Why did I start running?????

It’s the opposite question which is always being asked by many of the people who know me, Thanuj have u stopped running? The obvious answer now is “Yes” , cause I have been plagued with bloody back pain and no time to do such activities as I am working like a dog at Mysore office.

I was a good athlete in my school and college days, people used to now me by the virtue of my running. Long story is there why I became an athlete, this post says about it. Hopefully people will have time to read this post.

Long back when I was in class 5 , I was not interested in sports, just school and my room was my life. One fine day in middle school (Avila convent), where I was studying, there was a selection for the zonal level sports, I was interested to participate for the selection, the even was high jump. I was scared of jumping higher, but that was the only sport where they did not have any athletes, so selection started and I failed to clear the first hurdle it self , that was it , I thought it was not my cup of tea , so I did not go for further jumping. Then again in class 6 and 7 I was overpowered by some good athletes and was not included in the squad. But there was a glimmer of hope, I was playing kho-kho and I was included in the team when I was in class 6th, that was my starting and then I never looked back. Though always failure is the step towards success, it started with a loss for me on my debut match. But as life goes on success came on. In class 7 I was a regular member of my schools kho-kho team and was in the soccer team. The first taste of success came after I helped my team to clear the zonal level matches by providing vital passes and helping my team to score goals. This was in class 7, though the kho –kho game was not in any full swing we kept on loosing matches, but I was still a good player. I was staying with my grand parents till class 10th and my uncle was like a villan, he was not allowing me to participate in any extra curricular activities, y people are like this, I wondered, seriously I had to escape all the tortures and torments to participate in sports, believe it or not I struggled a lot to keep myself in sports. Many hurdles came for me but as people say “Fortune favors the brave”, it happened to me. My team though lost in the city level football match that was not the end of the story for us. They lost because of poor selection and idiotic decisions.

I joined Marimallappa’s for my high school, this school had a good playing field and there was class matches from the beginning of the year where all classes played in many sports. It was very good and my sport career revived here. I started in kho-kho and also was in soccer team. But I was still interested in running. I was not selected for the school team as I failed to qualify the selections in class 8. One fine day I visited Oval grounds (university ground), one person (LIC employee), who was coming for daily practice asked me to run 5 rounds with him. Enthusiasm was on my side, I ran the entire length with him, he was very much eager to say, u can do better y can’t u start practicing? I was also interested, but there were hurdles at my place, I was supposed to reach my home by 5PM. But wanted to give a try, that’s how my long distance career started. My father said to my uncle that I was supposed to be allowed to go for the practice. It was a window of hope. I began going to oval grounds every day after my school and started practicing. There was one person called Mr. Gopal raje urs( he is now no more), he was coaching some athletes, some how accidentally I met him and he stated to give tips and helped to increase my speed and skills in running. I started practicing middle distance running as I was not so fast to run 100or 200 mts sprint. Thanks coach for making me such a good runner, as a tribute to him I dedicate my Chennai marathon prize to him as he passed away just before that event in 2004. The first prize came for me in the school completions, it was in the 200 mts running category, I was very much happy to win the event in midst of 20-30 participants. That gave me hope that I can do better in sports. Also by that time I was free to participate in sports as I had been given full freedom to go for practicing.

By class 9 I was known as a good middle distance runner in the school, I now was a permanent member of my school’s athletic team. No one challenged my spot in 1500,300 mts for the next 9 years at any spot. All people knew that I was a good runner, but unfortunately I was not able to win any medal in the inter school events. But a glimmer of hope came when I won the road race event organized at Mysore, I was an outsider for the event and there were 200 participants in the race, I overpowered them all and won the prize, that was the best run until then by me, that’s how I got noticed. Though it got a recognition for me but still a inter school competition prize was missing. That came during the dasara competitions, there was a step climbing competions held at Mysore , I won 2nd prize in that. I was very much happy that things started starting to fall on the right places.

I had to wait until class 10th to get my first inter school prize, I got the prize in 3000mts run, I made it to the district level sports, that was it, my prize collection era started, I also was the team member( of course starting team) which participated in the city level kho- kho championships, As I was a very good middle distance runner, I was a automatic choice for the kho-kho team. As I was a good athlete people thought that I would win the individual championships in the school games in the class 10th but still that was not to happen as I was not able to make it. Also I won prizes at road races and in hill climbing competitions. I was improvising on my running skills. When I left the high school I was satisfied that I had achieved something in sports.

