Make your life better with Running!

If “Sama lamaa duma lamaa you assuming I’m a human” is Eminem’s signature, then this article would be mine because here I write about what has made sense to me the most throughout the approximately 7390 days,12 hours and 35 minutes of my existence in this world. One simple word — ‘RUNNING’.

Writing, debating, cycling, blogging, football, chess, reading, singing, dancing, flirting, chatting, celebrating failure, etc. could be anyone’s thing. Well, my thing’s running.

I am the type of guy who has all the memes, jokes, stories, motivation, purposes, anti-excuses for running.

Running is not just “daudine”,” kudne”(Nepali translation) or just moving your legs as fast as possible as supposed by most non-runners. I get slightly pissed off whenever my friends mention those words while talking about running with me. Running is different than just walking fast.

To see the combination of multiples colors in the sky parallel with the intricate details of the surroundings that surround me; to see the things around me for what they are and not for what they are labelled to be is a blissful realization and that is what running has taught me. It has also taught me the importance of having a proper nutritional balance for the physical work that one does. It has taught me to cry out of sheer joy (of overcoming your limits).

Running is a beautiful compensation for living this beautiful life. The reason why people feel depressed and unhappy even in positive situations is that they have forgotten to work for what they want. Everything is handed out for free to them. We have never lived in such a technologically dominated time as we do now.

Well, running is life. There are many times when it’s tough to pull through, many obstacles to conquer throughout a run. One who has taken run seriously has to endure the pain to keep on continuing, even if the legs hurt, not only the legs but also the back along with breathing problems. It certainly makes one feel like quitting in the beginning.

The pain in the body makes his mental authority forget about the real motivation behind why he is doing this. ‘Why do runners run?’ might be a curiosity for any normal person. One might wonder why do people even choose this hardship to be their passion? Well, first off, it is the best exercise for cardio. Secondly, there are many levels to conquer and highs to achieve from this. Running can be a good reason to wake up early in the morning if one is looking to shed some weight. It creates healthy bones, improves mental health by getting the runner in his “headspace” and teaches him not to care about other’s headspace, and all the other must -know benefits such as boosting confidence, relieving stress, preventing heart diseases and respiratory problems, etc. What’s more? Runners are considered the sexiest sapiens on the planet. So if your partner runs, then you are in for a big treat in life.

What personally makes me so eligible to speak about ‘Running’ is that I am a human and I want other humans to live a better version of their own lives, especially in Nepal. And what’s more, I have plenty of experience. What competing in Kantipur half marathon two times, COAS Army day marathon several times, several Kathmandu trail series races, and countless mini races, has taught me is that the day that you can consider your ‘Best day of my life’ achieved is when you have worked the hardest and performed your best because of all the past preparation for the same event. Furthermore, I am the type of guy who lands either top 20 or top 10 no matter how small (340 people) or big (4000 people) the race is. And those are the most beautiful highs ever experienced. Highs that one earns.

In this infinite universe of countless cosmological creations, representing the sensory organs of the realm, I live and I breathe for another potential day filled with running. That, surprisingly, is the thing I choose to do so passionately every day that despite the millions of other things to do and see. I choose this form of life. I choose this form of reality and this form of education. I should admit that I had to exaggerate the concept of running in my initial days to push myself forward. Now that I have mastered it, more like getting used to it, there’s potentially nothing that can stop me from running my heart out every single day.

There have been moments when I have literally cried during a run. Hormones released in an emotional fashion, one might say. It was as if a whole new world was waiting to be discovered through my footsteps and this experience was when I once visited a hill. Just imagine running in the countless hills in Nepal. Feels quite astonishing to be a citizen of a country where there are many trails, and you are literally living in a jungle inhabited society. That reminds me of our primitive lifestyle, 99.92 % of human history; when our ancestors used to fight with raw bred animals, just for the sake of survival. They needed no fancy shoes to travel miles and miles every day. They needed no motivation to do so. ‘Survival’ was enough motivation for them.

And here we live in this snowflake, spoon-fed couch comfort period when “I am too lazy to get up early for a run” sounds like a cool thing to say. Cool, like really? One can make time for running even in the evening, can’t they?

Starting to run is like using a high-end Beats headphone instead of the regular hundred rupees one(normal life without running). Starting to run will make one realize that there is a level up’ in real life and not only in video games, a better way to live life in which every cell of your body constantly heals and grows. A life where your mind is satisfied with the concept of accomplishment.

Let me break it down in runners’ language,

Real happiness = Sense of accomplishment = Running a mile a day.

Give a dog a mobile phone,

observe what happens,

and if that is life,

running will teach that dog to use the phone correctly,

And on a darker and heavier note,

“If you don’t run, you don’t count”

-Achyut Kayastha.

And let me tell you a secret, I have a secret level of admiration for people who run, more than the people who don’t, no matter if they are friends or families. And if you are a non-runner reading this, I am sorry! I might not admire you that much.

So, I am not asking you to become an ultra runner just yet. I am asking you to give this concept of running a try.

Wear your trousers, get your t-shirt, grab your phone, put on a playlist and go out for a run. You can stop when you get tired and run again. It is all about the process of starts and stops until you finally improve. You can then share the experience with other friends and convince them to do the same as well because as Uncle Ben from Spiderman quoted it, “ With great responsibility, comes great power.”

This whole article is basically a friend request from me. I am representing every runner in the world. So, you have a chance of becoming someone’s friend today. Yayy!

Especially in a country where PE is almost absent in our school routine and where people look for excuses if they are confronted with the concept of fitness, it’s high time we change. It is time to conquer the mind and purify the soul. It is time to glance back into the old method of survival for the enhancement of high-performance abilities in the new age of the 21st century. It is time to ask ourselves what excuses stop us from taking ourselves to the next level? What is more important than our health? What will benefit us in the long term, our mobile phone or our body?

A random meme:

Nobody:

Literally nobody: I really regret that run.