Sunday mornings are lazy affairs for most people in their sixties but K Manjunath Aithal is of a different kind.
The 63-year-old from Hoskote, who won the veterans’ 10k run in about 46 minutes, was setting the benchmark for all running enthusiasts who had gathered at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)-Bangalore campus.
In an age when runners opt for the most sophisticated of shoes, Aithal, who was also the oldest runner at the event, was the cynosure for chugging along barefoot.
“I feel very comfortable running barefoot since am used to practising that way for many years now,’’ Aithal,who was a newspaper agent with Deccan Herald and Prajavani for 35 years, added.
“There are many people who’ve wondered how I run barefoot, most runners cannot even think of running barefoot since firstly they wouldn’t feel at ease and secondly they reason it would affect their timing but for me it’s the opposite.’’
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