runners

Do today’s modern marathon races generate a lot of the garbage and pollution that they are geared to fight? That is the question floated by a new campaign,  ‘Green the Mumbai Marathon’ started by Shilpi Sahu, a Bengaluru-based green activist who has been participating in races for almost six to seven years. She confirms that every race leads to a huge pile-up of plastic bottles, plates and tetra packs that have been used to serve water and food to runners and volunteers. With about 20,000 to 40,000 runners dumping plastic waste into lakes or nearby parks and crowding available spaces, a…

Running as a sport has caught on in a big way in Indian cities with the creation of runners’ groups, sharing of resources and at least one eponymous race hosted by every big city. Now, with the temperatures having dropped in most parts of the country, running fever is at a high. Bengaluru just hosted the 10K intencity run and earlier in November, the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon saw a great response despite the initial uncertainty caused by the alarming levels of pollution in the capital region. In an earlier article, we discussed how air quality, though traditionally not a…

Rarely ever would runners anywhere have looked forward to rain as fervently as in the Indian capital over the second week of November. In fact, runners across the country preparing to run the popular Airtel Delhi Half Marathon at the end of the week knew that it was only rain that could save the marquee event that many consider among their most favourite races in the country. In the end the rain gods did oblige, so that on November 19th, thousands of runners participated in the half marathon on what was perhaps the least polluted day in the city in…

You are a runner. The customary weekend long run is underway, when suddenly it dawns upon you at the 20th kilometre that you were supposed to get your periods today. Hmmmmmm. May be you are getting it right now, but you are sweating, your nose is running and the body is complaining, so you don’t know for sure if it is the monthly disaster that has commenced (so soon?) or whether these are the aches and pains of a long run. If you have never found yourself in the above scenario, you are likely to be a man. Even if…