They love to run on the Marina. And they are called Marina Minnals. There is more to them: appreciation of good food. And, therefore, they are also known as ‘foodies who love to run.”
In fact, going by the pictures of themselves they share on social networking sites, they are often mistaken for a group of foodies.
Madras Minnals is the Marina chapter of Chennai Runners and they try to be as offbeat as possible.
“We have a couple of ‘signature rituals’ that set us apart from the other chapters in the city. We always drink lemonade made by one of our runners and pose for a photograph. We almost always have runners posing with sweets and cakes and have therefore invited the tag, ‘foodies who run’. We have some extremely fun-loving members who make the mornings a delight. For instance, a runner named Kannan brought sugarcane as the prop on the day on Sankranti,” says Deepa Bharatkumar, who along with Dr. Ram Rajagopalan, Ramesh Seshadri, Madhavan and Shreyas Viswanathan helped Chennai Runners start the Chapter in August 2013.
“We started the Marina chapter a few days before the Chennai Marathon so that people could practise. In one year, we have grown beyond expectations and now we have 40 to 50 active runners.”
At 5 a.m., on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, they meet at the Light House, from where they start their run.
“On Tuesdays, we run on the flyover on RK Salai. Running on the slope improves endurance. On Thursdays, we run from Light House to the RBI Headquarters. It is called LSD (Long Slow Distance) Running, which is helpful for marathon runners. On Saturdays, we do core strengthening exercises,” she explains.
This apart, some runners meet at Anna University during the weekend, where runners from all chapters congregate. The group has fitness enthusiasts of all age groups. There are members who come from T. Nagar, Royapuram and other neighbourhoods removed from the Marina.
