Tag: IndiaRuns

Running in India: Sunita Godara – an Indian Marathon Legend

In the earlier posts on the series ‘Running in India‘, we took a look at the most popular running groups which are revolutionizing running in India. Carrying on, we meet some of the great runners in India, who have set up the highest standards to look up to. In this interview with Sunita Godara, we will find lots of words of wisdom, built upon years of experience.

Sunita Godara is a marathon legend. She is the 1992 Asian Marathon Champion and Arjuna award winner. She won the gold in the third Asian Marathon Championship in 1992 held at Jakarta, Indonesia. In 1984, she became the national marathon champion for the first time by winning Delhi Marathon and thereafter went on to run the 1985 Boston Marathon (in a time of 3:30). She also holds the record of the most number of marathons run by an Indian women.

Sunita now runs her own NGO – Health Fitness Trust & Health Fitness Society. Sunita is also a yoga and athletic trainer, fitness consultant, speaker on sports sciences, marathon, women and children rights. Here’s our interview with her.

Sunita, where are you currently based?
New Delhi

How many marathons/half marathons have you taken part in? 
76 Full and 121 Half Marathons (in last 25 years 1984-2009).

Personal bests?
2:43:33 in 42.2km (Paris Marathon 1993) and 1hr 16min in 21.1km ( In Italy in the year 1993 and 1hr 16min in India in the year 1991)

What are your favorite running shoes?
Adidas Response and Nike Pegasus

What’s your favorite running route?
Mud Road by the side of Canal. (I practiced in Patiala (Punjab) on the canal Road for two years -1987-89)

What are you thinking about when you run?
During training I plan out the strategy to improve, pep up myself to finish the target, think about the minus points I have and make some resolutions. During the Race I listen to my body, keep calm and just pep up myself and do self motivational talk, think about my best training workouts, best Races.

What kind of races are you planning to do in the coming months?
Presently I go for all half Marathons in Delhi and Mumbai. But during my peak Marathon years I used to do 3-4 Marathons in a year abroad in Europe to learn more and see my caliber and in South East Asian countries to win the Marathons.

What are your long term goals? 
Whatever I wanted to achieve as far as performance goes in Marathon I have done my best with Asian Marathon championship Gold Medal with my PB 2:43:33sec. Now the goal is to promote Running at grass route level with a cause and promote Hobby running through my Marathon Club, become their guide and helpline. I coordinate Indian Top elite Marathoners in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore (Procam) Marathons.

What’s your daily training routine like? 
Now at the age of 50 yrs (I am very young senior veteran) I do 7-10km and 20min yoga stretching. I just do fitness running with slow pace and keep myself fit to finish 21km in 2hrs in the big Races.

But for 23 yrs in my marathon career I did 20km every day (with 1:30min of running 30min of yoga stretching and alternate days 1hr of Gym workout. The training schedule varies every day – LSD (long run), Fartlek, Interval training, Speed workout, Race pace workout and easy day.

What’s your favorite workout? 
Slow-Fast training (Fartlek)

Any running hero / role model? 
Rosa Mota 1988 Olympic Champion (Women).

Are you doing any cross training? What sort of?
Gym and Swimming workouts are the best. At younger age I used to love cycling and dancing!

What are you drinking during a marathon? Water, Gels? Food?
Only plain water till 15km then electrolytes till 42km.

Is stretching important to you?
Yes. It is a must and should be done everyday.

Do you like training alone or with a group?
I love group running.

What’s your focus this year?
Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (Nov 09) and Mumbai Marathon (Jan 2010)

Do you use any supplements? Which ones?
Yes. Electrolytes, Aminoacids, C, E vits and B complex when I am doing more than 10km regularly and 20km on Sundays. Otherwise with less and easy workouts fresh salad, fruits with skimmed milk, curd & Buttermilk is a better choice. With hard training combination of both is required.

So your typical running week like right now?
Hey, Now its very slow and easy 30-40km/week. But I know to be a senior Vet Champ I should do minimum 70km/week.

What do you eat pre-marathon or pre-ultra?
Pre-Marathon I take at least 200calories of complex Carbo ie 2 bananas with a glass of pure juice and continue sipping water till I reach the starting line before the start. Ya, a cup of coffee early morning is my choice!

What are you doing beside running?
 I have my own NGO – Health Fitness Trust & Health Fitness Society
THE TRUST has been a Non Profit Charitable Public NGO operating since 1994 and is registered in New Delhi, under the Charitable and Religious Trusts Act, 1920 of India.

