Why Run?
I have always been a runner, but as I became older speed,
regularity and discipline became a problem. My feet do not obey my brain’s
command to “go faster. ” With family commitments, irregular domestic help,
power failures and the monsoon it often seemed easier to just fall by the
wayside, sleep a little longer and run tomorrow. I realized I needed something
to keep me going. It seemed a waste to just run with no motivation, no weight
loss and no end in sight.
My son suggested I do half marathons and my daughter said “why
not?”
She found out details, I joined the Chennai runners and the
Hyderabad Runners. I signed up for the Chennai half marathon in 2010. I was the
oldest woman running, the organizers were apprehensive and I had a dedicated
policeman on a bike following me. He suggested that I stop and get into the
ambulance several times. ( I think he was tired of riding so slowly)!
I am deeply appreciative of the young runners. There has always
been someone waiting even when I am pathetically late to sprint with me across
the finish line shouting “come on aunty! You can do it!”
My biggest fear-- I don't want to come last.
(I haven't yet!). There are always stragglers after me. A few
injured, a few with vital equipment like shoes missing and others just unfit.
In the last half marathon I ran a lady was vociferously accusing the
organizers of secretly increasing the distance she had to complete!
If the organizers are considerate, and think maybe they will
also be older one day, and with a lot of
prodding and emails from me I sometimes manage to get a "veteran
runner" ( over 45 ) and this year a "super veteran" (over 55)
category. This means that in the categories I often manage to get a ranking.
(It is not as disheartening as coming 20
from the bottom! Though sometimes in these categories they do not separate the males
from the females.
In the last race I ran out of 1260 participants there were 262
women, I was the oldest and the next after me in age was 51!
I signed up for free Hal Higdon training and recently Runners
world half marathon training plans.
I do not really manage to stick to their schedules. The weekly long run is
impossible. They have speed training and splits. Instead I run 4-5 miles
(7-8 km) at a steady slow pace every day. (No improvement in speed or
distance in 5 years), but I finish. I have never discontinued a race.
I follow the cross training plans with swimming ( won 5 golds
and one silver in the masters swim meet in velacherry this year 2013)
I hydrate the night before the race but not during as
India still does not provide portable toilet facilities en route.
I eat like a maniac after the race.
I am not thin and all this activity has not made me lose weight,
but I can eat as I please and unlike all my close relatives) am not diabetic or
hypertensive.
My life revolves around training from one race to the next.
Running that distance and for that length of time is about
mental discipline and physical fitness. You have to run past the pain and
through the acute loneliness-- There is just you an open road ipod music and an
aching body.
Dr. Gita Mathai
The writer is a
paediatrician with a family practice at Vellore.
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