weeks of rigorous running with gradual increase in run distance over a period of time.

Running long distances for many weeks and the very thought of running 21 odd kilometers with over 2.5 odd hours of running seemed daunting. I was scaling "Olympus mons" in my mind. Predictably after a few weeks of training, I gave up.

A few weeks before the Bangalore half marathon, i happened to attend a session on creative thinking and innovation in my office premises. Amongst the many things that impressed me about the session, one in particular stayed in my mind. "Do something Crazy" that you would otherwise not do.

This thought played in my mind for a few minutes. It didn't take too long before I picked up my phone and registered for the half marathon run which was five weeks away. "Just do it" the trademark of Nike seemed like the best approach to scale "Olympus Mon".

With the battle within my mind won by some creative (read-crazy) thinking, I felt like someone airlifted me to the last camp before the final assent. With the peak (read-distance) within my sight, I put together a mini plan that would rapidly take me to 21.1k distance (10-15-21.1). Training for a 4 weeks period seemed like an easier task than the 13+ week programme recommended every where.

Running my first 21.1k in practise session was the most difficult thing I had ever done until then. It put my body and mind through such rigour, I was barely standing after the run. There were many times in the final leg (final 5k) where I had to question whether it was worth it. If registering for run was a battle within my mind, this was a battle between mind and body. A stronger mind this time helped convince my body to take the beating to achieve the goal.

At the end of it though, as one of my running buddy says, it is important that you enjoy the run apart from completing the distance. I was fortunate to experience what it felt like to enjoy running the distance when I completed my first Bangalore half. I managed to shave off 20 minutes from my previous effort and felt like I could run more. This effort was massively assisted by atmosphere of the grand event which kept my mind pre-occupied.

I experienced runners high for the first time and wanted more. My body covered the distance while my mind scaled the same.

Happy Running!

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