Promotional Activities:

  • TO TAKE UP and execute or participate in all kinds of “Human Development Initiatives & Projects” on behalf of/or with the Governments, NGO’s & other Charitable Trusts/Org and philanthropic individuals.
  • ORGANIZING MASS RUNS with the social cause & Seminars/workshops.
  • Coordinating the fitness activities, road races, youth camps, children fun camps, rock climbing, trekking and yoga training;
  • Operating two Delhi Govt. projects under Health Fitness Society to improve health with life enrichment education/Vocational training of the below poverty line population – especially Children, Women and Senior Citizens.
  • “HEALTH RELATED FITNESS” projects; Promoting “Wellness”.
  • Health Fitness Project/s IS A MISSION FOR US

Running in India: Running group – Running and Living

Running And Living was started by Rahul Verghese in 2008, setting up base in Gurgaon. Having worked with corporates like Unilever, Nestle and Motorola in the US, Rahul switched gears and decided to take up promoting running in India as his full time job. Within a short span of less than two years, this group has gone from strength to strength. From organizing 5K and 10K runs in Gurgaon, the scope of the events was extended to Half marathons and Marathons, and across multiple cities like Gurgaon, Delhi, Noida and Chandigarh. Rahul’s goal is simple – to get 200 million people running!

Group Website: runningandliving.com

Here’s what Rahul has to say about his passion:

“I have always been outdoorsy and adventure loving having gotten into trekking since class 7 and then rock climbing and mountaineering in college, river rafting in my 30’s and skiing and running in my 40’s. Even at work, with Levers, Nestle and Motorola in different business, cultures and countries. But I never dreamed I would leave that to switch gears to start something of my own, and that too, connected with my newly found passion of running. 

I realized in hindsight so many of the varied benefits of running which go way beyond just health – strengthening self confidence, perseverance, optimism and more. This was coupled with a realization that we are among one of the most unhealthy countries on the planet when it comes to diabetes, cardiac ailments and hypertension, and how running, or any regular exercise, could help tackle them. Running also happens to be the most egalitarian and at the base of the pyramid of all sport.”

So began a journey with the birth of Running And Living Infotainment – fusing 25 years of marketing experience with 8 years of a passion in running – to build running into a platform to enable brands, organisations and individuals to unleash their potential.

Having only started running at 40, with his 1st marathon within 6 months of completing his first 5k, with extreme over-pronation, and now, being told that one leg is longer than the other, beyond normal tolerance levels, Rahul has learnt a lot over the last 29 marathons he has run in, and busting a lot of myths about running, His work involves meeting doctors, educationists, CEO’s bureaucrats, parliamentarians, kids, housewives, executives, villagers and slum kids, encouraging people to take that first step and run in the neighborhood park.

Rahul’s goal is to get 200 million people to rediscover the simple joys of running, and go beyond. A tall ask, but then as Rahul says, if you don’t dream big, you might as well not dream. Running and Living is in the business of spreading the IDEA of running –

  • I to Inspire people about why they could run and the benefits they could realize.
  • D for data on all the how to’s – schedules, gear, running groups in the area, nutrition and more
  • E for an Experience that goes beyond expectations and
  • A for Addiction – so not a one off event but some exposure on a repeated basis that would get running into the targets DNA.

Here are some areas in which Running and Living is actively involved in:

  • Provide content by way of articles and TV and radio programs – all to do with running.
  • Have runs now in Gurgaon, Chandigarh, NOIDA, and will be starting some in Shimla, Delhi, Jaipur and Pushkar as we go on in 2009, with the focus being on multiple runs per location and engaging the runners and hopefully their family and friends.
  • Work with organisers and sponsors of major running events – helping them to improve on the experience, for runners and sponsors alike.
  • Do workshops with Companies and have been invited to speak in several educational institutions – all focused around running and some aspect of the target audience’s life.
  • Started building a great running community across the country and linking into varied enthusiastic running groups.

Monetizing this hasn’t been huge yet but Rahul is confident that things will pan out very positively.

“With tough times, many marketing heads are listening. If they don’t bite now, they sure are warming up and will bite later. The long distance runner I have learnt is a patient animal. It’s been a phenomenal and fun learning experience so far, seeing how running is beginning to mushroom in pockets around the country. But this is the first step and my marathon has only just begun.”

