Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Aarey Walkers salute me

On Sunday, I attended the Annual Aarey Walking Race prize distribution ceremony. I was pleasantly surprised and well - embarassed that they felicitated me as an exemplary runner whose motivation was contagious enough that this year 21 runners from Aarey took part in the Standard Chartered Full and Half Marathon - up from 3 runners about 4 years back!

They had to further embarass me by asking me to "say a few words" - I was not prepared for this. Well I gave them a short discourse on how fitness can change their lives. They had taken part in a "walking race" and I asked them as to what prevents them from making at least one day in a week as a "race day". Why do they have to wait a year to increase their walking pace? I suggested that if they incorporate 1 min of gentle jogging in 5 mins of walking in their total 45 mins walk, they would see how it changes their lives. Maybe at the end of a year they may jog the entire 45 mins - applause.

Today, I realized that I had made an impact cause I saw a 56 yr old woman that had won first prize in her category 55 - 65 yrs and a man in his early 50s, doing the 1 min jog. They waved and told me so.

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