The Void

This evening I finally managed my first 10km run without walking since December last year.  And this after running every now and then since early this month.  With exactly month to go until the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon, I’m already at the half mark.  But we all know that running, like many other things in life, does not progress in a linear fashion.  At some point, it’ll eventually plateau and it’ll take awhile before you progress to the next level.  Let’s just hope that the plateau happens after the 21km mark.

Now running through a checklist of what I did right this time around, since I’ve failed miserably in previous attempts to run a full 10km, I came up with the following:-

a) I switched trails.  Starting from Damansara Perdana, running into Mutiara Damansara and back to Damansara Perdana was a fresh change from the usual Kota Damansara loop which is filled with construction sites, people moving back and forth and cars on the main road.

b) A running buddy helps a lot.  Running with my buddy Hafiz today helped me to try keep a steady pace.  I’m notorious for over extending myself over the first 3 clicks which doesn’t give my body enough time to warm up for the remaining part of the run.  I felt pain in the first 3 clicks today, but because the pace was steady my body coped and from that point onwards running was pretty mechanical, my breath was steady and I felt virtually no strain till the end.

c) I’ve been in a pretty shitty mood over the past week and I think this helped my run, as mentioned in my as of now hypothesis here.

d) I ran without my iPod.  Now this is something very subjective as some people claim to run better with music.  I personally feel a lot more comfortable without one.  It allows me to go into what Murakami calls a void.  Your own personal space.  And what does someone do with his personal space?  Nothing at all!  I know this sounds cheesy but try it.  It can be a very profound experience.  Everyone needs a void every once in awhile.  And that’s something a Vulcan will never understand.  *I couldn’t help the pop culture reference.  Sorry!

Life and Drink Stations

It’s been about a week since I tendered my resignation from my job to explore the infinite possibilities that life has to offer. And I found myself more inspired to get cracking at work than I’ve ever been in a long time. I was engrossed with work all of Friday night, hit a wall on Saturday that rendered me utterly useless having only written one paragraph of a proposal the entire day and resuming work with a fresh sense of vigor on Sunday morning & afternoon.

I guess you can draw some parallels between running and setting out to reinvent your life. You’re at the starting line with tens of thousands of others. You see your friends beyond the barricade separating runners and observers, rallying for you with all the enthusiasm. You are all prepped and hyped up for the journey ahead. And then the gun goes off. The first few miles go in a breeze. Your running is fueled by a pure sense of novelty.

Midway through the run, the first signs of fatigue kick in. Your body starts giving signals to your mind and before you know it, they’re both talking a different language to each other. At this point in time, it becomes more and more of a physical exertion to cross each mile. The tens of thousands of people you started with, slowly dwindle down to the tens of people until eventually you find yourself alone. Even if you aren’t alone, the physical stress gives you that impression that no one else understands the pain you go through. Every now and then, you see people by the wayside cheering runners randomly and that gives you a short boost even though you know they aren’t actually talking to you. You start praying for the next closest checkpoint, drinking station or Power Gel station to charge up.

Eventually you manage to cobble down the miles and find yourself at the very last mile. At this point, a vision of whatever you set out to do becomes clearer and euphoria that you once experienced long ago at the starting line begins to reappear. You continue to batter your limbs to the point of exhaustion because you sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Eventually that dim light you see at the horizon grows brighter and brighter. The fanfare becomes louder and louder. Vague shapes of people by the side of the road become clearer until you eventually recognize them as your friends cheering you to finish what you started. You see signs of a homecoming of sorts greeting you as you cobble up those last strides leading to a line signifying that you have indeed arrived. Finally you make it past that line and it’s all over.

This probably applies to all forms of runners; the guys taking part in their first fun run, half marathoners like myself and especially (I would imagine) marathoners, seasoned or otherwise. Would that be the same for entrepreneurs; guys like me who are just starting out or even seasoned entrepreneurs looking at new opportunities for growth? In any case, both running and reinventing lives take more than just sheer talent. Mental and physical discipline to take you to that finish line are equally if not more important. And that is a lesson that running can teach us.

At least that’s what I tell myself as I huddle across the first mile checkpoint in my race to reinvent myself. I hope there’s a drink station up ahead.