Week 76: Run to get to the finish line with a smile

Most of us pick up running for the joy of running, but somewhere down the line, the joy disappears. It becomes an activity like all others where you are competing with everyone else out there. It’s about all kinds of numbers.

Earlier this week, I met a gentleman at a workshop on emotional and physical well-being, which my colleague Divya Parashar and I were facilitating. He narrated to me his journey from being active and sporty in college to climbing the corporate ladder like no ones business till tragedy struck which made him sit back and recalibrate his whole life.

42 year old Raju Kumar, partner with a large consultancy firm, was very active in his school and college days participating in sports like cricket and squash. Running was limited to the bare minimum that was required to get by in those sports but the running bug had not yet bit him. His physical active lifestyle came to a standstill when in 1998 when he finished college and got in to the corporate rat race working as a Chartered Accountant for the big four corporates. He found himself doing really well in his professional life.

In November 2014 his dad’s sudden death because of a cardiac arrest came a rude shock. There had been no illness leading up to the incident and he had no symptoms. All along everyone in the family thought they all were leading a healthy life. Raju himself had gained weight and was at a 106 kgs from being a lanky 51 kgs during college days.

Raju had a realisation that wealth is useless if he wasn’t taking care of his own self, not necessarily for his own self but for his 6 year old son.

This made him get started with functional training an hour a day, three days a week, under able guidance of Jatin Arora at Boot Camp Yellow.

Raju picked up running in 2017, which besides helping him lose weight, assisted with peace of mind.

As much as he has run 15 half marathons in last 2 years but his objective through out has been to enjoy running. His smile extended from one ear to another when he said, “I want to be at the finish line with a smile.”

Earlier this year he signed up for Goa Half Triathlon, i.e. 1.9 kms of swimming, 90 kms biking and 21 kms of running, to challenge himself for a bit more and get to the next level even though he had no idea about two of the disciplines in triathlons. At the time of registration, Raju didn’t know how to swim and the last time he had cycled was in the college campus, that too a maximum of 2 kms. While training for the triathlon, he realised that nutrition was the fourth discipline that was in stealth mode without which triathlon was simply not possible.

During the triathlon, on being reminded by his running friend to go faster, he said he wanted to enjoy the whole time he had paid for, i.e. 8.5 hours, rather than rushing.

His work-life balance is a lot better now even though he’s not putting any lesser hours at work. He’s become more effective and efficient with better discipline. He sleeps early and gets up early and doesn’t waste his time watching political debates on television.

Raju’s 11 year old son is very happy with his dad’s accomplishments and pushes him to strive for even more.

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