Footfall: Participants at the hugely popular Bangalore International Marathon held last Sunday (Photo: AFP)

The radio advertisement was targeted at the tired techie, stuck in a traffic jam while returning home. “We chase dreams, chase deadlines, chase careers,” went the ad for the Bangalore International Marathon, held in the city last Sunday. “We’re used to running. So let’s run the marathon.”

The radio spot struck home. An estimated 9,000 people turned up at Bangalore’s Kanteerva Stadium to participate. The sturdy and serious ran the 42-km Full Marathon and the 21-km Half Marathon. The rest ? about 8,000 people ? signed up for the token seven-km Celebration Run. People came with drums and banners. Participants photographed and videographed each other. Age was no bar ? a 74-year-old won a standing ovation when he finished his run. Some couples came with toddlers in tow.

If the marathon is a measure of popularity, then run clearly means fun. Arvind Krishnan will vouch for that. The Bangalore-based entrepreneur started a runners’ club ? called Runners for Life (RFL) ? in February this year. The club already has 180 members. “We organise a run a month and have at least 50 to 60 people signing up for each run,” says the 34-year-old fitness freak.

But the logistics of conducting a marathon are huge. The Bangalore police force was called in to re-route traffic during the International Marathon. Volunteers distributed mineral water every two km while ambulances patrolled the area for casualties.

The RFL has an active on-line discussion forum, where members share information and experiences on every running-related nitty-gritty ? from what shoes to wear, how much to train, food habits to the best-suited fuel belt. Post-marathon ? where some tough-nut RFL members ran the 42 km Full Marathon ? the club’s on-line forum is busy demystifying the ‘20-Mile Wall’, the most feared barrier in long-distance running. The Wall is a legendary place where the legs turn to jelly, the spirit sags and the will drains ? even seasoned marathoners run out of steam.

For Bangalore’s beginner marath- oners, the Wall is still a long way off. Marathon mania is only taking its first steps in the city, says Krishnan. “With all the focus on fitness and health, marathon running had to figure on the layman’s to-do sports list.”

Nagaraj Pudukotai, a 35-year-old software professional, made a smooth transition from the treadmill to the tar road. The self-described fitness ‘maniac’ did a daily 30-minute run on a treadmill in a hip Bangalore gym. Watching ESPN on television and listening to Pink Floyd on his discman, he felt ecstatic working out.

That’s until he heard of RFL’s monthly 10-km run and signed up for it. The AC-gym-and-discman aficionado would now opt any day for the early morning air and the song of birds. The techie does 50-km outdoor running every week. Pudukotai ran the 21-km Half Marathon stretch at last week’s running event. He clocked a satisfactory one hour 53 minutes. Running a marathon gives a sense of physical accomplishment, he says.

There’s also a psychological angle to running. “As you get older, you want to prove that you’re not really that old,” reasons Pudukotai. While running the Half Marathon last week, he finished along with a 19-year-old college boy. “That gave me a huge kick,” he says.

The secret to sustained running is to shed laziness. “If you want to run, leave the house at dawn. Otherwise, the traffic and pollution spoil the fun,” says Pudukotai.

Krishnan only cautions that today’s sedentary, seat-strapped professionals should start slow ? maybe walk three to four km a day ? and then build up their speed, stamina and distance over six to eight weeks. “Increase should be gradual, not more than 10 per cent of the previous day,” he says.

Krishnan is convinced the attention-grabbing International Marat- hon will give a boost to running. But Pudukotai thinks differently. “Running is like a New Year resolution,” he says. “People begin with a bang and then fizzle out.” Only passionate runners and early birds reach the finishing line.