how I became a runner
on how running everyday changes the world around us
Dearest gentle reader,
I am writing another newsletter within a week. Things like this happen but rarely have even written newsletters regularly. So, in any case, it is new.
Today has been good so far. I did the Parkrun today.
In South Bank Parkrun, where I usually—religiously for a while now—run, about 800 runners (young and the old alike, with their dogs, with their babies in baby carriages, with their smartwatches and sunscreens) huddle through the wide lanes of the Brisbane pathways.
Even though today was exceptionally hot in the mornings, I did fairly well with the run. In the last few runs, I have been running 5k in 25 mins.
Just a year ago, when I first started running sometime now, I would run the 5k in an hour or so. I had never run over 5 kilometres in a long time now. But running itself was unnatural to me. When I was in Sainik School (military school), I ran across the country every Saturday. I did so for seven years. And then, one fine day, after I had graduated from the school, I stopped.
There was no motivation, after all. No one was there to care if I actually ran or not. I went to college and completed my graduation without ever hitting the ground for a run.
Then, the COVID-19 came. I bulged up—and there was no stopping the bulging. With no exercise and quarantine, I gained about 20 kgs in a short span of time. The weight suddenly went up from 65 to 85 kgs. And with this, my confidence was gone for a toss. All the youthful bravado had suddenly disappeared.
The year was 2022, and COVID-19 was still looming around the corner. But I decided to mask up and start running. I would run about 2 kilometres—feel tired, and walk back. It did not help.
So, just as any uninformed person would do, I stopped eating. I thought, if I gained with eating, I should stop eating—and all the fat would just disappear. After six months of running clumsily and eating less, I lost about 10 kgs. But, it did not help much. I felt lazy and tired all the time.
When I went to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, in 2023, I was able to maintain the same weight more or so. Somewhere, about 75 kgs, fluctuating nonetheless. I started running irregularly. But, it did not help. Even when I was able to run, I couldn’t control my food: all too savoury and sweet Indian food. The hostel food seemed too good to give up on. So, while I had control over the weight, I still did not feel physically fit. By the end of my two years at JNU, I had lost just about a few kgs and reached 72 kgs.
In 2024, when I first began running on the Brisbane riverside, it was not surprising that I could not run 5 kilometres in an hour. Many times, 5k seemed just too hard. So, I first made it a habit to run just about 3 kilometres in half an hour, or a little over that. Most times, these runs were just walks. But, steadily, just as the tortoise in the story of the rabbit-tortoise race, I have been able to make some progress.
Every few days in a week, I run. I run about 5 kilometres in 30 minutes with ease. And, then, I need to push myself a bit too hard to complete this in 25 minutes. But I see a lot of young and elderly people who run regularly run better than I do. Despite the run, I haven’t made much progress in the weight loss—it had remained about 69-68kgs for a while.
However, recently, I have made some tweaks to my diet. Eat healthy. Be boring, in terms of the food choices. Cut down on sugar as much as you can. Drink coffee—but sugarless. These things, in the last month or so, have made me lose some weight. I now weigh about 65 kg. And it feels so good to be back to what I had weighed when I was 20.
These were some things I wanted to achieve when I first started running, and now I need newer and more challenging goals.
Perhaps I should run a 5k in 20 minutes.
Run a marathon, too, someday!
Maybe, even weigh about 60 kgs over this year.
Learn things to keep me healthy—and perhaps, even share some of the tips with others.
For now, I take a leave of you, dear reader, and come back to you with another set of stories about the world I live in and understand as it exists.
Warm regards,
Adarsh