Everyday Reflections

I didn’t start running to become a marathoner. Back in 2017, there were no visions of finish lines or medals. The goal was to make a decision to run tomorrow, repeat that the day after, and so on. 

The initial run was due to a social/professional commitment. We were representing a new-formed team at Cimpress and this was a step to motivate us to work together. I hadn’t run more than 800m in school games, and here I was embarking on a half-marathon in Europe! This was 21K in 3:06 hrs … I was lucky not to be picked up by a sweeping vehicle and end up as a Did Not Finish.

Fast forward to 2025, and the promise to keep running has turned into something I can put numbers to — 2,149 km, 309 hours of training, 239 active days and 8,337 metres of elevation gained. 

I signed up for the Procam Slam — Bangalore-2025 to Mumbai-2026. I had a plan, a training calendar and target distances. But plans only work until the road introduces something unexpected — weather, fatigue, or that niggling voice asking why you’re doing this.

I began to see the parallel with leadership. You can have the best strategy, roadmap and the strongest team on paper. But reality introduces variables that don’t show up in planning decks. Leadership stops being about direction and starts being about presence.

There’s a moment in every long run where your body begins to negotiate: Slow down. Skip this stretch. Tomorrow will do. 

Leadership has the same moment: A project stalls. A team loses energy. A decision carries more weight than expected. 

In both cases, this is where authority fades and character takes over. You can’t delegate resilience; you have to model it.

Most of my year didn’t look impressive; it involved 1,917 km of running, 173 km of walking and 26 km of GPS cardio, layered with strength and core sessions. The kind of work that feels invisible when you’re doing it, obvious only in hindsight.

Then one day, the quiet work showed up as something visible:

 →A 5K in 28:48.
→A 10K in 58:21.
→A half marathon in 2:06:35.

Not because I had one great week; but because I had hundreds of ordinary ones.

While running for the 21st Tata Mumbai Marathon- Yes! A MARATHON for real, I didn’t just run through the city, I ran with it. Nods from strangers. Quick conversations. People on their own journeys — some chasing a podium, others the finish line. You never really move alone.

Buses passed, the city rushed on. I laughed to myself thinking, “I missed that one too.” But I wasn’t chasing a bus anymore; I was chasing a version of myself I hadn’t met yet.

Crossing the finish line felt good at 5:27. But what stayed with me was everything between the start and the end — the early mornings, skipped plans, the discipline and moments of doubt that didn’t win. Because leadership, like running, isn’t about how strong you start. It’s about who you become after thousands of small, deliberate steps in the same direction.

#ProcamSlam #TataMumbaiMarathon #Running #Leadership