Behind the Scenes…

Non-Author Agreement: This is to certify that I have nothing to do with this blog. I have been forced to put this on my blog page by my wife (who else!). I take no ownership of the idea, language, structure etc. of this one. :)

Sundeep Singh

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After Sundeep completed his 100 Half Marathons, a lot of people asked me, “How did you manage?”. And honestly, I wasn’t sure what to respond because I really didn’t know what they were asking. When I probed them further on what did they really mean, I realized they had quite a few things in mind (the changed routine, additional time commitment, missing out on things, dietary requirements etc.)

But primarily they were curious on how I dealt with the INSANITY of my better half doing or even attempting something like this? 

The more I think about it, the more I reflect, the more I realize that it is really HIM who managed it...

Will Power and Mental Strength

Let’s start with something that I am unable to comprehend – how can someone have this level of commitment. I have seen him getting ready to run every day. After the first few days, it seemed like there is a constant struggle going on between the body and the mind. The body (and especially the poor legs and feet) kept begging that they need rest, but the mind had other plans and was ready to do anything to not budge from them. Invariably, the mind won! And won every day! 

On days when there were injuries on the feet… 

On days when they were swollen, and shoes won’t fit! 

On days when he had had a 16+ hour workday… 

On days when he was on a flight for 20 hours… 

The run did happen!

When you see someone with that kind of mental strength, bearing every hardship to get to his goal, it is practically impossible to complain over the time commitment. As a working professional (in the same organization with similar work profiles), I can only appreciate and be in awe of someone being able to take out time to do something that has a purpose to it! As a mother, it is heartwarming that my son has an awesome role model to look up to! And I am so glad that my son has inherited a lot of his willpower, passion and insanity…

The Time Commitment (or should I say Time Management?)

It has been an additional 3-4 hours of commitment every day. So naturally means that there were lot of things that we would have missed out on. Especially considering you have limited flexibility over your work, it’s the personal family time that would have taken a hit.

Now let me tell you, in the past 100 days he has played more chess games with our son than ever. We have seen n number of movies and TV shows and the same movie n number of times too (case in point: Kesari and 21 Sarfarosh). We have gone out with friends every now and then. We also went for a holiday to Dublin. He has spent time with his parents regularly, has taken out time to visit my parents too. Has been on all the usual grocery shopping tours, the mandatory weekend Starbucks coffee…

Does it sound that there was anything we didn’t do in the past 100 days because he didn’t have time?

I would be lying if I would say that there were no compromises made. There were things that you had to make ‘adjustments’ for. But the beauty is in the balance (isn’t life all about balance anyways?) and on how you plan around it.  Based on how other things were planned for the day, he has run at 2 am, 5 am, 10 pm or 12 am…

Humility

And lastly, the grace and humility with which he went about it.  We all very well know how inspiring his story has been. We well understand how difficult it would have been. Most of us won’t even think of attempting something like this. I probably can’t even do 2 kms every day!

And despite that, he keeps thanking and acknowledging others for it – his BOMISO Gym friends, his friends at the Marketing and Advertising company that shot his video (The BucketList), his colleagues at Accenture, ME! Everyone gets credit for something only he did.

Now that it is over, there is a sense of satisfaction and relief. The poor legs and feet have finally gotten some rest. Not as much as they would have expected though. He is already back to his runs and workouts.. 

… and I know his mind is already at work on defining the next challenge for him!

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Japneet Kaur

(Proud W/O: Sundeep Singh)

+91 - 98181 19794

About the Guest Author: By background, Japneet is an Electronics Engineer from Thapar University and an MBA from IIM Kozhikode. She is a Senior Manager with Accenture's Talent and Organization consulting practice in India.