On January 1, 2018, I began my running journey. Yes, a well-documented one. I took a resolution to run 1800 km on that day. The reason was I wanted to get away from the pain that I was going through in my life. It was both: The mental and the physical. Somehow without knowing the exact reasons then, I discovered that I felt good whenever I ran. Running is mood-lifting. After a good run, you are sure to get that mood lift no matter what you are going through. I realized that I was able to get all the anxiety flushed out of my life. Running acted like a cleaning activity.
Before January 2018, I was running but not in a regular way. Sometimes I did, Sometimes I did not. I completed my goal of running 1800 km in the first week of December 2018. This year, I have completed running 1400 km so far. The goal is to repeat 2018 and exceed it.
So, here are the top reasons today that I run for on a daily basis.
- Running has brought flexibility in my body. When I run, all my muscles get the exercise. The blood flows to the remotest corners of the body. All your body is rejuvenated by running. My locomotion has become better, I am able to bend better. My back, my legs, and my hands are flexible due to regular movements that they get. When you are running you don’t need to exercise or go to the gym. The running takes care of all that.
- Improved Breathing and expanded lungs. Earlier, I used to go panting within minutes of starting to run. But, now, it’s not like that. I am able to run for several hours together without getting breathless. Your breathing improves. Our sedentary lifestyle is responsible for us not being able to breathe properly. But, when we run, we have no choice but to learn proper breathing techniques. Now, my breath is longer. Long breaths are better than short breaths for your health.
- Burnt my belly fat running: I was 96 kg (211.6) at one point in time. I am now 78 kg(171.9 lbs). And I am maintaining my new weight for the past year. Running is an aerobic exercise and hence, it burns your fat faster. People who pay premium memberships to health clubs should note this. Most of you who go to the gym or health clubs are there for losing weight and look good. You would do a better job if you just moved out of your house every morning and ran in the sun early morning.
- RUNNING IS A MIND REJUVENATOR: In a stressful job like banking, people are suffering from stress and acute anxiety. This is affecting the overall functioning of our mind and body. There are scientific studies to suggest that our overall performance goes down during stress and anxiety. The body and the mind suffers irreversible damage for life. Because of the stress and anxiety, there is a release of toxic chemicals in our body that permanently affect our organs like Kidney, Pancreas, etc. Running has become a way for me to flush out my anxiety and stress on a daily basis. No matter what takes place, I head for a run to relax my nerves and feel better. The reason why stress is relieved after a run is that running leads to the release of those chemicals like Serotonin, Dopamine, BDNF in our body that acts like drugs. These are naturally occurring drugs in our bodies that are released during the course of the run.
- I AM SLEEPING BETTER THESE DAYS: To have a good sleep when you hit the bed, you need to make sure that you have tired your body and refreshed your mind. If you have some kind of anxiety in your mind, you will not get good sleep. If you have some kind of pain in your body, it will trouble you throughout the night. Running has made sure for me that I get a good night’s sleep every day. This is my best reward that running has bestowed upon me. I don’t want to exchange it for gold in my life. I have worked in the call center and I fully realize the importance of good sleep. There, I would find it difficult to get night sleeps. I felt happy leaving that job for this very reason. Otherwise, I miss my call center days for the fun I had and the people I met there. The release of happiness chemicals in our body puts us to sleep.
- My bones have become stronger and healthier: I don’t get body pain often. I have not suffered any shin pain or back pain or any kind of a pain in my last 2 years of well-documented running. To have a good running, I get up early in the morning and head out to run. While I am running, the morning sun comes along and smiles at me. The whole morning world is different than the rest of the day. You need to get up in the morning to know how beautiful our world is and what hell we make it through the day. The morning sunlight is full of Vitamin D that is so essential for our bones to be fit and strong. Children suffer from Rickets and the adults suffer from Osteomalacia due to lack of enough Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps our bones with the absorption of Calcium.
- Mental Strength: Running has no limits. You are unlimited. You can go on running for as long as you want. The more you increase your capability to run, the more your mind is able to experience the tough situations and learn to overcome them. I started out with running 2 km in the initial days in 2018. Now, I run for more than 21 km without discomfort. While one is pushing oneself to run for multiple hours, the mind learns to become strong. The brain chemicals promote running. You build an attitude by running. This winning attitude and not giving up under trying circumstances becomes a part of you. You develop a mind-frame that takes care of daily life challenges.
“No Human is limited.”
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