Dear All,
Next Sunday the 20 January will be the Marathon Day and whole of Mumbai will be running in the morning. Many of you will be cheering the runners or watching them on your Telly while enjoying your Sunday cuppa......
Let me share with you my experiments with Marathon. You may find it interesting and amusing.
I have no sports background and due to big surgery when I was 5 month old baby I have allergy to dust and smoke and certain food items and my digestion continues to be extremely fragile and weak. I have to be careful what I eat/drink and how much.
It was in Oct 2002 that I visited Breach Candy Hospital for Annual Health Check conducted by Dr M M Meraney. I was 50. The results showed that my lungs were functioning very poorly and my Cholesterol was above 200. My lifestyle sedentary with regular consumption of Alcohol on weekly basis accompanied by fried food. My height was 6' 1" and weight 75 kg.
Dr M M Meraney counselled me to undertake Yoga immediately and control diet to reduce Cholesterol. The reason being I lost my elder brother due to CHD in 1995 at age of 45. This being family history, I better be careful.
One is always busy in work and other family issues and continued with busy lifestyle with no time for what Doctor prescribed.
Then in March 2003 I was arguing with my younger son to reduce his weight and recommending him to go to Gold Gym which is close by. He replied, it is better you go yourself and show the way. I will follow you if results are good.
I took Membership of Gold Gym and started spending max 60 minutes everyday from 05:30 Hrs to 06:30 Hrs regularly and also controlled my diet and nearly stopped Alcohol. The result was bit painful as I discovered that I had a paunch and was not able to walk on treadmill for even 3 minutes. It was impossible to use Supine Cycle for 3 minutes at low resistance. Let me add here that it is very important to take Doctor's opinion before you
start any type of exercise other than normal walking.
Then came Nov 2003 when I participated in Art of Living popularised by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar ji. I started practicing Sudarshan Kriya regularly which helped me improve my lung condition and digestion very much.
Slowly the results started showing and I started loosing weight till I reached 68 and then slowly again climbed up to reach 71. Now, after a year or so by Jan 2004 I was able to not only walk @ 6.6 kmph for 15 minutes without getting out of breath but sometimes attempted bit of running as well for brief period of 2 minutes of so.
Then came 15th Jan 2004 Mumbai Marathon and same day I was on my trek to Matheran. My two young friends (Girish Naik and Marian Menezes) participated and completed 21km Half Marathon successfully. When I got the news in Matheran I was very excited and declared to throw a celebration party for them, which we did at Catholic Gym next week. Both guys shared their experiences which motivated me to participate next year in Mumbai Marathon.
In the meantime, I started discussing with one person in my workplace and one person in Thane and my elder son who provided me with valuable tips and became my Guru's in exercise and fitness. They became my 3 gurus.
In the meantime, I continued my practice in Gym as well as road running around Thane Talao Pali. You will recognise that treadmill running and road running is totally different. Twice my elder son also joined me to encourage me to run as well.
Then came the Mumbai Marathon of Jan 2005 where I enrolled for Half Marathon. Everybody ridiculed me that at 52 how can you think about 21km run. Are you mad ?. I did not reply to them. My plan was to run from CST to Girgaon Chowpatty which may be around 7 km and then drop out, to to my uncles place at Opera House and come home. However, to my surprise I got so excited that when I reached Mela Restaurant at Worli and a friend called out to cheer me, I came to my senses. I continued my walk/run on way back at Girgaum Chowpatty @ 12:30 Hrs I gave up. It was extremely hot and my both hands were swollen and back of my neck was stiff and painful. The Doctors from Asian Heart Hospital examined me and allowed me to continue, but I did not follow their advice.
Safety first.
Year 2005 March onwards I stopped Gym altogether and kept myself fit my Occasionally walking/running around Thane Talaopali. In the meantime I participated in Thane Varsha Marathon where I could cover about 17 kms and later gave up due to heat.
Then came 16th January 2006 and Mumbai Marathon again. This time I was more mentally prepared but less physically prepared which I discovered around Christmas. I joined Gold Gym again on 2nd Jan 06 and started my workouts again. I took complete rest on 15th and was ready for Half Marathon on Sunday morning with my wife Sushma to cheer me at Capitol Cinema (opp CST). The Flyover at Kemp's Corner and hill of Jaslok Hospital were real problems both ways. I was compelled to walk up the hill both ways but I took advantage of the slope fully and run full throttle and finally was able to run the last mile and finish the race with timing of 3 hrs 10 minutes and 2 seconds.
Conclusion:
With regular and consistent Exercise, Diet Control and Yoga (Sudarshan Kriya) you can improve your body and health and even at 53 complete the half Marathon. Along with me was my friend from our Trekking Club Mr Vinay Nigudkar @ 67 the 'youngest' amongst my friends. So what is stopping you?
Just wear your running shoes and start ..................I did complete half marathon again in 2007 however due to one reason or another have not participated again. Hope to do it next year again.
