Just one person's viewpoint

Note: This follows the controversy surrounding the Faith Runner and allegations towards his credibility made by some former elite Ultrarunners. I think we are all a part of amazing revolution which is the Indian running scene. Back in 2012, when I started running to now, I have seen so many great feats been accomplished. Many Ironman finishes, Many Ultraman finishes, countless Ultramarathons, fast Marathons, Half Marathons, 10k, 5k, everything and I am glad to have played a small part in this.

I think we all have inspired a generation to lace up their shoes and run, the generation after us will not pick up running because they were asked to but because they would want to. And I think, this is the only reward that matters. Any publicity lives and dies with the event; people get famous for 15 minutes and those 15 minutes are enough for them to inspire the next generation. But in the end, this is an amateur sport.

Even if there is sponsorship, it is material related. Even if there is prize money in marathons and half marathons, in Ultras there is absolutely nothing and small cheques cannot make a fortune. In the end, for all us amateurs, our pay-checks are what pay the bills.

There will always be lies. There will always be moments of truth. And in the end, if it was a lie it will fade. If it was the truth, only a handful of people will care about it. There is so much backstabbing, incredible amount of name-calling among Indian amateur athletes it amuses me. At one time I got angry and wrote an open letter (It's on my blog). And the funny thing is we are not even close to winning on a world level (Except a few Indians, who funnily enough don't live in India )

In Europe things are quite different. A guy who finished 2nd in the Ironman 70.3 World Champs(18-24), swims in the same pool as the rest of the people without any air about himself. A guy who runs a 2:31 marathon shares the road with the rest of us and doesn't wear his timing on the T-shirt. People do their part and enjoy it. They don't care what others are doing. If someone lied, why care? Why compete? What will you gain from it?

When you started running, was it to compare yourself to other people? No, right? It was self improvement that mattered then, and it is self improvement that should matter now. That is one reason, i have unfollowed and unfriended a lot of people. My focus is my life and my performance. I just follow those people who put on a brave face everyday and train for their betterment rather than showing it to the world. And if you really want to chase him, then chase him rather than throwing around allegations. Run the damn distance and show people how it should be done. That is a better use of energy than calling people liars and whining about it, and writing reports under pseudonyms (which was hilarious.) Again, in the words of the great Killian Jornet: "Even if you win a world championship, what did you achieve? You were better than a bunch a people on that day in 1 sport. Compared to the rest of the universe, it is insignificant". I am a nobody, I am 27 and I have 5 years of running experience and the only thing I want to say is rather than chasing other people in a sport where the essence is self improvement, a better way of spending time and energy would be moving the legs and moving forward. Isn't that what this sport is all about? Anyways, I'm off to compete with myself. Peace. Plants.