We can achieve the impossible if we don\u2019t give up, no matter how difficult the path seems. Positive attitude, faith and perseverance will pay.<\/p>\n
I am now 67 years old. I was a chain smoker, and 20 years back, in 1998, was at the crossroads \u2013 I could continue to smoke and embrace a quick death, or start leading a positive life.<\/p>\n
Once that crucial decision was made, I was able to give up smoking by sheer will power. Not only was I unfit, I was even unwell. With my friends\u2019 advice, I started going on morning walks.<\/p>\n
Bit by bit, I took to jogging and then I started running. In December 2003, a 10-km marathon was being organized by HSBC Bank in Kolkata. I prepared myself for the run and this was the turning point in my life. I finished third in my age category. This success gave me such inspiration and joy that I started dreaming of running a full marathon some day. Soon I ran half marathons in Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, but running a full marathon had to be postponed due to my age.<\/p>\n
In 2005, at the age of 55, I started preparing for hurdling in the Masters Category (above 35 years). Initially, it hurt and I was often injured badly. But the sportsperson in me was slowly awakening. I felt the need to train professionally \u2013 so I joined Sports Authority India, Salt Lake, Kolkata. One doesn\u2019t have the fitness for hurdling at 55 years, but this training helped me gain professional acumen and confidence.<\/p>\n
In 2008 and 2009, I won bronze medals in 100m hurdle and 300m hurdle at the National Master\u2019s meet at Guwahati and Hisar respectively. These successes were so exhilarating that even as I fractured my right leg fibula bone in November 2012 \u2013 I was 62 years old at that time \u2013 I prepared myself in less than eight months for the national meet in Bangalore and won a silver medal in 100m hurdle.<\/p>\n
At the Asian Masters level I won gold in 300m hurdle and bronze in 100m in 2016 in Singapore. In China in 2017, I won gold in 300m hurdle and silver in 100m in the 65 plus age category. At the international level, I came fourth at the 22nd World Masters Athletics Championships in Perth, Australia in 2016 in 100m and seventh in 300 m hurdle.<\/p>\n
I run marathons regularly and this year\u00a0I stood first in the Kolkata Police half marathon in the 60 plus-age category.<\/p>\n
People wonder how I perform so well after starting to train when I was 55 years old. I think anyone can do it if they have conviction.<\/p>\n
Exercise and run even during summer \u2013 don\u2019t let the heat stop you<\/strong><\/p>\n Hydration is the most important aspect of running during summer months. Some runners are hesitant about carrying water during marathons. But I must say it\u2019s very important to keep sipping water after 5-6 km till you complete the run. I am based in Kolkata \u2013 which has a humid summer and therefore, I am very cautious about this aspect.<\/p>\n Do weigh yourself prior to as well as after completing a competitive run, and balance the lost weight with more fluids within the next three to four hours. It\u2019s a good idea to have electrolytic drink sometimes instead of plain water. While most marathons are organised during winter, these days there are some runs even in May, June or July.<\/p>\n Someone working full-time in office who wants to continue running can safely run 10 km five days a week (between 5 to 7 am when the temperature is cooler) during summer. But remember, do drink four litres of water every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How old should you be to start training for athletics? Arun Kumar Singh was 55 years old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}