1000 days of running

#1000daysofrunning

A mail popped up in my company mailbox somewhere during the end of April 2017. 100 days of running to start again this year from 29th April till 6th Aug. A voice inside me, as always, said “Let’s take up this challenge”. And there I was. Running my first run in this challenge on 29th April. Challenging myself excites me and gives me a kick. I have done this on a few occasions in the past. But this challenge was very different. It is not a single instance. It has to be done again and again, without a single day of failure. Running for 100 days continuously, no matter what, running for at least 2 km. I stretched the minimum 2 km to more than 5 km since starting off. To be precise, the distance was 6.5 to 7 km daily barring the initial 7-8 days, when it was 5-6 km. The journey of running, getting into a new routine, thus began on 29th April 2017. I asked a few of my friends in my company whether they want to be a part of this, thinking that there is no reason why one would not participate in this event. But to my surprise, I found no one taking the interest to join. But that didn’t deter me to join in the event.
This is the exact same first paragraph I copied from my company blog which was posted on Sep 9, 2017.
Now comes the second part. I am still running and today on 23 Jan 2020, I have completed 1000 days of running. Yes 1000 days of running. What a journey it is. Now it has become a part of me. I have not missed a single day when I didn't run. I ran for all days and that too more than 2 km. Recently I have got into habit of running more than 5 km daily. I have heard so many comments like you should not run daily, Why are you running ? Will you not get exhausted. But I kept on going. I remember one instance when I was in Pune staying in a PG, and it was raining outside and I completed my running of more than 2 km just running around the small room keeping the tracker Endomondo to keep track of km run. It has been a fantastic journey and I get a great feeling. Running has also kept me maintain my weight and gives the necessary physical exercise required by the body.
During this journey, I have actually run 5 half marathons (1 half marathon = 21.0975 km). Total distance run since the beginning of my journey is 4064 km. This distance is 29 km more than the distance from Srinagar to Kanyakumari on road via Delhi, Indore, Mumbai, Bangalore. The total time for which I am running till today is 484 hours, 57 min and 54 sec which is more than 20 days of running day and night. Out of the 5 marathon which I have run, the best personal record is in 2 hr 31 m 6 sec. I am not running for any record and now it has become a habit, the habit so strong that if I do not run I feel some itching. People say till what time you will run. I reply till the time I can run. Whats the harm in continuing a good habit if you have attained that habit. Why to stop that.
Getting into a good habit brings self confidence and motivation too which keeps you going. I feel that taking a challenge and attempting something which you think you cannot do, brings the energy and confidence. This helps in other area too. Subconsciously you get the feeling that if I can do one thing which I thought was not possible, I can do other things too. Moreover doing regular physical exercise keeps you healthy and reduces the stress. You will never hear an athlete or runner or someone invoved in regular physical workout going into depression.

Running has become like a meditation for me. I feel relaxed and refreshed while running. Running in the morning keeps me refreshed and energized the whole day.