Why run a Marathon?

In 2020, I turned 60. Greetings like “Welcome to the Club” soon followed. I moved on paying little attention to the new “senior citizen” tag. Till one day on public transportation, a youngish looking guy gave up his seat for me. I never realized that I was looking old with my few gray hairs. 

Fast forward to 2023 and I was certainly not looking any younger. While browsing the Web, I came across an ad for the Bengaluru Marathon. Intrigued, I read further and realized that this was an ad for the full 42.1 kilometer run. 

Although I could easily run a few kilometers without much difficulty, I knew running 42 kilometers was entirely different. Was I really too old to attempt such a long endurance run? Well, what better way to check than to try running longer. 

The standard advice for running longer on the Net is to increase the running duration or distance by 10% over some period. Easier said than done. After 5 kilometers, I would be sweating profusely. A few people would look at me puzzled – “Why is the old man straining himself so much?”. 

I began running 1 kilometer loops around home in the night to avoid being noticed. Running in loops has it benefits. If you get tired, you are not far from home. The problem is that it is tempting after a few loops to think – “Tomorrow, I will definitely run longer” and stop. As a result, I wasn’t even running 42 kilometers in an entire week. How could I possibly think of running a full marathon? 

Besides, the Marathon had a start time of 4:00 am, yes 4:00 am. That meant I had to get up at the lunch hour for bats. Thanks to Bangalore police, a lot of the roads were closed on race day and I ended up taking detours to find a parking spot. Finally, started the marathon at 4:20am. 

Being the last one to start means running in an empty stadium and then onto the dark roads – a lonely feeling that lasted for sometime till I was able to catch up with other latecomers. 

 

 

In the first 10K, there was a lot of adrenaline and excitement and the kilometers were ticking along. Reality strikes in the next 10K. Tiredness sets in and I begin to wonder why I am paying money to suffer and struggle. The thought has occurred many times, but I have brushed it aside. 

 In the next 10K I walk a little, run a little, till finally the fraction of time spent running comes down to zero. 

 

In the final 10K, it was all psychological. I will think of the nice cold beer that I can have when this run is done. Finally, the last 2K is preparing for the end of race and acting like it was not such a big deal after all. 

 

 

Back to the question - Why run a marathon if it is going to be such a struggle? Growing old has its challenges and overcoming a challenge is at least one of the reasons