Mo Farah's final hurrah and my new identity
Hi Friends,
Greetings!
Mo Farah, one of the greatest athletes in the world today, extended his dominance with another Gold medal winning performance at IAAF World Championship 2017 in the 10000M (10KM) category on the event's inaugural day itself. It was his 10th consecutive gold medal in a global track final and this London event will be his final championship appearance as a track runner. He has one more category 5000M to compete in this event before bidding adieu to track running to concentrate on road running events. What an amazing athlete he has been! The Briton clocked the timing of 26:49:51 which is 3 minutes more than his personal best but still he could finish as the best in the championship proves his dominance. Congratulations Farah!
For me the timing 26:49:51 means just 4 km as I finish 10K run in not less than 58 minutes. But for an amateur runner like me it is a good timing only as I can't afford to train like a pro. But long distance running has given me a new identity. When I went to buy groceries today in the usual nearby shop, the shopkeeper was a bit exaggerating about my managerial position in my company. He even checked with another customer who happened to be my colleague. The latter in his response to the shopkeeper mentioned me as a runner. I was happy as well as surprised to hear my new identity i.e. the way my colleagues and friends look at me.
I can say it has been an amazing journey to gain this identity (though I have not done it consciously). I started running in 2009 in the newly laid world class synthetic athletic track in our office campus just to reduce the extra layer of fat on my hips and belly region. Soon I got addicted to it and it became a regular routine for me to run on 4-5 days a week. In 2011 I got a chance to participate in my first competitive long distance road race. I liked it instantly and soon my leisurely non tracked runs became serious and tracked ones targeting new competitive runs. Steadily I kept on increasing the distance also from 5KM to 10KM to Half Marathon and later Full Marathon. As I am active on social media, I started posting my photos and articles on running events I participate. The increased passion also led me to join a running group in my company and soon I became an integral part of the event management team which conducts running events in my company. The main aim of the group is to encourage fellow employees to maintain healthy lifestyle with running as one of their healthy and fitness habits. And we make sure every running event is better than previous one in terms of both participation and event management quality. That might have helped me getting noticed as a runner. Since sports and sportsman have the tendency to attract more attention than the technical and managerial work I do in my organization, it might have helped me to gain this new identity. And I am proud of it as it is the result of my passion, hard work and perseverance through which I could take my running hobby into a level where I can call myself an amateur sports person (Sports has been my passion since my childhood days but then I didn't have enough strength, talent and support to take up a sport seriously and instead I became a studious person doing well academically. No worries as my academic performance has won me a good paying job because of which I can afford to pursue my hobbies).
Thank you friends for your patient reading. In coming days, I am planning to write more on running mainly about few tips and experiences which might be useful for the beginners.
Regards,
Chetan
Greetings!
Mo Farah, one of the greatest athletes in the world today, extended his dominance with another Gold medal winning performance at IAAF World Championship 2017 in the 10000M (10KM) category on the event's inaugural day itself. It was his 10th consecutive gold medal in a global track final and this London event will be his final championship appearance as a track runner. He has one more category 5000M to compete in this event before bidding adieu to track running to concentrate on road running events. What an amazing athlete he has been! The Briton clocked the timing of 26:49:51 which is 3 minutes more than his personal best but still he could finish as the best in the championship proves his dominance. Congratulations Farah!
For me the timing 26:49:51 means just 4 km as I finish 10K run in not less than 58 minutes. But for an amateur runner like me it is a good timing only as I can't afford to train like a pro. But long distance running has given me a new identity. When I went to buy groceries today in the usual nearby shop, the shopkeeper was a bit exaggerating about my managerial position in my company. He even checked with another customer who happened to be my colleague. The latter in his response to the shopkeeper mentioned me as a runner. I was happy as well as surprised to hear my new identity i.e. the way my colleagues and friends look at me.
I can say it has been an amazing journey to gain this identity (though I have not done it consciously). I started running in 2009 in the newly laid world class synthetic athletic track in our office campus just to reduce the extra layer of fat on my hips and belly region. Soon I got addicted to it and it became a regular routine for me to run on 4-5 days a week. In 2011 I got a chance to participate in my first competitive long distance road race. I liked it instantly and soon my leisurely non tracked runs became serious and tracked ones targeting new competitive runs. Steadily I kept on increasing the distance also from 5KM to 10KM to Half Marathon and later Full Marathon. As I am active on social media, I started posting my photos and articles on running events I participate. The increased passion also led me to join a running group in my company and soon I became an integral part of the event management team which conducts running events in my company. The main aim of the group is to encourage fellow employees to maintain healthy lifestyle with running as one of their healthy and fitness habits. And we make sure every running event is better than previous one in terms of both participation and event management quality. That might have helped me getting noticed as a runner. Since sports and sportsman have the tendency to attract more attention than the technical and managerial work I do in my organization, it might have helped me to gain this new identity. And I am proud of it as it is the result of my passion, hard work and perseverance through which I could take my running hobby into a level where I can call myself an amateur sports person (Sports has been my passion since my childhood days but then I didn't have enough strength, talent and support to take up a sport seriously and instead I became a studious person doing well academically. No worries as my academic performance has won me a good paying job because of which I can afford to pursue my hobbies).
Thank you friends for your patient reading. In coming days, I am planning to write more on running mainly about few tips and experiences which might be useful for the beginners.
Regards,
Chetan
Good one. He is one athlete whom I see very often, he lives in Portland and trains in our grounds whenever he is in the US. He once said he trains by running 125 miles every week and takes rest only after major events like the Olympics.
ReplyDeleteLucky you to meet such a legend!
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