RUN FOR IT

All you need is a pair of shoes, determination and a road to keep yourself fit

All you need is a pair of shoes, determination and a road to keep yourself fit
Thirty-three-year-old stockbroker, Rahil Bindra was driving home to Gurgaon from Jaipur early one morning when he saw a group of men running on the road. 8220;I had never woken up that early before but just watching them run with so much enthusiasm made me want to join,8221; he says. Three months on, he8217;s a regular member of the Running and Living club.

A fellow runner, 57-year-old Arif Ali Khan, a civil engineer, started running six months ago when his doctor told him he needed exercise to keep his cholesterol in control. 8220;I first thought of joining a gym but my friend suggested that I join a running club,8221; he says. He is now a member of Delhi Runners, a club that was started a year ago, and wakes up at 4 am every Sunday to run for an hour.
The concept of running clubs is new to India but the trend is catching on. Besides Delhi, running clubs in India include Bangalore8217;s Runners for Life, Hyderabad Runners, Chennai Runners and Delhi8217;s Running and Living.

Chennai Runners was started two years ago by marathoners Ram Viswanathan and Hari Shankar, has members from ages 20 to 55, most of whom include entrepreneurs and techies. 8220;Running is contagious. We pick up a lot of people along the way while running,8221; says Shankar.
It doesn8217;t take much to be a member at one of the clubs. 8220;All you need is a pair of shoes and an enthusiasm to run,8221; says 48-year-old Rahul Verghese who started Running and Living. The club has groups in Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon. 8220;When I was 40, I noticed I could barely run a kilometre without being out of breath. It bothered me so much that I kept running and building on my stamina. Now, my primary focus is to spread awareness about the benefits of running,8221; says Verghese.

Each group has an average of 10-15 members, with the numbers going up to 20 or 25 a few times a month. 8220;The people who are new to running sometimes find it difficult to keep up with the ones who have been running for a long time. So they drop out. But the regular ones get together every Saturday at 7 am at their respective locations to run for at least an hour,8221; says Verghese. However, he says, that once a person starts running, it is not difficult to keep up. 8220;It8217;s important to be consistent as it helps build your stamina,8221; he says.

Delhi Runners, another club in the capital, started when a group of regular runners at Nehru Park discovered their passion for running. 8220;We thought that if we started a club, we could take running seriously, be more disciplined and organise our own marathons in which other runners could take part as well,8221; says 33-year-old technology consultant Tanvir Kazmi.

The clubs, however, don8217;t set daunting standards. 8220;Just because the club has planned to run for 15 kilometers, does not mean that each member has to run that much, or at the same pace,8221; says Viswanathan. 8220;While the focus is on getting people to run for fun and a healthier lifestyle, there are people in the group who are more serious about running as they take part in marathons. While most of the runners only get together on a weekend, the more intense runners gets together 4-5 days a week,8221; says Verghese.

However, men outnumber women in the clubs. 8220;It8217;s not that there aren8217;t any women. It8217;s just a coincidence that there aren8217;t many of them. Running is as important an exercise for women as it is for men, so we hope that in the future there will be more women,8221; says Hari Shankar.
Gender aside, what links all runners is the 8220;high8221; they get from clocking those miles. 8220;Once you start it is extremely difficult to stop. It8217;s like a drug, the only difference is that it keeps me healthy,8221; says 24-year-old Manik Jinghoon from Delhi.

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And he is not alone. Another famous runner is Japanese author Haruki Murakami whose memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running it hit the stands this month is about his passion for running. Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he8217;d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon and has done 27 marathons so far.
In an interview to an international newspaper, Murakami summed it up, 8220;When I run I am in a peaceful place.8221;