Age is just a number.

This is a story that needs to be told. This story is not of any celebrity, but it is a story of my mom. This story is also a great reminder that you do not need to look too far to find motivation. Ordinary people all around us do these extraordinary things that inspire you and make you think about the extensive list of excuses that stop us from taking action. So, my seventy-year-old mother who has never been to any college, has a laugh and persona that can make any social gathering lit up. It does not matter what age group you are from you will enjoy her company and cannot leave her company without a smile. Some 10 years ago she got tired of listening to all our fitness and running stories decided to no longer sit on her FOMO(fear of missing out) and started regular walks twice a day. She started with one kilometer, and it did not take her long to take it up to ten kilometers per day between both walks. She gave up her usual saree cladding attire she has worn all her life and bought some Indian suits as walking attire. Her speed of walk and duration of walks both took a perfect 45-degree inclination graph against time. We had to keep up with her stride and she will get annoyed if you ask to join for a walk with her and could not keep up with her speed. She learned to let go of her hesitation and would mention jokingly that you should enjoy your walk before taking off. She comes from a small town with few popular parks and lake used by locals for morning walks. She became a regular at these places and other regular walkers and runners start noticing this. If she would miss a day, there would be at least 15-20 regulars asking for the reason for her not showing up. This kind of keep her encouragement going as this was a reflection of people care about what she was doing, and she felt important. What a great attitude to learn and adopt! Anyway, she was visiting me in Chicago for thanksgiving 3 years ago. Thanksgiving is a popular holiday back in the US. Friends and family gather for a big spread of dinner with stuffed turkey and pumpkin pies as star dishes on last Thursday of November and some even go on a Black Friday shopping spree the next day. Another tradition popular among runners is most town will have a local run Thursday morning call Turkey- Trot designed for all kind of distances so the family can run together and can justify the ‘food coma’ later that day. Our town had one kilometer dash for younger kids and 5 and 8 kilometers race for adults. We usually run 8 kilometers race and my mom again did not want to feel the FOMO decided to join us for the run. I thought her offer was such a particular way to create new and unique memory. I promised her I will run with her, and we will do a combination of run and walk. She loved the idea and set her simple goal that she did not want to come last.

On the day of run it was chilly winter day, and she did not have any running gear. So, she borrowed my winter gear, laid it out on the chair in her room the previous night and slept before time for her first run next morning. Did I ever mention she is a bold lady and a pillar of strength for our family. She donned the turkey hat as per the tradition and clad a big red bindi to keep up with her Indian tradition. She enjoyed meeting all the fellow runners at the start line as I knew quite a few of them from our local running group. This sixty-seven-year old bindi cladding first time runner in November cold was a sight. It was hard for her to keep up with the main group but one thing she certainly has is perseverance. We kept going together. Gossiping, running, walking, encouraging each other by setting mini goals likes lets go till that next pole or next signal. By mile seven I could she is getting too tired and wanted to just walk. We two were the last runners of the day. There was a family of eight people of all age group who were 400 meters ahead of us laughing walking together and having a fun time. My mother started telling me she is feeling that this is little hard, and we will have to be the last to finish. She showed her disappointment with comments like it is impossible to catch up now. For next half, a mile we pondered on the word impossible.

We discuss once we think that something is impossible how our speed slow down. We discussed how this running is as much of a mind game as much it is a leg game. And suddenly she got inspired that we should not give up without trying. Even if we come last, we should not give up before its over. She dug deep inside and gathered all the strength she could and started running. Her goal was to not come last. She slow sprinted towards the finish line. She caught on the group ahead of us who did not care about their finish time and kept going. I decided to slow down and let her have her moment. She felt like she was on the top of the world finishing at 10th position from bottom. She was glowing with pride and was so happy. Suddenly I realized a mom is your first teacher and she has yet again found another way to teach a lesson to her daughter. She reminded me they she will always be my mom, and age is just a number.