We are passionate about running and fitness. 

 

Why running?

Marathon is one of the most challenging and exhilarating events we can experience.  Forty two Kilometers is about the furthest we can go comfortably, even if we are well trained, before we begin to run out of fuel and our muscles begin to hurt. 

 

The marathon distance is exquisitely set to take us beyond our comfort zone, into a realm in which we confront the limitations of our bodies and our minds. 

 

Marathon training is training our mind not just our body. We complete the marathon distance only by patient preparation and mental discipline.  There are no short cuts, no easy ways out. 

 

The marathon takes us up to, and beyond, the limit of human endurance, into an unknown zone where we confront our true selves, and discover our inner strengths and limits.

 

More than 50,000 people complete the New York Marathon each year, and Our Mumbai Marathon had 40,000 participants across all categories. 

 

Why do we all do it? There is a somthing about Marathon that challenges us at a different level.

Most participants in a marathon want to finish.  They may run the whole distance; more likely they will run and walk, just as long as they get round.  These are the real heroes of the marathon – the runners who have risen to a challenge unlike anything they have done before.  They may be running for charity, perhaps in memory of a loved one, or to show themselves and the world that they have the inner strength to succeed.

 

The next group of marathon runners want to perform and improve.  They may well have run a marathon before, and now want to finish in a faster time (or at least fight off the effects of advancing age by finishing no slower). The pressure is enormous: they train for months, focused on a single race. If they happen to have a bad day, it will be another six months before they have their next chance to achieve their goals and recover their pride and confidence.

 

The third and final group of runners are the elite racers, hoping to do well, or perhaps win, at least in their age group. Again, their opportunities to achieve their goals are rare.  Unless they are blessed with an extraordinary physiology, marathon athletes may have as few as eight or ten good marathon races in their whole lifetime; some have as few as two or three.

 

There are plenty of good reasons for training for and running a marathon.  The training will help you to lose weight and increase your fitness.  Running will bring you more self-confidence and energy.  Achieving such a demanding goal will earn you self-respect, and the esteem of others around you.

 

One of the excitements and pleasures of the marathon is that all these runners take part in the same race, with the same sense of occasion.  All know that, in different ways, they are facing up to their own challenge.

 

You will never get a chance to play with your sports hero in cricket, foot-ball or tennis?  As a runner, We can get the privileged to take part in races with our running elites. They beat you, for sure, but we were all part of it together.

 

                                                                                            -- Owen Barder