The Tenacity of a 75 year old Runner
Rajesh Vetcha, a fellow marathon runner, sent this very inspiring email from a 75 year old gentlemen.
Here is the quick synopsis of the story. Dinesh Kumar took his family out for a cruise and hence he could not participate in the Bangalore Midnight Marathon. He was torn between the marathon and his family. He found a solution. He ran the marathon on the ship itself.
Read his email to the runners group.
When the midnight run was announced, I knew I wont be able to attend it and believe me that I was going to miss it began to bother me. And when I mentioned this to my wife, she gave me a wifely answer and that was: If the midnight run is more important than a cruise with your family , you can cancel the trip or cut short it.
In matters like these, the LOH has the last word but I made up my mind to do a half on the sailing ship which had a track of 400 meters. I got up on the top deck and did the half at 3:30 in the morning, stopped to hyderate and carried on to complete 30 KM.
The experience was awesome. Doing it on the sailing ship may have been done before but I don’t know. The timing was better ( may be the sea level effect) and no water was needed ( may be humid air)
A day after that was no anchoring day and the ship was sailing, I repeated the attempt by walking and did another half.
A small detail. My legs are still paining as I walk on the Bangalore soil on return.
I thought I will share my experience with you.
If some of you are thinking that I am showing off. Yes, I am.
Dinesh Kumar
It put me to shame. I did not go to the midnight marathon because of some pending business work. I wish I had the 75 year old man’s spirit.
