Four is definitely not a crowd especially in a family that has sown ‘togetherness’ around a sport that instils passion, and has built aspirations around ‘running’ and ‘sprinting’. Meet Bengaluru-based amateur runner Pavithra Vijay, an ex-Chartered Accountant and co-owner of Aeronutrix, a nutrition company that markets innovative products for active living. Pavithra and her husband Vijayaraghavan Venugopal’s passion for running has had a positive impact on their daughters also. They reveal their love and jubilations; trials and tribulations to continue running and staying fit
The journey of a chartered accountant (CA), a seasoned homemaker and a talented dancer, to selling sport-based lifestyle nutritive products to becoming an active amateur runner in the past three years has seen Pavithra Vijay, picking up a piece of the baton from her hubby Vijayaraghavan Venugopal and passing it on to her daughters Sharanya (11) and Radhika (7). Her sprint began in late 2014 when she was disenchanted with her last corporate stint; she rediscovered the positivity of being fit. While her husband Vijay; himself an avid and seasoned amateur runner got her introduced to running. By participating in some of the events, she got an opportunity to see diverse people running for various goals. “I started to run myself, and enjoyed the activity and thoughts which come with it”, she says. As the co-owner of Aeronutrix, that owns the brand ‘Fast&Up’, she felt the need to add credibility to its’ product portfolio. “At the events when I said I am a CA, people would actually laugh; I then realised that if I have to convince people of what I would be selling, running had to be a part of it. As our products are based on sports and active lifestyle, I had to set an example for the product and for the company”, she adds.
The silent marathoner-Vijayaraghavan Venugopal
“Running has brought in a lot of discipline in my life, which I probably did have but, it pushed the scales—knowing that you have to do it!” For Pavithra, who has been managing lifestyle changes through other disciplines such as yoga, felt that running teaches value for time and instils patience too. “With running, it is very easy to give up as your mind plays over your body. It’s like saying, ‘I will push in for the next one km and then maybe take a call to drop’. Obviously, without hard work, you can’t achieve anything. That ‘something’ to push youa comes out of running”, she adds.
Also, running inculcated Pavithra to manage her time better. “In today’s nuclear family, you have to get everything going, no matter what! I can’t procrastinate anything. When you are into fitness, you don’t procrastinate your training because you feel guilty, likewise in life too. It develops a more happy life as positivity comes only when you train—when you run. Scientifically too, it releases endorphins in your brain and creates overall positivity into your lives.” She trains for at least two hours every day— either cross training, dancing or running.
Picture perfect-it runs in the family
For Pavithra, running is akin to gaining ‘freedom’. “Frankly, I don’t like to participate in events. I just love to run and don’t like to be confined by a time and pace. But, if I need to know how good I am, I need to participate in these events. My dream is to do a HM (half marathon) in less than two hours. However, that requires more dedication and needs a lot of regime-to run ‘so many days’, ‘so many km’ and as a mother, it has to fall around my daughters and their daily schedules, she says.”
“Every year I attend three running events. Given a chance, I run every weekend. But, as a mother I sometimes have constraints of caring for my daughters. Usually, I would be running for two to two and a half hours, about 18 km is the max that I have done and I aim to do a HM, 21km this year, as part of my new year (2018) resolution, she says.”
Vijay, was always into sport right from childhood apart from a few years. “While I did some athletics at school, I also played cricket and football. When I got into running, some traits did help but. I found that there was no substitute to hard training and passion.” He played as a member of the U-13 Kerala Ranji Trophy team and encountered the likes of V.V.S. Laxman and Hemant Badami in his cricketing days. However, his tryst with running happened at the age of 37 in Pune in 2012. “I found running to be an easy sport to pursue that makes you feel fit and healthy and also has finite goals attached to it. With running becoming popular, getting a group to run with was not difficult, and I started my ‘running’ journey,” he says.
Like mother like daughters-Sharanya and Radhika with PavithraFor young Sharanya, her parent’s laurels have impressed her to realise her own strength in the middle distance running category. While she and her sister are both part of the school athletic teams.
Being a woman and a runner has its own challenges and according to Pavithra, “The biggest issue in India is safety and people’s notion on what you wear or should wear. International running gears are comfortable but might not fit ‘culturally’ with the so called ‘acceptable code’, or are too expensive to cater to varied income levels within running groups.”
“A women runner in India ideally needs a very good support system and a safe environment to run. Frankly speaking, you need more ‘Kanteereeva Stadiums (Bengaluru) in the country. You need a lot of stadiums like this where you have a covered place, a security guard… If I had such facilities, I could have done much better.”
On the number of woman participants at races, Pavithra said that there is a general awareness of fitness in the country especially amongst women. “There is a general tendency to be fit among women across generations and more so, in the age group of 18 to 35 years. It is not about looking good, it is about staying fit, for happiness,” she said. However, for women above 50 years, and who are into running for first time, need a little bit of a push. I think running events have contributed a lot to Bengaluru and in Mumbai.”
“While I did some athletics when at school, I played team sports like cricket and football. When I got into running, some traits did help but, I found that there was no substitute to hard training and passion”
— Vijayaraghavan Venugopal
One goal for Pavithra has been to encourage more people to run. “I also channelised my energy into getting more moms and women like me take up fitness in a small way. I found that many have similar insecurity and challenges. In Bengaluru, in the society I live, I started taking out a group of women for a short run and walk every weekend in a nearby green area which they thoroughly enjoyed. I also set up regular training sessions for a group of homemakers which involved more of intense cardio and strength sessions. Somewhere inside each of them there was an aspiration to do something like this and they were glad an avenue was made available, with me being the catalyst.”
By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