I joined the same institute for college studies. I was again a automatic choice for the college athletic team, now my responsibility was increased as I was a team member of the relay team, this team enjoyed success for 2 years as the second best team. All the team members were coming for practice to the grounds and were coached by the same coach. I also made to district sports in these two years. The prizes started to rain. In the college sports day, finally I achieved what was missing from my rack, the individual championships. Finally I got it in class 11; also I was a team member of the kho-kho team that was runner up in the championships that our college hosted.

In class 12 the success continued, though I missed to achieve individual championship, but I had cemented my place in the distance running and also I was good at kho-kho. But the tragedies started the loss of our team in the kho- kho match made us fell down also the biggest disappointment of all was the loosing of 3rd place which we achieved in 400 mts relay. I ran the race of my life to get my team into second place, but when we finished 3rd we were informed that the baton exchange in the last leg had been wrongly done and we were eliminated. It was such a disappointment for me personally as I failed to win a medal (believe it or not I did not get medal until I won the Chennai marathon, that was the only medal I got in my entire athletic career. I do have medals in the intra school college events but I was given certificates as a prize and some utensils only).

When I came to engineering , it seemed to be all stopped for a moment, as I was not going to practice and a long break in the class 12 made me idle as I was busy with the exam stuff and of course it I s the most important part of your life to decide what you want to become. Luckily the huge plot near my house provided the space for practice, the CFTRI land which is nearly 2 km in stretch was being used by some people play cricket match apart from that this land was not being used by any one at that time except for grazing cows. I began to practice in this ground which revived my athletic career in engineering. Of course there was disappointment at that time, I missed representing my college due to lack of information passing, the first VTU meet was missed by means no one provided the information for the meet. I saw it one day on the notice board, unfortunately the time was over. So I had to wait one more year after that. By that time our college appointed PED, he was a nice fellow who still encourages people to come up in sports. I found the right person; he was very helpful for all the sports person, he himself a sportsperson who has represented university and Karnataka in kabaddi game proved too good for us. I met this person when he joined the college and said my supports for the events are always there. Of course he nodded and until today if any help is needed, he contacts me or I contact him.


The college sports day was organised by the students in the first and second year, both the years there was only a few events with me sweeping all the events , there was only one prize in the event I participated, 1st , there was no one to beat me , I had achieved what any other student in the college was not able to achieve. In 3rd year , I participated in the VTU sports met, luckily it was held at Mysore. That time I got the chest number 444, still I have the chest number with me as a mark of the places I achieved in the events. My batch mates expected me to do well in that meet , of course I also expected the same. The first event was 800 mts, I ran the race of my life again and was 2nd in qualifying, good result though. But all tragedies start after good things, in finals I was left behind and due to lack of strategy I lost out in the final stretch thus claiming 4th spot, this was a heartbreak, again I lost out a chance to win a medal L. But I was not disappointed; I still ahead 1500 mts and triple jump to work out with. The 1500 mts was again a tragedy, though it was a good qualifying for me, due to negligence of the line umpires, I lost out and claimed 4th place. I literally blasted all the line officials for not looking out for the fouls, that was a sad ending to my running event that year, I again managed to get 4th place in the triple jump, though I was not expecting any magic here. Thus the 444 chest number gave me 444 position in the first university meet I attended, but I was very satisfied that I was able to break the existing meet records in the events which I participated. All the disappointment came to an end when I completely sweeped all the athletic events in the college sports meet. There was no one to challenge me I was gaining in confidence. I am not boasting of myself here, but it was the result of my hard work, that’s it.

