The family that runs together stays together

I always loved running until I joined military training, where it was forced fed in the overdoses of punishment, exercise, and competition. I ran through those three years, literally, but left my passion too far behind, to rediscover it 25 years on, in the unlikeliest of places.

Brazil, where I spent three years on a government assignment, may be known better for sea, soccer, and Samba but its more visible sport is running. I would see runners of every shape, size, age, and gender all day. The main roads of capital Brasilia were closed for the weekend rush of runners. Organised road runs of 5 k to 21 kilometres were a regular feature, with huge participation. During a 10-km event, the running bug bit me again and caught my wife and daughter as well.

Since my daughter was only 11, she dictated the family’s pace, and so we were always at the tail. On coming home, I was thrilled to find that the running fever had caught on in India. Running clubs had sprawled across cities, which took pride in holding marathons. Gradually, I moved to competing in full marathons, besides a solitary ultra (50-km) race.

My family would join me whenever possible but now we competed for our personal best timing. It changed our lives for the better in every respect. Planning to enter Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2015, I came up with the idea of getting more members of the family in. We prepared a team of seven — my two elder brothers (in late 50s), brother-in-law and his wife (late 40s), myself with wife (50s), and our daughter, squad’s only young blood.

None of the new entrants had any previous exposure to distance running. We made a WhatsApp group and started training five months before the main event, improving to 2-hour walk by the end of two months. We began running 16 kilometres two weeks before the final event, which we all finished in style with our personal bests.

No amount of personal achievement could have given me the amount of satisfaction I got on seeing my inexperienced family go the full 21.1 km, which it thought was impossible. This year, Delhi Airtel Half Marathon is on November 20 and we intent to double the number of family participants.

NO AMOUNT OF PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT COULD HAVE GIVEN ME THE AMOUNT OF SATISFACTION I GOT ON SEEING MY INEXPERIENCED FAMILY GO THE FULL 21.1 KM, WHICH IT THOUGHT WAS IMPOSSIBLE