What do you run for? “World peace? The homeless? The environment?” The questions that were asked of Forrest Gump, should be asked of Gulveer Singh. Because, a decade ago, before living the life of an athlete, all Gulveer knew was running. He runs to help his father on the farm, he runs for his family, he runs to be selected in the Indian Army, so that, paradoxically, the race stops.Back in 2018, the boy from Sirsa village in Atrauli district, near Aligarh, didn’t know that running would define him a few years later.On Tuesday night, in the rain of Glasgow, the Asian champion added a big medal to his tally by winning silver in the men’s 10000m at the Commonwealth Games. Clocking 27:49.78s, Gulveer became the first Indian to win a medal in the event, finishing behind Australia’s Ky Robinson (27:48.93s).Gulveer’s silver run has ended yet again of sorts. He joined the late Milkha Singh and Avinash Sableboth won non-relay medals at the Commonwealth Games before him.Sable landed her steeplechase silver at Birmingham in 2022 while Milkha’s 440-yard gold at the 1958 Cardiff Games was the country’s first Commonwealth Games medal. Incidentally, all were athletes of the Indian army.While Indian relay teams have won four medals (one gold, one silver and two bronze) between them, Harminder Singh (men’s 20km walk bronze, 2010) and Kavita Raut (women’s 10,000m bronze, 2010) are the other non-relay medalists for India.Although he joined the Army to escape the race, the race never stops for Gulveer. “After I joined the Army, he told me about sports, and that I would get a promotion if I won medals. I started running and was shifted to the Army Sports Institute in Pune, where I started training for the competition,” Naib Subedar told TOI.Call it muscle memory or pure talent, Gulveer adapted quickly and soon began to win inter-unit races in the army. In 2021, he was already training for national and international tournaments and won his first senior medal, a bronze at the 2022 Federation Cup.Medals at the National Games, a bronze at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023 followed as I also started to participate in the 5000m.Perhaps it is the intrinsic nature of his chosen sport, that in racing as in life, Gulveer believes in keeping things simple. “I know it’s my job to run and I want to do my job well. All I thought about yesterday was how to win a medal. I didn’t think about anything else during the whole race,” he said. “I have been training in the US and abroad for several months now. It is my responsibility to train well and win medals,” he said.Asked what he likes to do when he’s not racing, his was a disarmingly honest answer. “I eat and sleep.”Gulveer says he owes a lot to his Army and long-distance partner, Kartik Kumar. “What I know today, was taught by Kartik bhai. He tells me everything, right from what I should eat, how I should train and run. He was an inspiration,” Gulveer said about the Asian Games silver medalist.But underneath all that humility, there’s a competitive streak. Asked if there was another athlete who inspired him, Gulveer offered, “I aim to become big enough to inspire others instead of aspiring to become like someone else.”Gulveer has enough time to recover from the rigors of the 10,000m to be in contention for the 5,000m on Saturday.