They say “the journey is more important than the
destination”. Thousands of people participate in the marathons every year
but only a percent of them actually win. Some of the participants leave it
mid-way while some take a shortcut.
I joined the DNA iCan half marathon (5km fun run) as a CACR volunteer on 9th March 2014
at BKC,Mumbai and earned some of the following lessons of life:
- Challenge yourself:
I was volunteering to accompany the Municipal students for the fun run, so
initially I was in two minds whether or not to participate in the race. Later on, I
caved in and joined the race. As I was completing the 1 km distance,the 13-14 year old school girls finished their 3kms. I was surprised and thought it is due to the age factor
that I am slower than them.
But was it true?I realized that these girls had a single goal in
my mind to win. For them the prize was the motivating factor. For me, there was
no motivation, I ran for a cause. Could I challenge myself even if it is for a
cause? We don’t challenge ourselves these days, either in job or in personal
life. We are happy at the position we are. We use our weakness or economic
scenario as our scapegoat.
Lesson 1: Challenge yourself, either in job for a particular position or in a
business or in a marathon for 1st prize or as a volunteer. Challenge keeps you
active and happy. It also helps you overcome your weakness which you use as a
reason of your failures. Use the mantra “I have to win” instead of “I will try to win”.
- Know your Basics:
For every challenge it is important to know your basics, whether you
an impulsive person or planner, knowing the environment is important. I knew
the basics of a marathon-shoes,outfit, and a loads of energy, but “knowing”
is different from “implementing”.
I wore the wrong size of shoe (I had only one pair which belonged to
my sister and they looked cute). I paid the prize when my legs started killing
me as the race started. Some of the participants had worn jeans which I thought
was an outfit not suitable for a race and for a hot March Mumbai morning.
I like to walk, running is not my forte. I ran only once in a
school, so running a 5km race proved to be difficult.
Lesson 2: Know your environment. Know your strength and weakness and
accordingly prepare.
- Strategy:
My strategy for the race was to run, but I had neither the physical
or mental strength for running as I had no experience. So I alternated between
running and walking to complete my 5km. Most of the participant had similar
strategy as I saw everyone alternate between walking and running.
It is good to be cautious but having a low risk strategy always
doesn't work. Some of the best companies in the world, leaders in the world,
crafted the riskiest strategy to win.
For those who finished the race, their strategy was to walk, take
break in between. For those who wanted to win, their strategy was to run and
run with no break in between (reminded me of “The Tortoise and Hare Story).
 |
| Photo of school girls with few CACR volunteers after finishing the fun run |
Lesson 3: Make strategies along the lines of winner. Push and push but never
take a break. Taking a break means reevaluating your work and negating it. So
your strategy should be such that every milestone you take you win. Don’t stop
at the milestone, continue moving forward.
- Be innovative:
As my shoes were causing hell to me, I decided to loosen the laces
and continue with my walk/run. One of my colleagues suggested me to remove them
and run, but I felt it was a funny idea. We follow the rules/ societal
etiquette without batting an eye. I saw no one running without shoes and I
thought I would look weird and may become a status update for someone due to this
stunt.
Next day I opened the newspaper and I read an article where one of
the winners decided to run without shoes. I was literally gob smacked.
I was still happy that irrespective of the pain in my feet I
finished my race.
Lesson 4: Be innovative. Sometimes rules are meant to be broken to achieve
something in life.
- Focus:
Due to my shoe debacle, few people came to me to made me aware of
the dangers of letting a shoelace run in all directions. I was embarrassed and
happy at the same time. Embarrassed because of my silly idea and happy that
people cared, but I also started thinking how did they notice?
When you are running or walking your vision should be forward, not
upwards/downwards. Other things should be blurred to you.
Clearly, it was not the case. This is what we do in life; we are
never focused in life. Something or other sways our vision, ultimately
affecting our decision.
Lesson 5: Concentrate. Focus. Stop listening to gossip or be affected by
political/economic/familial situations while achieving your goals. Success is
never easy to achieve. There is something or other hindering you on your path
to your goals
- Apart from this there is one more important
lesson I learned
Can
they become the next P.T Usha, India's running champion ? Do
schools make Marathon as an opportunity to
teach their students in the art of physical and mental strength? Do they use
this opportunity to create the best runner in the world? I guess not... but they could start.I hope to get the message across.
Sometimes
you can change your life by changing the life of others.
JZ is a volunteer with CACR .
CACR - www.ngocacr.com
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