baby steps

And so it started. I dusted off my running shoes and hit the road (or the belt to be precise!) Initially I was careful not to overdo it as the memory of the abdominal pain after a strenuous workout was still fresh in my mind. As expected the initial runs were no more than six-seven hundred metres as I would run out of breath easily and the temptation to break stride and settle into a leisurely walk was just too great. Soon I realized that the trick was to run slow gradually work up a speed. This ensures that one manages to stay within the ‘aerobic’ zone long enough to reap the benefits of a sustained run.

I thought that from this post onwards, I’d just keep moving the clock ahead to the present day to chronicle how I’m faring with my current running regimen. I must say that since the time I had realized that my BMI had gone for a toss (about three years back while in Vizag) I had always planned to eventually beat my recalcitrant body back to shape! So once I managed to shed quite an amount of flab by the end of March, there was a voice inside my head telling me to not stop and go on. I had always been fascinated by sports; the achievements of men on the field of play always seem to have a sense of purity about them. I liked to believe that my stamina is not too bad and that once I get into a rhythm I can really sweat it out. Thus, once I slowly but surely started to get back into shape, the idea of someday competing in a marathon was definitely a great motivational tool. Initially I would pooh pooh it as I never thought would be able to achieve the kind of superhuman fitness that I believed would be required to undertake such an endeavour, but slowly the tide was turning...