Interview With Saqeb Lone

Saqeb lives in Islamabad, Pakistan. He is the General Manager at Intercontinental Hotels. He has loved sport all his life and taken part in Football, Swiming, Cycling and Body Building...

Now he is a runner...

Here he shares with us his passion for running, his ideas and the wisdom he has gained through being a sports person all of his life: 

I have been on this incredible adventure, my running journey, for almost eight marvelous years, and each step of the way has enriched me, and brought happiness to me.

Ever since I was a young lad I have been fascinated by muscle speed and strength; my love of sports developed from an early age.

In those early years I took part in swimming and I played football, and by the age of ten, I had dreams of playing in the school football team.

By the time I was fourteen years old, and going through grade seven, I'd been selected for the school team.

It was a good life. Football was my happiness, my dream, my whole day… In fact it had become my entire world.

A couple of years passed and my love for sports saw no bounds… I started going to the gym, and took up cycling too… I became a muscular, tough young man.

By now I was seventeen years old and I took part in an 80km cross-country bicycle race and won the runner-up position.

Because of my healthy life style, and my interest in games, I became acquainted with many people, and made good friends.

I then got caught up in the whirlpool of daily busy life, and the art of making money.

My profession as a five star hotel manager meant long working hours, and this put me out of shape, and disconnected me with vigorous sports activities.

So, it was after many years, at nearly sixty years old, that I decided to start running… Within a short period of time, my love for running took a hold and I became a runner.

I weighed 228lbs at 5' 8" height, and I was sixty years old… All the wrong stats for a runner!

In the beginning I would get out of breath fast, and running a simple kilometer was a big taboo.

It took me full year and a half before I could manage to run one kilometer in one go. I was too heavy.

By end of two years I had dropped a few pounds and could run three to four kilometers thrice a week.

Thus a runner was born…

I started competing in 10k races within three years of running. Unfortunately there are no races or marathons organized in Pakistan.

My love for running soon became a passion, and I saved whatever little money I could, to travel abroad to take part in running events.

This extravaganza I could only afford once a year. In Pakistan there is not much appreciation or encouragement for a runner. A runner above forty could be considered insane. 

It is now almost eight lovely years that I have been enjoying running. 

I like to think of myself as a young eight year old runner.

This attitude keeps me motivated and keeps me going. It further ascertains my belief that I'm at the beginning of my running career, and that I have much scope for development and progress to become a competitive runner.

My running motto is ‘I run 4 fun’. It is my belief that nothing worth having ever comes easy, and this is true for any sport.

An athlete has to be dedicated, hard working and willing to sacrifice for the love of his game. The person needs to set their priorities.

One may look for short cuts, but to achieve greatness, success and glory there are none.

Others have come to know me as dedicated and committed person, a role model, and a charming friend.

It is my experience that one can be happy, satisfied and experience being on top of his game if he is regular, and strictly follows the training routine.

One is bound to achieve great results when form and execution are harmonious. Good feelings emerge as a result of the regular hard effort. I believe that it is mainly about the mindset.

It is the mind running the body. So feed the mind, stay motivated and regard each training session as your best.

Having said and done all that, there come times when the level of the satisfaction is not that great.

You get the feeling that you are getting nowhere. 

The hard work, it's all bogging you down.

The weather is not favourable, your friend is performing better than you, and many other things.

It is your mind over working.

Perhaps it is time to stop, to take a break and to take a corrective action fast.

While on the other hand the possibility of overdoing your workout, some muscle pull or some sort of injury, or worst some illness, can cause halt to your progress. It kind of forces you to layoff and layoff you must.

It's a cluster, we've reached a plateau. It is time to regroup, reform; in other words reset the whole act.

As I mentioned before, ample rest is a must in the case of an injury.

The rest will get you coming back stronger. Your hard work and good performance brings happiness and joy in your daily life.

You resolve to do better than before.

You must now set the bar a little bit higher and proceed to further progress.

I believe in my case, that my greatest strength is the high level of self motivation. It is solely this factor that prompts me to go for the impossible.

The fact that I am healthy and strong make my goal achievable, however at nearly sixty eight years of age, weighing around 200lbs I have to reconsider the whole picture… Make resolve, train my mind, strictly adhere to a training routine, overcome obstacles and reduce weight. Once the activation mode is set, then follow what Nike says "JUST DO IT".

I recall my greatest success as a young body builder being crowned Mr. Pakistan 1973. However my participation in the Mr Asia contest the following year in Manila Philippines was the greatest achievement of my body building career.

I may not be wrong when I say hard work always pays in the end.

My goal this year is to run a Half Marathon.

I've set aside six months to accomplish this task. I'm motivated by the mere fact that few would take up such difficult challenge so late in life…

If I can accomplish this, there's always room to aim for a Full Marathon.

I train five days a week. I believe rest and re-coop is equally as important as workouts.

I vary my runs between, pace runs, tempo runs, 1K intervals, fartlek, and a long run once fortnightly.

I do a five kilometer trail twice a week. The trail has replaced my swimming which I very much miss.

Cross training includes twice weekly a session of squats, push ups, sit ups and some stretching exercises.

I'm mostly a road runner, and I occasionally use the track for fast running.

Recently I began to use treadmill in the gym and I kind of like it….

I have learnt one thing that one must be sincere to his sport.

Everyone is a winner in their own right, It is just different levels.

Your desire, respect and love for the sport should attain supremacy, and one is always young to begin this adventurous journey.

Always maintain a positive mind before a training session or a competition. "I CAN DO IT’...

Let this become your mantra.