Boulevard of Joggin' Dreams

About four years ago I landed in my college,SVNIT.The rooms were cramped,the food just enough for survival and the classes and professors dull.But one thing I will not bitch about is the state of its connecting roads.For a guy who has had to trudge through mud every rainy day of his life,walking on a black topped road without getting a single clod of mud in rainy season was something novel.So I began thinking,why not take advantage of this.I mean I was badly out of shape and short winded.Seemed jogging on these all weather roads would be the easiest and fastest way of getting back to shape.You only had to get a pair of running shoes,wake up in the morning and bingo!All excess flab out.

Seemed too easy.Its always like this-good intentions but not enough follow up action.You see this sort of thing all around .I knew there would be a catch,there always is.Here the catch was the waking up part.It was too difficult to get out of bed and slog like some grunt on say ,a chilly morning.After all,why take the trouble-the voice with the prongs and the forked tail was saying.The voice with the halo,drowned out was down and out.And so while I did not get any fatter,I certainly did not get fitter.One day it was cold,another day plain lazy ,still another day was night outs.But the end result was same.Except for some sporadic mornings when struck by guilt I would half heartedly crawl out of the bed and go through the motions of stretching my legs,running a few metres until I would gasp for breath like a fish out of the water and convince myself that next time would be better.But there was no next time,and the jinx was never broken.

Until something snapped suddenly a few days ago.I did not know where the push came from,but I guess the realisation that those roads would no longer be a part of my life after 4 months was the trigger.I also had a neighbor who was trying to get up in the morning for the last three years .So we worked out a nice scheme.This guy had a sister who was an early bird.So she would give him a missed call,he would wake up and then wake me up.The first morning,as usual,I panted for breath after the usual 100 meters.But thinking enough was enough,and also the thing that my neighbor was with me,I pushed ahead.We had to think of dream up many incentives to keep going.One trick was to promise to rest once after crossing a tree.Or if there was a chick ahead jogging,I would say to myself old boy,have a look at her arse from close up and we will stop this running.Of course,after I had a good look there would be another arse some distance ahead and there was the need for an expert comparison. Basically I was able to persuade myself until the leg muscles plainly threatened to crumble under me.There would be cramps and aches the whole day,but frankly there were no thoughts of turning back.
We continued for three days until there was no need for promises of anatomical appraisal to keep going ahead.Once or twice old habits threatened to kick in,but I was able to sufficienly shame myself to put on my shoes.And once that was done,I would have looked silly if I did not run.So the trick is to get out of bed and wear the shoes without thinking.No more pain now,and only a little panting .I feel fine,just fine.And another advantage-I am not missing early morning classes or breakfasts.Though I still sleep late.Now if only something could be done to remedy that.