It never gets easier, you get stronger: my journey from a non-athlete to a Half Marathon runner
The story of Nidhi Khurana
Written by Nidhi Khurana
Edited by Mallika Bhatia
I want to share with you all my incredibly hard but rewarding experience: the story of my transformation from a non-runner to a half marathon runner in a little more than a year. I still find it hard to believe that a non-athletic girl like me can call herself a 'Runner' now. Until I started running, I had never done any kind of exercise besides a few irregular visits to the gym or sporadic walks with friends. Then one day my friend just mentioned a new fitness challenge that she had taken up. It was to run non-stop for ten minutes. The duration had to be increased everyday till one could run for twenty minutes at a stretch.
I decided to try it even though I wasn't sure if I could do it. Little did I know that those ten minutes would be life changing for me. To mine and my friends surprise, I could run for ten minutes effortlessly and soon I started to run for twenty minutes non-stop. I became a TWENTY MINUTES RUNNER. I wasn't bothered about how much distance I covered or the pace at which I ran, I just ran for twenty minutes everyday.
I continued running for two months and then a new chapter in our lives started. Me and my family moved to Munich for my husband's work. As we were busy making Munich our new home, I stopped my twenty minute runs. Surprisingly I didn't even miss them, maybe because I hadn't done them for long enough to become a habit.
My running journey restarted when a friend introduced me to a Facebook group called Ubermom runners. I know that have said this a million times in last one year and I say it again today that joining the runner group is the best thing that has happened to me in Munich. I saw other moms logging their runs ranging from 1 km to 20 km , they were all equally appreciated for their running efforts by the other group members. The most beautiful thing about this group was that no one ever judged on the basis of pace or distance. Everyone is just applauded for their efforts. The group made me believe that I too, could run and every run would be a good run!!
I was still contemplating about restarting my running but I needed a push. Rather a BIG SHOVE to jump out of my couch and run outdoors in the cold winters of Munich, which was such a contrast from Singapore weather.
On 17th January 2018, one of the moms in the group posted that she wanted to start a 100 day running streak, a 100 day challenge she called it. That was all the motivation I needed and I decided to join her in the streak. I promised to run 4 kilometers everyday for a 100 days straight. I wasn't sure of my capability but I was sure of my commitment. I knew if I take it up, I will complete it.
The first few days I struggled really hard to run 4k, a distance I had never run before. I had to literally force my body and brain to continue running after the first 2 kilometers. Ninety nine percent of me wanted to stop and go home to my warm couch but there was one percent of me that wanted to continue. Thankfully I listened to the one percent.
It was not just physically challenging to run everyday but I also had to be resourceful with how to find an opportunity to run each day. When I knew that I had a busy day ahead, I would choose between an the early morning run before anyone at home was awake or a late night run when my daughter was in bed. I often ran laps around the local playground while my daughter played in the middle. There had been instances when a perfect lazy afternoon with a few drinks at our local Biergarten or a girls night out ended with a run. There were days when I had my period and was very demotivated to run and yet I went out and ran. I was a girl with a motive. Once you commit and believe that you have to do something, you find a way and time to do it.
On Day 65, I ran my first ever 10 Kilometers.
The beauty of this run was that I was running with the mum who had started the 100 day streak. Half way through our run it had started to snow and yet that didn't stop us. In just two months I could run 10k! Sometime in the middle I caught a severe viral infection and could not stop coughing. My family told me to quit my challenge but how could I. I used to sleep in a separate room so as to not disturb my husband with my coughing but I did not miss a single day of my run for a whole of 100 days.
That is what regular training does to you. It makes you stronger, mentally and physically with each passing day. My biggest accomplishment from completing the streak is that running has become a part of who I am and I run almost everyday now.
I don't run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.' - Ronald Rook
The next step was the first race of my life, Stadlauf München on 24th June 2018.. I can so vividly remember running those 10k and thinking how far I had come and how amazed I was that I did it. I ran with a few other members of the same Übermom runners group. In a month's time I was again on the race track with my runner group, running the 10k Sommernachtlauf München on 24th July 2018. I was totally hooked!!
Now I had started contemplating a half marathon but was too scared to vocalize it. Soon enough another member of the group, a new runner like me suggested running the Munich Half Marathon in October. A half marathon meant 21 Kilometers. I was so sure that it was impossible to make the leap from 10k to 21k in such a short time, that I discounted it as an unattainable target. She said that we could do it as we still had over two months to train. That was all the push I needed. We decided to run the half marathon with a goal of finishing the marathon at our own pace.
Now started the two months of hard training for my first half marathon. I was running almost everyday but the the distance and the time I was running for was much more now. I looked like a lunatic who would run for over two hours at least twice a week. Some of my neighbours who saw me running at the school drop off time around 7:30 am were amazed to see that I was still running when they would step out of their home again around 10am. I was like a machine now and my fuel was running...
Training for my race was not only a physically demanding endeavour, but it was also an emotionally rewarding one. My mantra during the training period which kept me going was: If it was easy, everyone would do it.'
My training was hard on me at many levels I had to change my diet, my habits and my routine. My family had to make sacrifices in their schedule to accommodate my running time, we had to cut short family vacations for my race, I had to give up my beloved junk food. Finding two and half hours for running everyday isn't easy but I never gave myself another choice. After two months of rigorous training I was confident that I had a decent chance of finishing my race well within the time limit of three hours. I was obviously very nervous before the race started but once I had started I enjoyed my run for the first eighteen odd kilometers. The last three kilometers were very difficult though. It was a very hot day and I started feeling sick with the heat. There was a constant battle between my body and mind.
The former said to stop and walk whereas the latter said keep going and finish what you have started. I listened to my mind but was still finding it hard. Around the 19th kilometer I met my racing partner. She reminded me how hard we had worked for it and we had to finish it. She was the much needed motivation I needed at that time when my body had almost given up. I finished my first ever half-marathon in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 16 seconds. I was ecstatic! We both crossed the finish line holding hands. It was one highest moments of my life!
If someone would have told me a year ago that I would one day run a half marathon, I would have laughed at them. For me running was something 'other's did', never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be a runner. But now, if I don't run for a day I feel that something is missing.
PS: Running is contagious. It runs in our family now!! My 8 year old daughter ran her first race, the Olympic-Alm Crosslauf on the 18th November 2018 and my husband aims to run a 10k soon.
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