Model-turned-marathon
runner Milind Soman, who just completed one of the world's toughest
triathlon 'Ironman', credits his mother for inspiring him to take up
sports seriously.
Milind Soman
"I give credit to my mom for inspiring and encouraging me to take
sports seriously. She was a professor of bio-chemistry and at the age of
60 when she retired she started trekking.
"Today, she is 76 and participates in a 100 kilometre trek. She does
that every year and has inspired my sisters to join her. They all are
above 50," Milind told PTI.
The ramp star hails from a family of doctors and professors. As a
child he was asked to leave sports and concentrate more on studies, but
his mother always supported his involvement with athletics.
"The kind of encouragement I had as a child to continue sports was
brilliant. Like any other family, my people asked me to stress more on
studies rather than swimming. But, my mother said 'He enjoys it and
should balance both studies and sports'. Those 13 years of my life
played such an important role in shaping my life and mind."
The supermodel, who was in the Capital to announce the third edition
of SBI Pinkathon, said he has never gone to a gym to stay fit. He feels
it is important to motivate the woman of the house to take part in
events like marathon.
"It is unfortunate that as a country we don't have this culture of
promoting health and sports. I feel if women understand the value of
sports like my mother did, than children will be encouraged to create
that balance between sports and academics," he said.
The "16 December" actor, who will be turning 50 this year, wanted to
do something remarkable on his 50th birthday and that is when he decided
to take up the Ironman triathlon challenge.
"I am turning 50 this year and wanted to do something special to make
this year memorable. I was never interested in triathlon as I don't
like cycling but when I read about it I found it interesting and felt it
would be a different experience to train for this."
Milind said he decided to promote an all women Marathon as he wanted to create awareness about women's health and breast cancer.
"I want women to inspire their family. Women don't take care of
themselves. They don't discuss about their health issues with anyone. We
wanted to create a platform where women can come even in a saree or
salwar kameez and run for their health without any inhibitions."
The third edition of Pinkathon is scheduled to take place in Delhi on September 6.
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