With a shot of black coffee at 4 am, 1 liter of water, a cup of energy drink, a few slices of orange and salt, and a protein bar, I completed the 10K run successfully!
How did it begin?
A few days ago, I saw a post about the TCS10K run and remembered me discussing with my husband to enroll in the event. I saw the post by The Whole Truth Foods – A health-based food company that I follow, being the official snack partner for the event. They were inviting their consumers to run with them. We got excited and registered via their portal.
Until here, it was a no-effort phase but the next steps had to be taken carefully and analytically. Luckily, I and my husband belonged to the category of maintaining consistency in our fitness journey, and hence, preparing for the marathon wasn’t a challenging task. With a few lifestyle changes here and there, we were able to stick to a routine that helped us greatly.
Post registering for the 10K run, we started an outdoor walk/jog and covered around 5 km every day. We ate all our meals consciously and by that I mean, we occasionally ate junk but we were aware of it. 😊
And with that, we were coming close to the marathon and the week before the event was a crucial one. To comfort our bodies, we used to wake up early in the morning and go for a walk/jog. What we thought was we were preparing ourselves for the marathon, what we realized later was that this journey made us breathe through life!
On the previous day of the run, we filled ourselves with perfectly balanced meals and took ample rest. We meditated to keep our minds calm, visioned the track, and ourselves running to the finish line.
And the day was finally here! The previous night to the event, it rained cats and dogs and we woke up to a certain dilemma. However, we decided to get ready and made a few last moment changes to reach the venue.
Due to the rain, half the participants reached the event about 5 minutes late, and the race had already started. Nevertheless, the authorities present at the event encouraged us to start running. We did a 5-minute warm-up and started walking. Behind us, we found ourselves mesmerized by the beautiful hues of sunrise.
With all the josh and energy, we started our journey. I had kept in mind to keep calm and not pressure my body too much. I took all the freedom to walk/jog/run at my pace. After completing 1KMS, I finally got my hands to the ever precious water, and that gave me instant energy to increase my pace. After about 3KMS, I found myself feeling a little tired and hence, slowed my pace.
At around 4KM, I started feeling hungry and luckily found the energy station at around 300metres from there. I had the energy drink, orange slices with salt, and the Whole Truth protein bar, drank some water and continued my journey with extra spirit.
For about 6KMs, I felt the energy conserved and well utilized and thought that from this moment, I need to carefully move ahead. As I was feeling a bit exhausted, I heard the rocking and happy beats by the Dollu Kunitha group at the end of the road. The beats spiked an instant rush of energy and happiness in me that I found myself running like a happy kid.
After completing 7KMS, I saw the amazing Vidhana Soudha with the weather giving an extra layer of amazingness to the building. Here, I was feeling tired and was having a bad headache, but the vibe and energy that I received from the audience gave me that energy to not give up. I kept hydrating myself, pacing down and up accordingly, and moved on.
The last 1.5KMS was the most challenging zone for me. My feet had started giving up a bit, but my legs, thanks to the years of classical dance training I had in childhood, pushed me whenever I felt weak. I remembered the moment, the feeling of registering for the run, and the intention behind it when I felt weak. This helped to push me and I remembered that I am supposed to be enjoying this moment.
With this positive note, I finally reached 9KMS and it was time to put all my energy, spirit, and positive mindset into finishing that tricky last kilometer. While I was walking with all my might, I heard one of the volunteers shout “It’s just 600meters to go, you guys are doing an amazing job, keep moving”. That’s when it hit me that I am about to complete the run, that I will finally achieve it, it has shifted from running for kilometers to just meters. Then I put all my energy forward and I could see the finish line.
I ran towards it like my life depended on it and the moment I crossed it, I felt proud, happy, and emotional, and it all came in the form of shouting 😊
While this run was a form of fitness routine, I learned a lot from this experience. Throughout the run, I kept encouraging my body to never give up and it didn’t. I learned that there is no competition for self-love! I learned that with determination, I can do anything. I learned that life is all but these bits and pieces of memories attached.
This was my experience of 10K run and I guess words could only do half justice to the experience I had. In a nutshell, it was a liberating experience! Post the run, The Whole Truth Foods organized a breakfast and social meet. It was great meeting the team and I just expressed my gratitude to nature for making this whole event so memorable.
It’s totally another thing that I am unable to walk anymore and need a day or two of sleep to recover 🙂
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