This past weekend, Delhi was host to the iRun Fest, the first ever, first of its kind running festival in India.
Runners of all levels and disciplines came together to chat, to meet, to discuss, to watch inspirational running films – oh my word, the things we can achieve when we set out minds to it…
This super exciting initiative was the brainchild of Dr. Rajat Chauhan, a man who seems to have one new innovative idea fizzing in his head every day.
Doc, as he is known to almost everyone in the running and sports world in India, is a runner, a marathoner, an ultra marathoner, a writer, a sports physio and – oh yes, the list goes on – the man behind a high altitude ultra marathon called La Ultra. I’ve blogged about this extraordinary race before, and for those of you who don’t know about this insanely challenging run, take a few minutes and read these stories…
Presenting La Ultra The High, India’s very own ultra marathon (& then some)
Meet some crazy wonderful, crazy adventurous, crazy strong runners
Anyway, back to yesterday morning.
Amidst all his zillion other commitments, Doc announced he was hosting a free running basics workshop before the day’s seminars.
So I went.
It will soon be 4 years since I first laced up my running shoes to join a group of other non-running women, to be coached by Doc.
I know I’ve made progress – it would be disingenuous if I said otherwise – but I still have so much to learn, that a little bit of back-to-basics couldn’t hurt.
We were a small group in the lobby of the venue, and we slipped off our shoes and started doing a few basic exercises. As more people arrived for the day’s proceedings, our group swelled a little, we had a few folk watching us, and it was all very reassuring.
Doc is a great de-bunker of jargon, always preferring to tell it as it is. So with just a few simple, uncomplicated exercises, he reminded me that I need to get back on track and not get too caught up in over-thinking and over-complicating my late-bloooming love for running.
So, a little moment of squaring the circle, almost.
From fretting about the fact I seem to have plateau-ed, and already worrying about not having trained enough this summer, it was reassuring to be back where it all started, with my running guru.
Is that you I see, Leslie?
Yes, Ranjana aunty
Thank you ma’am for putting this together. Really appreciate it.