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Journalism of Courage
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.
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.
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;