Upcoming Running and Living events in 2009:

Running in India: Running group – Chennai Runners

In the second post on the series ‘Running in India‘ we take a look at a passionate group of runners from Chennai, who, without any formal setup, went beyond promoting running in Chennai. This was a movement which spread from person to person, and its really caught fire! Here’s their story…

It was just another day in the year 2005 when Vidyuth, Ram Viswanathan (the mentor), Hari (the coach) and KK (ghost runner) ‘ran’ into each other that this movement called ‘ChennaiRunners’ was formed.

Group Website: chennairunners.com

Legend has it that, Ram and Vidyuth, scorching the streets of Chennai every morning came to know about Hari and their common passion for Running. Then the story is that it was actually the fuel belt that Hari wore, that drew KK a lone ranger, to the rest of them …and from then on the streets of Chennai have never been the same again!

Well it was through word of mouth, blogging and KK’s efforts in bringing about awareness, that Chennairunners took its shape. Chennairunners can be best described as ‘a movement born out of passion’

To put it simply these individuals were ‘runners’ alright but it is only when they discovered the ‘joy of belonging’ that they wanted to spread the message. It was this sense of belonging and a need to organize them that brought about the movement. Different individuals with diverse background but one passion led to the formation of this platform.

According to Ram Viswanathan “Running is fun and fitness, bonding and social networking. You learn group dynamics and getting the best out of each other — lessons you carry over into your work“. Harishankar adds his words of wisdom – “You learn to set targets and push your limits, develop physical and mental endurance”.

Now regulars like Senthil Kumar and Karthik Vijayakumar became part of the group and their interaction made them to plan and organize the whole group. Events like ECR (a quarterly event where the Chennairunners organize marathons on the stretch of East Coast Road in Chennai) followed. Now with more than 600 members, over 100 active runners and more than 3 chapters around Chennai, Chennairunners is growing both as an institution and an inspiration. Chennairunners have used the potentials and the eagerness of their members to organize events like ’Extra Miles’ to help aspirant runners.

You can be a part of this movement too! Drop by at www.chennairunners.com … the membership is free!

Just Run!!!

Running in India: Running group – Runners for Life

This is the first post in the series on following the development of Running in India, or rather ‘organized’ running. This post focuses on a passionate running group from Bangalore – Runners for Life, which has set a benchmark for developing a great running community, a running culture, and set up highest standards in organizing running related events in India. Here’s their story.

Group website: runnersforlife.com

Runners for Life – A dream come true

The origins of Runners for Life or RFL as it is more commonly referred to, lies with – The Fuller Life – a recreation management company, a company started by Arvind Krishnan in 2001. An IIM Calcutta graduate, he was working at Indya.com when he got the idea of starting a company which helps people to follow their interests. So he went ahead and started – The Fuller Life – with its ethos attached as the tag line – ‘One life. Do more’. In the year 2005 The Fuller Life was mostly working with companies to get their employees to live a fuller life. At that point Arvind wanted to start a division of the company which was aimed more at individuals and not companies. Being a runner himself he started Runners for Life on 5th March 2005.

RFL had 2 things to offer to runners in the city, a google group where you could discuss anything related to running or plan your trainings and a monthly run organised in running friendly routes. At that point of time RFL mostly consisted of people who were already runners. Some of them had already been running for decades. These runners (most of whom are still very closely associated with RFL) formed the core of a small and thriving community. Between them they had enough wisdom and experience to guide any new comer who joined to the google group.

The google group became a hotbed of information on running – everything about shoes, training, diet, hydration, injuries was being discussed. At the same time, people were unofficially being trained by the experienced runners, at the monthly runs.

The RFL mailing list (google group) was an open group but was kept strictly running related. The monthly runs were also being conducted without fail by The Fuller Life team.

Over the course of the next few years running became more popular and many more runners joined RFL. In this period there were a couple of International marathons at Bangalore which got all the runners enthused but failed to match expectations. In both these marathons, the full marathon runners were ignored. With no water or traffic stoppage in the second half of the run, there was growing dissent in the group. So when Madhu Avasarala, a fellow runner suggested organising the country’s first Ultra Marathon, it made a lot of sense to us.

We at RFL knew that events were important in keeping the runners excited and getting new runners to join in. So in February of 2007, a committee of runners was formed which would help RFL execute it’s first event – The Bangalore Ultra Marathon. With meticulous planning, on December 15th 2007, RFL conducted the toughest foot race in the country. At a time when all other race organisers were pampering the 5k runners and ignoring the needs of the marathoner, RFL was creating a special race for long distance runners. The Bangalore Ultra had a minimum distance category of 26kms.

