Last year me and
2 very good friends; one of them Vidooshak; decided to train for
and run the marathon. Like all feats of
physical activity, running a marathon requires focus, training and serious
amounts of motivation.
Each of us set
goals, drew up training plans and went about the training in earnestness. Each
of us was at varying levels of physical fitness and set our goals accordingly.
I set mine to run a sub 4 hour marathon. Millions have finished marathons, but
only about 20% of them finish within 4 hours. I had run 2 marathons before and I
wanted to enter the somewhat elite club of sub 4 hour marathoners; so I could;
with reasonable etiquette; look down upon the majority of ‘just finishers’.
My previous best
marathon was a 4:39 when I was 10 years younger. I wasn’t in the mood for
anything that would make my goal seem unreal. Plus this time I was going to train
specifically to run fast, so this goal seemed logical to me.
To motivate
myself, I started making public my goals to anyone and everyone who would ask;
friends, family, acquaintances and eventually passersby and imaginary people. Among
the close circle of friends this was a race between the 3 of us. I might have
something to do with hyping it up. For weeks leading up the marathon, we made
sure the conversation was running, how we were doing in training and based on our
training time, who was the favorite to win.
We hyped it to no
end. I did.
My training was
all wrong. I convinced myself that training on inclines with heavy shoes would
make me a stronger runner. That when I transition to lighter, minimal shoes as
the marathon date appeared closer, I would magically be able to run 9 minute
miles required to safely finish a marathon under 4 hours.
The epic day
arrived.
Everyone who I
remotely knew, knew was going for a sub 4 marathon and that I wanted to finish ‘first’
among the 3 of us friends.
I spotted the
3:55 pace setter and ran. Running Miles 1 through 10 was a breeze. I was feeling
light, I was right on target pace and I was running without a care for the
remaining distance. Then I felt a slight twitch in my left calf.
I ignored it.
At mile 13, I was
slightly ahead of my target pace. I
thought the twitch was just a twitch. Sub 4 was a foregone conclusion.
A few hundred
meters into mile 14, there were no twitches in my calf. It was a full blown
cramp. I stopped, stretched massaged and off I went again; only for my right
calf to cramp up. I hobbled a couple of more miles before I resigned myself to
the reality that sub 4 is history.
By now I was
walking
A few moments
later it dawned on me…what a flop I was. After weeks and months of hyping this
race, when it came crunch time, I broke down. I felt vain, defeated, stupid and
above all a complete loser.
I eventually
walked the second half of the marathon, with a finish time of 5:14. A full hour
and 14 minutes more than what I wanted to do.
After I crossed
the finish line, I remember thinking, may be this is how sportsmen feel when
they fail in a big game. I was instantly more sympathetic towards them. I told
myself I will be less critical of players who flop or freeze in crunch time. Will
be less flippant about calling South
Africa
Because, as Mahendra
Singh Dhoni said, no one wants to do badly.
In my case, after
analyzing my training, I figured that my approach was all wrong. Within 6
months I am ready one more time to have a second shot at a sub 4 marathon. This
time I used a training plan from an expert.
No one can
question Yuvraj’s commitment or earnestness. Neither can one discount the fact
that his innings was one of the key contributing factors to India
When people
criticize Yuvraj, they are not discounting his previous contributions. So
Sachin, Harbhajan and company, please don’t recant his resume to us.
Ever since Yuvraj
has returned from cancer treatments, I am not questioning his desire, his earnestness,
his ability. I am wondering though if he has been given the right support to
succeed.
Why Yuvraj failed
is not Yuvraj’s problem alone. We somehow have to get his confidence back. A
repeat of 2011 in 2015 is hard to visualize with Yuvraj sitting at home in India
