Running without a plan is just cardio. It's not training.

I ran a 10K in April 2025. Just for fun. Nothing serious.

In July 2025, I signed up for a half marathon in Bangalore. Didn’t really think much about it. Didn’t train for it.

Then September came around and I was in Dubai on work when the race happened. So I decided to run it virtually. I found a 1.8 km loop in a park and ran it 11 times. 2 hours and 20 minutes of pure suffering. Round and round the same loop. It was brutal.

And I ran it with zero training. Just showed up and tried.

That run changed everything.

After that, I thought: I never want to feel like that again. If I’m going to run, I’m going to actually train. And if I’m going to train, I’m going to do something epic.

So I signed up for the Mumbai Marathon.

Packing for Mumbai. My boys wanted to tag along as well.

Four months later, I ran it in 3:45. Then a 41-minute 10K in April. Now training for a 1:30 half marathon by October.

Happy smiles post debut marathon.

The difference between that brutal 2:20 half marathon and a 3:45 full marathon? I actually trained.

Here’s what I learned

Running without a plan is just suffering. It’s not training.

That half marathon in Dubai showed me what happens when you don’t prepare. You’re slow. You’re in pain. You hate every second of it. You finish and you’re done with running forever.

But when you have a plan? Everything changes.

I got a real plan

For the marathon, I didn’t just decide to run. I got a plan. Long runs on weekends. Fast runs during the week. Easy runs for recovery. Every single run had a reason.

Most people don’t do this. They just run whenever they feel like it. Same pace, same distance, same thing every time. Then they wonder why they don’t get faster. Of course you don’t. You’re not training. You’re just running.

I stuck to it no matter what

I travelled constantly during those four months. Dubai, Sri Lanka, all over India, a month in America. Different cities every week.

But I didn’t skip runs. Some were shorter. Some were on different days. But I did them anyway. Even when it was hard. Even when I didn’t feel like it.

Most people miss one run, then another, then they just stop. That’s why that half marathon destroyed me but the marathon didn’t.

1,000 km year-to-date in mid-August 2026. Consistency is #1.

I did the right kind of training

You can’t just run and expect to get better. You have to train properly.

I worked on how I run. Standing tall. Arms swinging right. Running smooth instead of bouncing. I did different types of runs for different reasons. And I did strength training. Legs, core, everything.

Most runners skip this. They just go run. That’s why they get stuck at the same level forever.

The real difference

That 2:20 half marathon was brutal because I didn’t train.

That 3:45 marathon was hard but achievable because I did train.

Same person. Different preparation.

If you want to get better at running, you have to actually train for it. Not just do it. Have a plan. Stick to it. Do it right.

That’s the difference between suffering and getting results.