During my MBA in Dec 2015, I got a knee injury while playing cricket and to aggravate that I continued learning tennis – a newfound love. I had to go through a long treatment with orthopedist and physiotherapist. There was a time when to sit in a car, I had to put my butt in car first and then lift my leg with hands to put inside car. On top of that, one doctor in Kolkata predicted/declared unofficially that I would not be able to run in my life. Not only long distance running but running to bowl in Cricket also. I couldn't use stairs for more than 1 year because no strength left in knee to pull leg off the ground. But life changes, miracles happen.

Almost for 1.5 years I worked on my knee to get back to routine and get strength back. Slowly I started playing cricket again with precautions and support of knee cap. I became a part of Sasken’s corporate team, and we used to practice on weekends. Number of players coming to practice was getting lower every week and we stopped practicing because of that. I’ve never been in running and even never thought to join running in dreams. It’s not that my physical activities were zero but running those distances is different ball game. Being a medium fast bowler used to give me some chances to test my endurance but in intervals. Someone writing on FB about his/her 10K, Half-Marathons or Full-Marathons used to give me enough goosebumps to not think further about running. But against all odds, I came back strong.

After cricket got stopped, I was away from physical activities and FB posts from my friends were motivating me to run but not enough motivation to plan for 10K or HM. I got to know from my good friend about a running group Runners’ High (RH). I joined that group in November’2017 and a battle begin, a battle within… motivation to join was let’s try it…

गिरते हैं शहसवार ही मैदाने - जंग में,
वो तिफ्ल क्या गिरेंगे, जो घुटनों के बल चलें।

It’s gallant knights riding in battles that fall
Not feeble babes, who can do naught but crawl

My journey with RH: TCS10K 2018 was my first 10K event and I finished my race with a timing of 1:01:41, lil below my expectation but not so bad. Within a period of two months, I break into sub-60 timing for my second 10K event Bangalore10K Challenge 2018- 59:21. I also ran two half-marathon events after that- debut half-marathon - Sriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon, Oct 2018 with a timing of 2:17:04 and 2nd half-marathon at Tata Mumbai Marathon(TMM) with a timing of 2:05:18. I also did another TCS10K event in May 2019 with a timing of 53:41.

I started looking forward to finishing a super strong first full marathon in Mumbai (TMM 2020) and decide to join PaceMakers(PM), a running group known for its best of training and methodologies to improve on timing. I had a lot of self-doubts on my survival in PM and coping up with the hectic schedule. Initial 3-4 weeks period was a damn struggle for me. But once my body start getting into that zone, there is no look back. Running with PaceMakers helped me build my character as a runner. When you train with such a superb set of runners, you would also learn to improve, learn to push your boundaries and what not.

My journey with PaceMakers: After joining PM, my first race was Bengaluru10K Challenge. From 53:41(PB) in TCS10K on 19th May to 50:11 (new PB) on 7th July at Bengaluru10K Challenge, I made an improvement of 3:30.

Next half marathon was Airtel Hyderabad Marathon on 25th August 2019 and finished with a timing of 1:56:29 (my PB with a 9 min improvement from TMM 2019). After that I ran HM@ Shriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon on 13th October 2019 with a timing of 1:50:02 (PB by 6:27). I was happy about my progress and was looking for a superb TMM2020. With some hesitations and last-minute change of mind, I signed up for Tata Steel 25K run at Kolkata and finished with a timing of 2:04:50 (a pace of just below 5min/km). This race was a game changer and given me enough confidence to finish sub-4 marathon @ TMM2020.

I was all set for my first full marathon and those tough intervals and tempo run helped me make myself strong enough to face Mumbai marathon. Talk with coach @Pani sir just before the race helped me cleared out all the doubts. On 19th January 2020, I ran the Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM) 2020. It took me 3 hours, 39 minutes and 33 seconds to finish my first marathon and I was among the top 5% finishers of the race.

One thing that differentiates PaceMakers is the rigorous training and the Coach. When you see your coach running along with you and faster than you, you’ll feel motivated to do better. His calmness and composure are the biggest strengths. This is just a start, many more to come…..