By Sushma I R

A little back-story: I did a Half Marathon after over 2.5 years, at one of the toughest yet most scenic routes at Satara.

I had not been running long distances during the rains, and also had a slight knee injury recently, because of which I didn’t think it was a good idea to push my body. At the same time, since my brother Kartik was participating and had trained really well, I didn’t want to cancel my trip. So, I decided to go, with just one goal – to have a good time. I had not even decided if I would participate in the race until the day of the race.

Here are a few lessons I learnt, which, although are related to the race experience, are relevant to life in general!

• Plans are good to have, but inability to stick to plans doesn’t make you a failure
• The childhood tendency of comparing your own performance with that of others, in order to believe that you are good enough, stays, no matter what stage of life one is in. It requires effort to break away from it

• Just because (almost) everyone has a goal (mostly related to completion time, when it comes to running), it doesn’t have to be your goal too

• “If results don’t show, your efforts are not good enough” is the most self-sabotaging belief to hold

• Everyone is on their own journey – some get to the destination sooner, some later, and some quit. But quitting doesn’t make you less human

• Sometimes, listening to your body and stopping is wiser than pushing your body believing that “the least you can do is push and complete a race. Otherwise, what’s the point!”

• There are all kinds of people, some who wish to push and win, others who want to be better than what they were, and still others who just want to enjoy the scenery and have a good time. Some are a combination of the above too! It helps to recognize and accept where you are.

• Every step along the way is an opportunity for you to express gratitude – gratitude to people cheering for you, to your body for supporting you and enduring the strain, the weather for being so supportive, for mother nature to enthral with her scenic beauty. It’s a gratitude carnival

• It is easy to fall prey to your critical voice when your goal is different from that of the majority. It requires effort to believe that “You are good enough, exactly as you are”

• Getting rid of the pressure of reaching the destination in a specific way makes the journey way more beautiful and memorable

• When you enjoy the journey, getting to the destination whenever you do, becomes the cherry on the cake