“I moved to Bengaluru in the year 2003, Bombay was turning out to be an extremely busy city. All my life, I was at Bombay and it was a huge decision that I took when I relocated so I went alone first and checked if my family could move in too. I loved the weather here at Bengaluru. After a few weeks, even my family shifted here.”

“My daughter was participating in her school sports day and I was getting her prepared for those events and that is how I started running. Beside our house, there was a park and I would take her there. Both of us ran 2 rounds the first day and we were exhausted. Next day we could we 3 rounds, the day after we could do 3 rounds twice. I could see both of us improving. Her sports day got over so she stopped running but I never stopped.”

“Later I joined the Nike+ Run Club at Kanteerava Stadium and here is where my life changed. I have met some amazing and inspiring minds. I was never a sportsman and I used to smoke and drink. This is where my lifestyle changed completely.”

“It’s been 9 years since I started running and every year, I have an objective to achieve. This is the 10th year where I am participating in the TCS World 10K Bengaluru and I am 51 now. I have always made sure I improve myself every single year. I want to finish this year’s 10k in 36 minutes, 20 seconds lesser than last time. I have worked the whole year towards it and I am sure I will reach this objective. Oh, yeah. I also run barefoot. I have been promoting it so they know the health benefits of running barefoot. I am Thomas Bobby Philip.”

In collaboration with Mankutimma.