In the final year , the athletic meet was held at SIT , tumkur, believe it or not my chest number here was “555”, how come they chose this number for me??? The moment I got my chest number I knew, this meet will also screw me, it happened like that only. I managed to secure 5 place in 800mts event after performing brilliantly in the qualifying, the 1500 mts was a tragedy, every one expected that I will be in top 3 but one idiot who became my M.Tech class mate spoiled my entire race, he blocked me all way long thus preventing me from overtaking and finally I overpowered him in the last stretch but it was too late to win the third place. I knew that it would be the last race of my life as a student and I was determined to make it a memorable one, but it ended in tears, for the second successive year i managed 4th place in this event. I cried a lot after the event as one guy ruined the most memorable event of mine. But the tragedy was yet to come, the event that ended my sporting life. It was the triple jump , the last morning of the event the triple jump event was held and I was eager to make it amongst top 5 in the event, though it happened, but I was injured in this event, wrong footing caused me to loose the grip on landing and that hurt and my back pain began, the damage was serious as I had a nerve damage, which is still hurting me and I cant be so active as I was during that time, I cant bear the pain , after that I have been very less active in sports and I don’t give my back too much work as it has already given me the shock of my life. Though I managed to finish my engineering sports career with a high as once again, I demolished my opponents in the college sports meet by winning first prizes in 8 events that I participated. I signed off with a high and I was identified as one of the best sports person of that year. It was a remarkable gift after 9 long years, though I didn’t win any sporting medals form my college and my self, but I was regarded as a threat to the opponents. I was also regarded as a very good fielder in the cricket team and I was contributing to my team in saving runs, they were taking me to save runs, still today, I do the same for my team. I showed the same during the tournament organized by my company I contributed through my bowling and my fielding. That’s my style of playing cricket. The slim and athletic body still helps me to dive very easily and makes me to be fit.

After my engineering I didn’t not participate in any competitive racing, though I wanted to due to my back pain, but I was active in sports by participating in the events of soccer and cricket. The revival of my athletics came in Chennai, December 2003 was the year and I participated in the Chennai corporate marathon, I was a outsider there and I was sure that I would win a prize. My roommate kirthi there supported me to participate in the race and without practice I ran that race. It was a 5 KM race and had 8K as first prize. I started the race as usually what I used to do in my racing events, I surged ahead and kept pace with the leader, but without practice I was having trouble and the humidity of Chennai started to take its toll, I was stopping in middle and then running, it was hurting me as I was cursing myself. I was a good athlete once upon a time and now I was not bale to run 5 KMs what a shame, I thought and then made up my mind to finish the race, my body and my back was not allowing me to do so, but again , I was determined to make it up. I had slipped to 5th position at that time, slowly I made up the ground and regained 3rd position, 8K was on my mind, but when I reached near the target , it had vanished as the leader was way ahead and I was not able to catch him , now 4K seemed to be a distant dream , I always remember and my idol is lance Armstrong , I wonder how this guy overcame cancer and won 7 tour de France titles, I wish I could have been his team mate. He inspires me a lot during my sporting times, I ran and ran and came second in the race, a true achievement in my sporting career, the only time I have ever won a medal in any competitions that I participated. A silver medal , one to show in my showcase. I dedicated this win to my coach who was no more at that time as he had passed away due to an heart attack, by that time people had driven him out of the ground due to some differences, what an ending to the great coach who had produced many sportspersons. That day was one of the finest days in my sporting, rather running career, I was able to win some huge cash. That was the last race of my life I thought but it had to be revived back as I ran the cross-country event for SJCE when I did my M.Tech , I fared very poorly as I had no practice during that time. But I signed off my competitive racing career in 2006 with a poor finish in the event, though it happens, but I was satisfied that I had done a lot in the athletics career of mine. This is all about my racing days , that’s why people ask are u still running as they identify me as a running machine, the person who never stops.

I started athletics for fun and then took it seriously, there was always obstruction from many sides to stop it , but my parents supported it and I was able to run and run ( not like Forrest Gump ). There were days when I was not able to win any prizes but all of them did not matter me as I always showed the sportsmanship. I was also not included in any of the team events due to either politics or due to my structure, it made to grow stronger and I showed them all in my running career, I was untouchable and I was challenging people “ Catch me if u can “ . but there are some sad moments that I had during my racing career, the way I was cheated of a medal in both the university meets , the day when I hurt my back . but some sweet moments cover them all which includes, winning my first road race, becoming individual champion in the college athletic meet. Becoming a permanent and a default member in the college athletic team for 6 straight years, it is really special. Also some shocking moments were also there, I still remember how I parked my cycle and immediately stopped the race which was supposed to begin and ran that race.

I have achieved a lot , though it may not seem big to many people in my terms what ever effort that I put in got results, I want to still start running and run some marathons, but bloody time is not on my side, I am still to begin it , but some day I will start and always I say , “I will be back “ and I have done that , so people can expect me to start m running career once again , then when people ask are you still running , then the answer will be “yes” . I have no photos to show here, but my trophy collection also I missing and is now hidden in a carton box in the go down as there is no place to store them in my showcase. Some day I will update in the blog. That’s it folks abt my running career, waiting to be revived back.