Next Sunday the 20 January will be the Marathon Day and whole of Mumbai will be running in the morning. Many of you will be cheering the runners or watching them on your Telly while enjoying your Sunday cuppa......
Let me share with you my experiments with Marathon. You may find it interesting and amusing.
I have no sports background and due to big surgery when I was 5 month old baby I have allergy to dust and smoke and certain food items and my digestion continues to be extremely fragile and weak. I have to be careful what I eat/drink and how much.
It was in Oct 2002 that I visited Breach Candy Hospital for Annual Health Check conducted by Dr M M Meraney. I was 50. The results showed that my lungs were functioning very poorly and my Cholesterol was above 200. My lifestyle sedentary with regular consumption of Alcohol on weekly basis accompanied by fried food. My height was 6' 1" and weight 75 kg.
Dr M M Meraney counselled me to undertake Yoga immediately and control diet to reduce Cholesterol. The reason being I lost my elder brother due to CHD in 1995 at age of 45. This being family history, I better be careful.
One is always busy in work and other family issues and continued with busy lifestyle with no time for what Doctor prescribed.
Then in March 2003 I was arguing with my younger son to reduce his weight and recommending him to go to Gold Gym which is close by. He replied, it is better you go yourself and show the way. I will follow you if results are good.
I took Membership of Gold Gym and started spending max 60 minutes everyday from 05:30 Hrs to 06:30 Hrs regularly and also controlled my diet and nearly stopped Alcohol. The result was bit painful as I discovered that I had a paunch and was not able to walk on treadmill for even 3 minutes. It was impossible to use Supine Cycle for 3 minutes at low resistance. Let me add here that it is very important to take Doctor's opinion before you
start any type of exercise other than normal walking.
Then came Nov 2003 when I participated in Art of Living popularised by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar ji. I started practicing Sudarshan Kriya regularly which helped me improve my lung condition and digestion very much.
Slowly the results started showing and I started loosing weight till I reached 68 and then slowly again climbed up to reach 71. Now, after a year or so by Jan 2004 I was able to not only walk @ 6.6 kmph for 15 minutes without getting out of breath but sometimes attempted bit of running as well for brief period of 2 minutes of so.
Then came 15th Jan 2004 Mumbai Marathon and same day I was on my trek to Matheran. My two young friends (Girish Naik and Marian Menezes) participated and completed 21km Half Marathon successfully. When I got the news in Matheran I was very excited and declared to throw a celebration party for them, which we did at Catholic Gym next week. Both guys shared their experiences which motivated me to participate next year in Mumbai Marathon.
In the meantime, I started discussing with one person in my workplace and one person in Thane and my elder son who provided me with valuable tips and became my Guru's in exercise and fitness. They became my 3 gurus.
In the meantime, I continued my practice in Gym as well as road running around Thane Talao Pali. You will recognise that treadmill running and road running is totally different. Twice my elder son also joined me to encourage me to run as well.
Then came the Mumbai Marathon of Jan 2005 where I enrolled for Half Marathon. Everybody ridiculed me that at 52 how can you think about 21km run. Are you mad ?. I did not reply to them. My plan was to run from CST to Girgaon Chowpatty which may be around 7 km and then drop out, to to my uncles place at Opera House and come home. However, to my surprise I got so excited that when I reached Mela Restaurant at Worli and a friend called out to cheer me, I came to my senses. I continued my walk/run on way back at Girgaum Chowpatty @ 12:30 Hrs I gave up. It was extremely hot and my both hands were swollen and back of my neck was stiff and painful. The Doctors from Asian Heart Hospital examined me and allowed me to continue, but I did not follow their advice.
Safety first.
Year 2005 March onwards I stopped Gym altogether and kept myself fit my Occasionally walking/running around Thane Talaopali. In the meantime I participated in Thane Varsha Marathon where I could cover about 17 kms and later gave up due to heat.
Then came 16th January 2006 and Mumbai Marathon again. This time I was more mentally prepared but less physically prepared which I discovered around Christmas. I joined Gold Gym again on 2nd Jan 06 and started my workouts again. I took complete rest on 15th and was ready for Half Marathon on Sunday morning with my wife Sushma to cheer me at Capitol Cinema (opp CST). The Flyover at Kemp's Corner and hill of Jaslok Hospital were real problems both ways. I was compelled to walk up the hill both ways but I took advantage of the slope fully and run full throttle and finally was able to run the last mile and finish the race with timing of 3 hrs 10 minutes and 2 seconds.
Conclusion:
With regular and consistent Exercise, Diet Control and Yoga (Sudarshan Kriya) you can improve your body and health and even at 53 complete the half Marathon. Along with me was my friend from our Trekking Club Mr Vinay Nigudkar @ 67 the 'youngest' amongst my friends. So what is stopping you?
Just wear your running shoes and start ..................I did complete half marathon again in 2007 however due to one reason or another have not participated again. Hope to do it next year again.
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