To Be A Kid Again

Rivulets of sweat drained down my forehead burning my eyes, the lungs were screaming out of protest, the legs have long gone into automatic mode where they just keep moving irrespective of my wishes. I wonder if that increasing tud tud tud was from my furious heart or from the shinkarimelam guys at the half way point. The mile marker says 10 kilometers which means I still have another 11 kilomeres to run to finish my half marathon and I am already out of juice. The intoxicating scents from the Kochi’s spice market keeps my senses sharp so does the increasingly catchy beat of the chendas. Gathering my strength or what was left of it, I focused on short term goals like reaching the next water station, catching up with that lady running ahead of me (my ego !), reaching that telephone post or even managing to put the next foot forward. Running into the ground suddenly I am greeted with a huge cheer from the onlookers and the marathon volunteers pushing energy drinks to me, I wonder why they cheer for someone who probably is the 100^th person to reach the turnaround point in a 300 strong race. I reached the chenda guys where I find couple of the runners dancing to the beat and I couldn’t help myself from joining them. This is what running is all about, the joy, the togetherness, the sense of accomplishment, the ability to reach that point between ecstasy and serenity while the health benefits are just the byproducts.

I was always a couch potato, the kid who is picked into a team at school the last. I was the one who used to pant after climbing a flight or stairs, the one who would rather wait for an hour at the stop than run a few steps to catch that bus. I used to consider eating a heap of junk food and scoring a century on the weighing scale a great achievement. I was a legitimate idiot preparing myself to embrace the so called life style disease and stepping into the mundane life of the everyday man. I often used to see people cycling and running early in the morning and often in the evening and wondered if they haven’t got anything better to do until one day I decided to do that myself. No they don’t have anything better to do. They are not suffering when running a marathon or cycling hundred kilometers or even hiking up a mountain, they are enjoying every minute of it.

Humans are the only animals who swapped their natural ability to run, maintain extreme endurance for everyday pleasures like a swing of drink and the comfort of a couch. We are all born with the ability to lead a very active life style and if we could just maintain that, most of the so called lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, joint/back pains can be kept at bay. 

When we were kids, we never stopped for anything. Even before we would walk like an adult, we started running, we explored things and we smiled a lot. We were happy for the simplest pleasure of life that we could run around, the first taste of freedom. Then somewhere in the journey to adulthood, someone told us to sit down and not to move around. Someone told us it not proper to run but to walk. Running is for athletes and medals and not for the common man. We lost the joy of movement, the thrill of exploration and the happiness we inherently had took a back seat, and we smiled less. As a result a few diseases joined us carving away a little bit of our health every day.

This is not an irreversible change. You could always reclaim your lost ability, your vigor and your happiness; all it takes is a little time from your busy day and an even little effort. It is easy to get fit if you truly wish it to happen. You can always begin by walking for a couple of days, and then increase your pace into a brisk walk then to a slow jog and with a few weeks you would be running. Not only the weighing scales goes down, your belt size shrinks and soon enough you would have bigger plans in your mind, like say that marathon in a few months.

Step out of the comfort of your home and walk to the market instead of taking the car. Take the stairs instead of the elevators, and the next time when your kid runs, do not stop him but run with him. Stay active, stay healthy and stay happy.