This morning I went for my 5 mile run with great anticipation that I would achieve my annual goal for this year to hit 1000 miles. The run started pretty well. I briskly went past the first mile and the second mile. And then turned around at the two and a half mile marker. All the while I was thinking about the moment when I would reach the starting point to reach the milestone. And reflecting on the past on how I got initiated into running and so many great people I have met on the trails that I would have missed if I did not pick up running.

I also tried to think about all the people who I might have influenced into running. The one guy I could immediately think of is my brother. We have been very close throughout our lives. Other than my mom, he is the only person that I call up everyday even if for a couple of moments. While he clearly has been a far more athletic person than me thru childhood, I have been more active physically over the last decade and a half. Five years or so back, during one my trips to India, I got him to come out and run with me. He got hooked. Being much more athletic, he accelerated very quickly. Within one year, he started posting 30K runs.

It is still religion for the two brothers to go out for a run in the morning whenever I am in India. You might even recollect how in my last visit, having landed very early in the morning, we changed into our running clothes at the airport and then drove to our parents’ house. At the break of dawn, we went out for a run and THEN knocked on my parents’ house. Thereby confusing the daylights of my just-woken-up dad who was still dazed and asked us if we had run all the way from Kolkata airport!!!

Coming back to today, around the time I took the turn at the two and a half mile marker, a thought came to my mind. The thought got stronger and stronger with every step. The thought was simple – why waste a great moment of achieving a goal just to myself? Why not make it memorable by sharing with somebody else? What if I stopped running and saved the last couple of miles for my brother? I am going to be in India next week. Why not step past the 1000 mile marker while running along with my brother?

And in a few minutes the plan was cemented. The goal will have to be postponed till I am with my brother next week!

I just wish I had these kind of brainwaves in more appropriate times. Had I thought about it earlier, it would have saved me a lot of time. As you must have guessed, as I drew up to the third mile marker, I stopped running, stopped the Garmin running watch and simply walked back to the starting point.

998 miles down.

2 more to go.

Can’t wait to run with my younger brother in a few more days…