Textile exporter, 68, Mumbai

 
On the run!

10 years

The beginnings

My gym hired a running coach and encouraged me to sign up. I had never run in my life, so the beginning was very difficult. I eventually started enjoying it and now I cannot stop.

First marathon

Half-marathon at the 2008 Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. My first marathon was miserable. I had just started running a few months prior and it took me 3 hours and 30 minutes to reach the finish line, alternating between walking and running.

No. of half-marathons

10

Personal best

02:34:58

Running means….

It has become a habit. I have become so fit that I feel I can do anything now! I am no mountaineer, but a day came when I thought that I want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I achieved this dream in 2010, at the age of 61.

The challenge

Fatigue

The high!

I feel very confident about my body. I never even used to walk 2 km in the past; now, I can easily do 6-7 km. You don’t realise the potential of your body until you push it!

Training

While I run 6-7 km thrice a week year round, I run longer distances every alternate day as the marathon nears. When I’m not running, I’m working out at the gym or concentrating on different parts of the body under the guidance of my excellent, super-athlete coach Brinston Miranda.

Health issues

I have flat feet, so I have to wear special shoe inserts.

Motivation

Oh, that’s easy. I’m a morning person! If I don’t get up and go to the beach to run, I feel I have wasted the whole day.

Marathon moment

In one race, I had fallen down at the 10-km mark at Worli. Just then, a runner came up from behind me, handed me a Dairy Milk chocolate bar while encouraging me to continue, and ran away! That is the spirit of the sport. Fellow runners go out of their way to help you and the whole city is out there, cheering you on. I completed that race in great pain and later discovered I had received a minor fracture.

Top gear

My special prosthetic insoles from Asics

The age effect

Sometimes I forget how old I am. I have to keep reminding myself: You’re 68. Behave yourself!

Life before running

I always wanted a horse, but that’s a Mumbaikar’s pipe dream. The next best thing, I thought, was a bike! I used to be a rally racer—first, on bikes and then with a car. For more than 10 years, I had a day job as a pharmacist, spent my money on fuel, and participated in all the rallies in Mumbai.

Life after running

As I said, I always wanted a horse. But there came a time when I thought this item on the bucket list would never be ticked—it was now going to be risky even getting on a horse. Then, I started running and everything changed. My fitness levels spiked and I felt like I could do anything, including riding a horse! So now when I’m not training on the beach, I’m horsin’ around at the Amateur Riders Club! I have also traversed the depths of the Grand Canyon and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro!

What makes you tick?

Fear—everything I am afraid of, I am determined to try. I fear deep waters. So I made my way to Australia to dive in and see the Great Barrier Reef. All through the previous night, I was not sure I would be able to make it, but when I did finally jump in, it was the most surreal sight I have ever seen.

Message for silver runners

As a silver citizen, you are at a point in your life when you can do anything you want. But you have to be physically fit to do it all. Running is an amazing, cost-free way to keep fit.

Photo: marathon-photos.com, Natasha Rego
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
November 2017

• KHUSHRU PATEL
• VINOD KAUL
• ELSIE NANJI
• P K N NAMBIAR
• PERVIN BATLIVALA
• KAMAL KALRA
• MAHADEV SAMJHISKAR
• PREMANAND RAMANI
• ASHOK KALLA
• SUNEETHA PRASANNA
• KRISHNA AGARWAL
• MOHAN NATHANI
• RAKESH MITTAL
• JAYANT DAVDA