Pinkathon and me

This post is written as part of the 6th anniversary celebration of my blog.

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When you wish something from your heart, God sends an angel to help you achieve it. About 3-4 months ago I was struggling hard to get back to a workout routine, nothing intense just a brisk walk of 2-3 km. I made countless efforts and failed. Sometimes unexpected rain would charge around my workout time, sometimes some work would crop up and most of the times it was nothing but my lethargy.

But God was watching me try and fail and when he was done with his share of amusement he took pity on me and sent not one but two angels.

First one was Pinkathon. They announced a 150 days challenge. It is a simple challenge where one has to run at least 2 km every day starting from 1 Sep for 150 days, easy right? 😉

The second angel was my friend Sweta. She has been a Pinkie herself and she tagged me to take up this challenge. I can’t thank her and Pinkathon for showing up in my life and God for sending them my way at right time.

I was at stamina zero when I started the Pinkathon challenge. Here comes a confession, my lethargy was so big that I started a week late. But the first group run was enough to give me the necessary boost. Watching all the other girls running at top speed while I huffed and puffed in less than 200 metres made me realise where I stood.

This was a delicate moment as I could have easily given up seeing that I was left behind within few seconds after we started running. I was already feeling terrible thinking that I could never get to the point where all others were. Thanks to ambassadors and all the other members of the group. While Disha (Thane ambassador) ran with me encouraging me to at least jog when I was out of breath, Siddharth and other pinkies clapped, smiled and cheered for me whenever they ran past me.

That day I realised that the only way to catch up with them was to do my daily runs religiously. The weekly runs are kind of weekly tests I had to give during school life. But appearing for those test makes sense only if I study throughout the week. So I became regular in my daily runs. Here comes another confession, that even today I am not able to go for my runs more than thrice a week.

It’s been 2 months of 3 runs in the range of 2-4 km and a weekly group run every weekend of 4-5 km and I am already seeing an improvement. I, who used to run out of breath in less than 200 metres am now able to run for 2 km at a stretch without running short of breath. My speed has been gradually improving too.

But the best part of taking this challenge is I am motivated throughout the week through the messages on my WhatsApp group. Whenever my lethargy threatens to take over my life, a message comes from Bhavana – a fellow pinkie mentioning the distance, plank timing and other workout details which makes my lethargy look down with shame and go back to the deepest, dark corner it came from.

The date for Pinkathon has been announced and I am already feeling sad as it may mean the end of all the group runs and motivating messages.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Milind Soman for starting this initiative, all the Pinkathon group for their endless efforts to make it a widespread movement, all the ambassadors and members for their non-stop encouragement. I really hope that all the group runs and the fun continues past the Pinkathon.

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Read all posts from the 6th anniversary celebration of the blog – #6YrsOfHappiness

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