Why I run?
Why I run? (Published initially in October, 2011) I plan to run a 50km ultra marathon in November 2011. This will take me anything between 6 to 7 hours of running at a reasonably steady pace. To achieve this, I would have covered about 1000km over a 16 week training schedule. There are friends of mine that are intending to improve their timings or run even longer distances of 75km, 100km. One friend recently ran from Chandigarh to Shimla. My daughter once asked me, ‘Dad, Why do you run?’ For lack of a good answer for a 12 year old, I recounted the example of Mallory, probably one of the greatest mountaineers, on why he was attempting to climb the Everest replied, ‘Because it is there.’ I had never really understood the answer earlier but perhaps, I now do. Long distance running involves pain and is tough. Yet, some of us are unable to let go of that runners high that comes after the achievement of personal milestones. Very few of us are competing with others. Occa...