Running Scene in India Vs USA: Random Thoughts

Running scene in India is growing at an explosive pace and every weekend there are tons of races across various towns. I ran/race quite regularly in Houston for many years and observed the running scene very closely. I can't help comparing running in India Vs Running in US in my mind. Moreover I have noticed some socio-economic trends which are peculiar to both countries. 

In USA, the running scene exploded in 70's where it became mainstream to run marathons. However, the runners were motivated by almost "Rocky" type self-motivation and grit and it wasn't much later when corporate houses like shoe/apparel/nutrition companies became a dominant force in running. In India, however the explosion of running scene is happening with clever and active drive of these same/similar corporate houses trying to entice upper middle class to lighten their wallet for the glory that comes with running. 

For the following socio-economic analysis, I have made the following assumptions. 

1) I assume that current growth of running in India is fueled by upper middle class who earn on average 25-35% of equivalent US wage. Say a competent software engineer (not a fresher) bringing home CTC of 25-35 Lakhs per year or $30,000 - $45,000 USD for which someone in USA will earn beyond $100,000 per year. So, I will keep mentioning the factor 0.25-0.35 in my analysis. 

2) All my calculations are based on what a certain activity costs as fraction of ones daily wage. Say, someone making 30 LPA CTC brings home 2-2.1 Lakhs per month, so his daily wage is about 7000 rupees per day. An, equivalent daily wage in US would be roughly $220.

Race Entries:

In US, a tier 1 half marathon costs to the tune of $150-180. Equivalent to buying a newer model of a running shoe. However in India most entry fee are quite modest. TMM half cost 2100. That's $26 bucks. Even with 0.25-0.35 equivalency factor, that's roughly half the cost more or less. A 5k or 10k race in US costs about $30-45 while costs about a third/fourth in India. That's good incentive to race.

Running shoes: 

They cost a fortune in India and probably because they are mostly imported or made by companies outside India. I can't wrap my head around people spending 15,000-17,000 INR or more on a running/racing shoe. That's 2 to 3 times their daily wage (cushy middle class). While in US, similar shoes costs less than 1 unit of daily wage. 

Running clubs:

In US, non profit running clubs are a craze and they are plentiful. For all my running in Houston, I was member of two clubs and it cost me $25-30 annually, or total of $50-60 per year. The returns from those clubs were phenomenal. Group runs were supported by water/electrolytes on volunteer basis. So, if a club has 300 members and even 50 members volunteer to assigned slot, the long run had water stations sorted. Of course people on board of these clubs or club officers volunteered their time managing club activities but I served as club officer for many years and it was fun experience.

Even the paid training program never exceeded $150-$200 in for profit running groups. However in India, the cost of joining a running group is insane. Striders cost roughly 25,000 INR per year if you aren't a TCS employee. Palm Beach Runners/Ace Runners in Navi Mumbai had similar fees as well. 

Running Accessories/Gear:

Decent quality race apparels, running gels (like Unived) cost more or equal than what you would have paid in US. Moreover, the stores like running warehouse etc. have amazing sales where you can score a good running shoe for $60-$70 which is quite cost effective. I purchased my first running shoe of Saucony in 2008 at a running store costing me $110. Later, I simply bought shoes online on average at about $60-65 per pair of shoe. 

Training/Training for races:

When I ran in Houston, I didn't miss Sunday morning long run but most of my other runs were in evening. That's the primary challenge of running in India for me. If you miss a run in morning, traffic/pollution makes running outdoors in evening very very challenging. 

I also find in India people are more motivated by distance such as marathons/ultra marathons etc rather than getting a kick out of well executed training program with optimal results. 

Now, I don't want to sound elitist so let me define what is well executed training plan. It is not a function of how fast you finish the race at all. I make no distinction in say 3:20 marathon vs 4:20 marathon. But, by observing inherent running talent and amount of hours put in training, how close one finishes the race to their ability is a measure of well executed training plan. 

I observe many athletes putting tremendous efforts and despite good talent, their race times aren't where they should be. I believe lack of understanding of training principles and under/over training maybe the culprit. 

Here, I want to give a shout out to Vivek Thilakan of Striders Thane. He raced a superb race in TMM half 2024. I was running conservatively as part of my return of running and ran with him till 14km or so and I ended up running fairly consistently the rest of the race. However, Vivek opened a lead of almost 1.5 min on me between 14-21 km. That's exactly how a race should be run. Kudos. Most other atheletes I observed went out too fast and ended up paying big penalties in the second half of the race.

Logistics to the race day:

This is a major challenge (or maybe it's Mumbai thing only) in India. I mean, lets admit it's plain stupid to leave home at 3 am to run a marathon. No kidding my wife thinks I have brain damage :) Same goes for bib pickup etc, you have to go out of your way to do those activities which make running less organic for me. 

Concluding thoughts: 

Running is running. If you put in efforts with right directions, the results will show. I'm very happy with my 12 weeks of all easy running and a resulting 1:45:59 half-marathon. A little fun fact is that I raced the race purely on muscle memory because in training I didn't run a single km at 5:00 min/km pace. Most training was done at 5:45/6:00 pace and it was good to see the aerobic base development in 12 weeks. I felt not racing at all led to mental fog (not able to push when you should) because there wasn't a reason I couldn't have pushed to save minute or so in race. The whole race never hurt, it was always comfortably hard and racing a half marathon should hurt when you cross the finish line. :)

I took a week off after my race and am thinking to focus a bit on speed by executing a training program of 8 weeks. I am signed up for a 10k race on 31st March at ICT and if the race is not super hilly, I would like to run around 45 minutes or faster at that race. 

Since, I plan to initiate a training program focussed on speed work, in next post I'll talk about training principles of speed work and why most people do them incorrectly. 

Cheers.