At 72, fitness, for management consultant Anand Shrivastav, was limited to games of tennis at a South Mumbai club. Three years later, he looks forward to running in his first marathon — the Dream Run at Sunday’s Mumbai International Marathon — inspired by Delhi’s Dr Ashish Roy.Roy (72) has run 60 marathons — approximately 1,02,000 km — since taking up the sport 20 years ago. Small wonder that Shrivastav was impressed by Roy’s zest for life.‘‘I first met him at a medical symposium in Delhi where he was delivering a presentation on the benefits of running,’’ recalls Shrivastav. ‘‘I was quite impressed and approached him soon after his presentation and now he helps me out with my running.’’Shrivastav, who runs five times a week, says he calls Roy in Delhi when he needs help setting the pace of his runs. Roy, a keen long-distance runner since his days of medical school at Dibrugarh, gave up athletics when he joined the IAF in 1957. In between, he had an unforgettable stint with cricket, turning out as an opener for Assam in the Ranji Trophy. Once he settled down in New Delhi after retiring from the Services, Roy took up private practice and soon found himself saddled with the problems most people above 50 years have to deal with — high blood sugar and cholesterol.So he started running — to lose weight, to stay fit and most importantly, to let others of his age and those older than him realise that they never need to let age get in the way of a healthy life. ‘‘I ran my first marathon at the Rath Marathon in New Delhi (1984). Contrary to what most people think, my health has not deteriorated since. No pain in the joints, my blood sugar is normal now, no cholesterol problems either,’’ says Dr Roy.The countries he’s covered include Macau, Finland, Canada, Korea, Germany and USA. His most memorable marathon however is his Greek outing — the run to Athens, the original marathon. ‘‘That was special and it was a conscious decision to begin there,’’ says the supremely fit doctor.Today, he holds the record for the most marathons run by an Indian — 60. In 1999, he ran marathons on three consecutive Sundays in the US and later that year ran the Prague Marathon and the Vienna Marathon on consecutive weeks. ‘‘I travel overseas only for the love of the sport. Only on a few occasions has my trip been sponsored,’’ says Roy.
