I’ve always had a stamina problem. Even as a child, I could run fast but not for too long. My father made it a point to take me running every weekend. Its suffice to say, that I didn’t fancy that much. In school I was always a part of the relay team, till I changed cities. I was no longer running, the new school didn’t even have a sports day and we wonder why our athletes don’t win medals in the Olympics. Anywhu lets keep that topic for some other day.

I played tennis, swam and learnt classical dance from a very young age. Being active was always a part of my life. That being said, I have this lazy streak in me as well. I can spend hours in front of the TV watching mindless stuff.

So, how do I suck at running. I am that person who after 400 meters of a well paced jog collapses like the sprinters do in the Olympics. My pelvic region starts hurting, I am out of breath and virtually dizzy. I practise yoga for an hour and do 100 suryanamakars, how and why am I so bad at running ?

In the last few months, I have come across a lot of strong, independent, fitness active women and one such person is Anupriya Kapur from the blog momontherun.in. I complained to her about my failed attempts at running. I can walk at a fast pace for 10km but running 100 meters makes me dizzy, why is that ? She told me that running exercises different muscles in the heart, where as walking doesn’t. So I had a weak heart ? Huh !! I tried again and again and again, and failed miserably every time. I finally came to a conclusion that running a marathon is not in the stars, so let’s give up on that dream. Stick to walking and doing yoga. My hopes of running wild was put in the back burner. When the brand manager of Adidas asked whether I was a runner, I sheepishly had to confess how much I sucked at running. What to do, cant lie about something you are bad at.

Last month Adidas held a running session for women and a post yoga session conducted by me. We were told the do’s and don’ts of running and how walking for a bit in between is absolutely fine. That was my saving grace ! In my head I was like yeah I shall walk this round. But something amazing happened, I ran my first 1 km, without stopping, falling or fainting but then got exhausted and continued with the walk. But I ran ! So may be I can run?!?

I had to give it another shot.

Once again I crashed and burned. At 200 meters, I was flat.

Two weeks back, this boy who I thought was cute and interesting said something mean and made me sad. My go to move to work out my anger and sadness is literally work out. I was like F-this; I am a grown woman and I can’t let some insipid guy make me feel bad about myself. I changed into my active wear and decided to go for a walk. Left my phone behind for obvious reasons. The first two rounds, I walked fast pace, like I usually do. But I don’t know what got over me, I started to run. It was at a very slow pace, which tested my patience. One round in the park where I usually run is 400 meters in distance. I ran the first round, then a second , third , fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth. I had run for 2 kms. Obviously slow paced and sometimes even moving at a snails pace. My walking speed is faster !  But I did my first 3k that day, I was panting, red in the face, sweating like a pig and really needed to poop. I have no idea why ?

The next day I tried again, but it didn’t work. I was distracted by my phone, I kept shuffling music and my concentration was all over the place. What I figured out was that running is very similar to yoga. A level of concentration is needed , there is a particular breathing technique and pacing yourself is very important. The following day, I left my phone at home , made a playlist of my current favourite songs, downloaded Runkeeper on my ipod and that was that. I did 3 kms for 3 consecutive days, then did a 5k and finally managed to do a 10k, but that was a mix of running and walking. I’ve just started doing a decent job, not yet a marathon runner !

Another thing that is very important, is a good pair of running shoes. I run in my trainers, they are virtually sneakers and that at times hurt my knees. I can’t afford a 10k worth shoe right now, so I am make doing with what I have. The day I decide I am ready to run my first marathon, I will go buy that expensive pair of running shoes. Till then, I will try not to suck too much at running.