Recently, I started running regularly again. I had been running for the last 15 years or more, but lately running has been replaced by cycling. I moved to Goa about 4 years ago, leaving the Mumbai hustle behind. Goa is a green heaven, and I wanted to go off-road and enjoy the forests and rich nature. I continued running, but less frequently. I had seen running only through one lens, that of speed and distance. Goa brought a very different perspective to my running, something I could not have imagined earlier. Something that allowed me to look at running through a wider aperture and new lenses More about that later!
In my earlier life in Mumbai, the marathon was the highlight of the 3rd week of every January. At least 4 to 5 months before that, we would be at Mahalaxmi Racecourse 3 to 4 times a week at unearthly times every morning to train with our running group. Sundays were spent doing long runs on the road. For more than 10 years as I ran the Mumbai marathon, my daughters Alisha & Anushka would come down to the road in front of my building to give me a hi-five as I ran! That interaction always recharged me and set me up to keep going. I was always keen to run with them, and now Alisha, at age 22, in her final year of college, registered us to run a marathon together! So a few months ago, I started my regular running again! This time with a Goa state of mind! With new lenses that allowed me to stop and smell the coffee!
Haruki Murakami, a Japanese novelist, has a great book about running. He calls it “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”. He says, "No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough, and it becomes contemplative, even a meditative act”. Who could have imagined that 42 kilometers could be run? But marathons teach you to pick an ambitious goal and go for it. So I began to see running through the lenses of audacity, grit, and perseverance.
Running allows you to think through issues, breaking down large problems into components. One gets used to working methodically on the individual components of running: lots of slow running, steadily building up strength and endurance. Rome was not won in a day. At work, one also begins to use a similar approach: pacing oneself and building strength for the long haul. Building a company from scratch was a lot like running a marathon. I began to see running through the lens of grit and perseverance. People who built Cequity with me would have seen this trait. A few were inspired by this and even joined me for some running. Others may have even been terrorized by it; after all, not everyone is running that marathon!
I started long-distance running around the same time as I started Cequity. Who knew that the metaphor of the marathon runner—who battles many “internal walls" before he is successful—would mirror my entrepreneurial journey? At that stage, a lot of "warlike" words were in my dictionary and in my behavior. I walked fast, talked fast, and often pushed through all the walls that came in my way. The start of every week, each Monday, was the act of going to war on stuff that company creation needed. Getting things done and getting them done fast was my motto. I treated running in the same way and was always focused on my timing and the various stats that made up a runner's life. So grit and perseverance, along with aggression and high energy, were always the lenses that I saw running through. And yet, as I built up the mileage, new lenses or perspectives constantly came my way. Some I absorbed, and many I refused to acknowledge until that geographical move made me see the Goa lens.
But in my early running days, I was still pushing for timing and comparing myself to others. Many of life’s greatest lessons have come to me on the road. I still remember a lesson from my early running days. Something that started my journey of beginning to look at running through different lenses During one Mumbai half-marathon, I was pushing myself hard to get to a sub-2-hour time. The mecca of many half-marathon runners, a sub-2-hour half-marathon was the target I was gunning for. I reached Peddar Road doing well, but I was still a bit behind my target timing. I started climbing the Pedder Road hill with another unknown runner by my side. And just as I began to open my throttle on the hill, he said something that I will now remember for life. He looked at me and said, “Stop fighting the hill". His point was that if you go easy on the uphill, you will more than makeup on the downhill. What a metaphor it was for me—for running and life itself. Be kinder to yourself, don’t fight the hill, and you can still make your target happen.
Running helps you see the fruits of a disciplined program, and you definitely carry that learning into business. As runner and novelist Haruki Murakami put it, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." Another critical thing that running teaches you is to time your peak; there is no point in being your best a few months before your marathon. Building up to be your best on the scheduled day is what matters. Again, one applies similar thinking at work and paces oneself toward the goals that one sets. I could not have achieved my running goals & been injury-free without the guidance of Deepak & Praful of Striders, the amazing running group in Mumbai. So many of these lenses, like grit and perseverance, were about how to be one's best! And sure, I needed these lenses as I grew my company with my partners; there is no doubt about that!
And yet, Goa brought a new perspective. First, I was not keen to wake up at an unearthly hour to run. In Mumbai, it was about being at the racecourse by 5:43 a.m. to get my running off the ground. Here in Goa, there was no pressure from traffic, and I could wake up at a leisurely pace and still do the mileage I wanted. Often, we constrain ourselves by the boundaries that our sense of urgency sets for us without exploring an alternate view. I am sure getting more REM sleep and running a bit later in Mumbai would have only improved my performance!
Running at a leisurely pace was itself something new for me. But Goa did that to you; I think even blood flow velocity came down in my veins when I moved to Goa! Suddenly, running at a slower pace seemed to be good and had nothing to do with being a "loser", It was a better way to experience the surroundings. Goa taught me that "slow is also good".
Also, I began to see running far more as a game with myself with no points to prove and not yet another competitive arena. And then Goa, with its stray dogs, taught me to pick my routes carefully and hope like hell that I don't antagonize a dog in my path. So stopping when I encountered a dog in my path became a standard routine. Who said that "starting and stopping" is wrong? It was all ok! Who were you competing against anyway?
So Goa brought a whole new perspective to my running. And I actually began to enjoy it even more.
I can imagine that if I had not moved to Goa, my Mondays would have been very different. For as long as I can remember, Mondays have been the adrenaline boosters of my week. Come Monday, and I am charged up and raring to go. I guess my team bore the brunt of that overdrive, but at that time I was not even conscious of any side effects. I was just driven and ready to bear down hard on my checklist for the week. Who would have thought that my pivot to become a leadership coach would need me to slow down, give up, or at least taper down this Monday madness that had ruled me till then? I would never have guessed that Goa had its own unique way of slowing me down and allowing me to feel stuff around me in a more granular fashion. Earlier, I felt I had no time to pause and feel the world.
It’s funny that when I look at my new innings as a leadership coach, I could never have played this as a hard-driving entrepreneur, and I needed to smell the coffee and slow down to even begin to structure a new career. I am feeling so good about this fact. Also, my readiness to accept a dramatically different viewpoint—that slow can also be good—would never have happened if I hadn't moved to Goa. There is an old Chinese saying, "Make haste slowly". Maybe Goa is giving me a signal that it is time to add a few more lenses to my armory.
So "don't fight the hill" and "slow is good" have now become my new mantra! New lenses for a different game, maybe!
Don't fight the hill! I didn't know how much I needed to hear this - albeit in a totally different context. I loved Murakami's books as well - many life lessons there. Really enjoyed your piece and personal contemplation on running.
Ajay so happy to have found you here. Enjoyed reading about you