My earliest memory of Running is when I was 5 years old I guess.
I used to see my father getting ready for run each morning and evening (I have seen him more in evening than in morning, as I used to be in my deep sleep) in his army shorts, army T-shirt and canvas P.T. shoe, which was a standard issue from Indian Army.
I used to get fascinated when he used to go for special drills in war attire.
He used to get dressed in battle gear with backpack and the heavy Army shoes with the flattened army cap. I used to ask him, where he was going and he used to say he is going to practice running carrying the rifle, in case in war he has to do that. And the first time I saw him running in battle attire, carrying a rifle, I was clapping for him. I wanted him to come first, without realizing that it was not a race.
Now, when I run, in my branded Running shoes wearing, moisture transfer-quick dry running T-shirt and shorts, my thoughts sometimes wanders to the Soldiers of Indian Army.
May be it is the conditioning from young age, the soldier just runs, age no bar. No running shoes, no dry fit T-shirts, no running posture guidance, no stretching exercise/hugging trees, no pacing technique, no conditioning. He just runs, and that has not changed for decades. They run in canvas shoes, they run in big thick Army shoes and they run barefoot.
Recently I was talking to one of my friend who has joined the Indian Navy, and used to be a Runner even before he joined the Navy. He is currently undergoing training at Indian Naval Academy. I queried him on the difference in the way running happens in Navy training and running in his pre-Navy days. His response was a big laugh.
He said, we are made to run immediately after heavy dinner, we are made to run immediately after heavy lunch, we are asked to run carrying a fellow officer, we are punished to run carrying the cycle overhead, we are made to run in practice war games and we are even woken up in the middle of the night and made to run 20 kilometers in a enemy camp raid simulation. We are made to run to the mess, we are made to run to barracks and we are even made to run to the open air movie theatre.
He said, we truly represent the two famous advertising tag lines, ‘just do it’ and ‘impossible is nothing’.
Army also is very particular about attire, it does not mater, if it is fit for purpose, but the code has to be followed.
Around the time when I was 10 years old, I fancied the idea of running in the morning, in white T-shirts and white-shorts in white canvas Bata shoes. This was no love for running, but for the whole charm of the ‘all white attire’, the running attire code for Army officers.
I remember trying for few days and I always used to stop after few meters, may be a kilometer, as I used to get pain on right side of stomach. As I did not want to go to a doctor, and also did not like the pain, I stopped the whole exercise of ‘all white attire’ and the country lost a budding ‘long distance runner’.