The Bangalore Ultra – a 12 hour grueling race was a huge success. We expected 50 to 100 runners to take part but were surprised to find 248 registrants, some of them coming from Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and the US of A. It was the first “by-the-runner-for-the-runner” event in the country. It was even heralded by the best footrace in the planet by many of the participants who had taken part in marathons overseas. An ironman triathlete who won the 50k category of the first ever Ultra in Indian soil compared it to the Ironman triathlon races in terms of organisation. We have not looked back since.

By the end of 2007, RFL had already created 2 world class annual events. The Kaveri Trail Marathon at Srirangapatnam, a run which was organised merely as a training run for the Ultra Marathon, ended up being an event by itself and the Ultra Marathon.

Since then we have added 3 more events to our calendar –

The Urban Stampede – a 20km corporate relay race in 2008, BSA Hercules Duathon – a running and cycling event and Feet on the Street – a monthly charity run in 2009. Each of these has been hugely popular amongst the fitness enthusiasts in Bangalore.

RFL as a running community is still something we are very proud of. After starting a social community website in 2008 the runners all over the country are able to reap benefits of sharing experiences with our runners. Recently we crossed a landmark 5,000 runners as part of RFL through our website (4,100+) and the faithful google group (1,200+).

Community running is the way to go. It works well for multiple reasons. Running gets very different kinds of people together, so it is a great place to build a good network of friends. Now RFL has a thriving social scene with runners making new friends, traveling to their weddings, dating members in the group, attending baby showers and what not.

RFL also has strong associations with Nike. We have been partners for a good 2 years and RFL works with Nike with their initiative on running – The Nike Run Club, which has got many to start running and completing their first 10K.

On 5th March 2010, RFL will finish 5 years of existence and we are very proud to have supported our faithful members for all these years.

With a host of marathon events in the country, the popularity of running is only going to grow. Our focus at RFL is still to get more people to start running and to help the converted stay enthused and excited about running. We aim to be the largest running community in the world sometime and with the way things are going, our dream is within our sight.

Words from Arvind Bharathi (A2): 
The RFL team now comprises of me and Nikhil Ram Mohan. The first 2 people who work exclusively for running in India.

I joined The Fuller Life in January 2006 after a year long stint at an embedded systems start-up of which I was a founding member. After realising that a tech job was not what I was meant for but still enamoured by the rigours of a start up, I stumbled upon The Fuller Life, thanks to my sister Monica Pillai. Call it serendipity or fate, my second day at The Fuller Life was an RFL monthly run. Instead of organising it I ended up running 15kms, my first long run. With a lifelong interest in sports and new found running feet, I was made the manager of RFL. I was still working across other functions till May 2008 and then RFL became my sole responsibility. Looking back I think joining The Fuller Life is one of the best decisions I took in my life and working for RFL is my dream job.

Nikhil joined The Fuller Life after a lot of outdoors experience. He is a mountaineer by training and has a lot of experience in on-the-ground deployment. His addition to the team has greatly enhanced the running of RFL. At 24 years of age he knows more about organising a running event and runners than anyone else.

RFL now conducts a minimum of a run every weekend in Bangalore.

Running In India: An Analysis

Running has been growing in India like never before. There are many small city marathons which have crossed the 20th edition, so this is not something which happened all of a sudden. But those marathons probably did not reach the level where the common man was running for fun or fitness, but more for the professional runner. 

 Photo: Kaushal Karkhanis

The real boom of running in India really started in 2004 with the first edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. This is when the media too really got into the thick of things, and the event was being branded big time with an all-inclusive feel, no more was running the den of the elite few. Quite appropriately, in 2005, it was the launch of the Hutch Delhi Half Marathon (now sponsored by Airtel) which caught the nations imagination. Both are now great races in the India Running Calendar and stand out at the world level with IAAF Gold (Delhi) and Silver (Mumbai) Label accreditation.


Photo: Sun Pictures / Lakshman

In the next several posts, I will be covering the progress of running in India. We will be looking at the various running events in India, and take a sneak peek into their history and origins. We will also be looking at how running is becoming more organized in India with various running groups and communities coming up with promoting running in their cities and around, and how they are playing a key role in this transformation. I will also try to put in posts on some of the personalities associated with taking India to the next level, directly in terms of individual achievements, or indirectly through playing a key role through their passionate involvement.  

I will be finishing the series with a handy reference of running resources in India for the common man, whether it is for running related information, contact details for various running clubs and associations, information on availability of running merchandise in India, from where to get the good stuff like running books and other running accessories.

If you would like me to cover anything in particular that you would like to see in this series, do drop a comment and I will make sure that I write something on that subject too.