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At My Pace, there’s a lot of Misery....

At My Pace, there’s a lot of Misery. 

Self reflections post Tata Ultra & Vagamon Ultrail 2022....

I am not your fast athlete that blaze thru the course. In the holding area at the start of any Ultra, I am usually the exception in the overall field of super fit humans who are 20 years younger than me. Unlike most of the participants who have trained and devoted major part of their T-3 months to training * – & they have reached the location 3-6 days early to get used to weather and go thru the course, I have probably finished a long sales meeting a night before & then hopped onto an odd time flight to reach the start point. I have probably labored thru long work weeks and made training time by mostly carving out hours from weekends/avoiding parties/shutting down all TV/running during early hours on a work travel. All varied reasons that lead to – AT MY PACE THERE’S A LOT OF MISERY… 

At the finish line.. Misery converts to Magic

But there’s Magic in the Misery. I run an Ultra from cutoff to cutoff, generally reaching them JIT. Despite of all the misery, I attain the magic of holding the finisher medal even on tough courses with crazy DNF numbers. The Misery at my pace, converts itself into Magic at the finish line...

I take hours more than the fast runners, slowly running thru the long stretches {at times 10+ hours}. All thru those long hours of misery in challenging terrains with no one around I think of a lot of reasons that helps in an Ultra and the immediate parallels for those in my work life…

 What sustains {& fuels} the run even during bouts of epic misery?

Flying with the Eagles, makes you an Eagle – or at least you collapse with respect trying to be one. I train whenever I can with UltraR {read the “don’t fucking give up” post on this blog to know more about him}. The company we keep during running and work decides who we become in future and during stress time

Mental Makeup – what you say to yourself when the body refuses to move is more important than any training. Train your mind more than your body

Be ready to embrace Misery – Misery should be spelled as Magic! Thru it goes the road to fulfillment

The End Prize – many a times I have shouted to myself amidst mountains with no one around “I am not leaving this run without the finisher medal”. An eye on the target helps keep you motivated in shit times

The Family Motivation – a supportive spouse and a family that cheers you up is the most under rated & strongest support system anyone can have

Social Network Pressure? – not a big fan of this negative motivation, but yes it helps! Announce it to your corporate colleagues that you are attempting a tough event – just the scare of them asking you on the next day whether you finished or not will motivate you in ways you have never known. 

* - not an indication that you can run an Ultra without preparation; i have put in years of efforts and planning in training my mind and body, battled injuries and sacrificed considerable family time to reach the level to attempt these Ultras - the difference implied is to the efforts put in by serious runners for whom running is the large chunk of the work they do and compared to them the efforts of a corporate manager is shades lower..

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