Quality is more important than quantity.
One home run is much better than two doubles.
- Steve Jobs
Ok fellow quarantined runners, Steve Jobs wasn’t quoting our new trend of Home Run…but was referring to baseball.
Home Run also know as HR (Runners, another connection) in baseball it is a hit that allows the batter to make a complete circuit of the bases and score a run. Figuratively, if you hit a home run, you do something that is very successful.
And since you are locked up for about 21 days (depending on which part of the world you are in), Home Run simply put is also…Ahem, Scoring !( those who are interested to know more, Google Home Run, and you may actually find new positions)
I love my running community. We are forever evolving, finding new ways to inspire the community and striving hard to maintain our tag of being “ Lunatics”. We always look at the bright side of life. We re-write quotes. “Where there is a will, we make the way” (ok, I just made that up)
So this Home Run is inspired by a Chinese amateur marathon runner Pan Shancu, (who has been under lock down during the corona virus outbreak) who managed to complete 6250 laps of his apartment in 4.48 (ok runner, it is 4.48.44, after rocket scientists only we understand the importance of seconds!)
One woman even took it a step further, swiped her race card, started in the kitchen, ran through the living room, turned into her daughter’s room and then her room with husband’s snoring cheering her on. In her husband’s words “she has psychological issues”.
The lunatics, remember how many of our neighbours have asked us these questions:
- You run 42kms? Why?
- You get up at 3.00 am to start your run at 4 a.m. to beat the morning heat? Why?
- You didn’t win a race, even after so many years of running? Why?
- You waste your weekends running? Why?
Now add one more to it, you run inside your house? Why???
Any typical house corridor is in the minimum range of 20 – 30 ft. On day one of the lock down, I realised that if I do 130 loops of the 60 ft house corridor, it will total to 5kms. So inspired by Pan, I tried a 5k on 24th March 2020. By the time I posted about it on my running group, I realised that a few have even attempted a half marathon inside their house, in record time!
Like my dear friend Bijay said, "Very soon someone will start a Home Virtual Run Challenge and get Indian runners hooked on to it. Who knows may be even get Corona shaped medals for completing it." This might just become the new norm for 21 days, maybe for longer!
So how was my experience running inside the house? Pretty boring, but as I told my friends, life will throw us curve balls, isolation and loops. We runners will be creative to find our way. It’s not a new thing. There are many who have done it in isolation in the past. But like any other global viral movements, this also might become a “community transmission” during this Covaid 19 lock down.
Before it is declared as “Randemic “and we are forced to non-isolate ourselves and let free like a wild animal back into the jungle, let us enjoy our few days of clocking Home runs!
This pandemic has “Moved our Goal posts”. I was training for my first Comrades, but looks like the goal post has been moved to next year. Nature decided to change its mind just when we made grand plans for 2020. Nature will take its own course, it is we who need to adapt. The game hasn’t changed, probably just the turf and/or the time.
Going back to Steve Jobs, Quality is better than Quantity. Few Home Runs are better than missing out on your runs.
So here is to….Home Runs (Actually, Figuratively, Metaphorically)….Keep Scoring !
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