My mother works out more than I do: Milind Soman

livemint.com:

Milind Soman ran his first full marathon (42km) in 2008 when he was 43. Since then, the supermodel-actor and fitness enthusiast has finished a number of marathons on terrains as diverse as deserts, hills and snow, both in India and internationally. He is also by far the name most closely associated with running and marathons in the country today.

It’s a recognition he wears easily but Soman recollects that he didn’t really enjoy the sport all that much when he started. “I didn’t like running, but as a child I’d heard about the story of Pheiddipides running from Marathon to Athens and the whole amazing myth about him dying after he ran. I’d decided then that I’d do at least one marathon in my life as some rite of passage," reminisces Soman, admitting that he’d only signed up for the first Mumbai marathon when it was announced in 2003 because “it was happening in my city and I had no excuse to not run." While he doesn’t term the first experience ‘life changing’, Soman says that running has brought “so much more" to his life.

“I don’t run for exercise, to lose weight, to be fit or for any other reason except that I love to run. It gives me joy. I cannot overestimate the value that running has in my life today," he says.

Soman says that thousands of people do approach him in person and on social media to tell him how he’s inspired them to take up the activity. “They publish stories on Instagram. They follow everything I do because what I do is simple, it’s not something that’s very technical, I don’t even go to the gym or have a trainer, and so anybody can follow me," he says.