For somebody like Vaishali Kasture, an avid runner and fitness enthusiast who feels that running helps her de-stress from her busy work schedule and help balance work and personal life, 44 years of keeping her thighs and calf muscles tight and in prime was indeed a challenge.
Her story is of late awakening but one that inspires. Vaishali has been running only since 2010, but already has one marathon, over 20 half-marathons and 10K competitions under her belt. She has participated in innumerous marathons and bagged awards on a few races in the past three years in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. This time, she managed to break her own record by running in 47.55 minutes.
"My previous record was 50 minutes, which I could break this year. I also came second in the Dash run," says Vaishali, who had the opportunity to run with Maria Mutola from Mozambique. "Maria won the 800-meter gold medal in the Sydney Olympics. She now lives in South Africa and had come specially to participate in the 10K," she adds.
Vaishali's list of achievements peaks with the title of her being the first woman to finish Oxfam 100km Trailwalker for Charity. And this year she is proud to be part of the 10K run since it highlights women empowerment. "I was running on and off since 2003 with much shorter distances, but it was around 2010 that I felt that while my corporate life was indeed growing, I had hit the age of 40. For a woman, I felt that it was time to be fitter," she said.
As a runner and being a part of Trailwalker for Charity where she was the first woman to finish the 100 km walk, she says, "That was really interesting as it was exactly five days after my Mumbai Marathon. There was lot of conflict in my mind; can I walk because, I was trained for the marathon for a while. The walk was more to raise awareness and funds for charity. My teammates and competitive people of Goldman Sachs, Bangalore wanted a mix team and wanted one woman in the category. We set a target of 24 and when we started tasting success, we did with sub-twenty. We broke the first record in the mixed category and I was the first one to finish the line. It was not an easy job after finishing the marathon, which was held five days before. We were the highest to raise funds for charity and we sweated it out and worked hard on the race," says Vaishali, who has also won the gold medal in the Bombay Marathon, three years in a row.
Recalling her first win, she says, "I think my first podium finish was in Hyderabad at the half marathon in the age group of 40. I had tasted success and wanted to get better with the run. I tried to break the first record among the women in my age group. When you meet success, you always want to save a couple of minutes more, each time, and then you go that extra mile, you run well, you lose weight and lead a disciplined life," she says.
Being a managing director for operations, particularly for a investment banking firm, Vaishali manages 300 people and puts in 10 hours everyday at work. And when running became her priority, she felt the most important thing was to have a disciplined training programme and a time target in mind. "I have a formal schedule and in case the day spills over, I adjust my training schedule. I believe in doing a balancing act between work and training as both are equally important. It is all about juggling and prioritising," says Vaishali, who makes sure to run an hour on weekdays while she stretches on weekends. "My favourite spot is Cubbon park where I take a 4 km to 5 km trail. I prefer to be there as I also feel that it is a safe place for women," she said.
Vaishali has a 5-year-old son who is proud about his mother being successful. "I started running once Krishna turned two years. He is in love with a t-shirt saying 'My mom runs faster than your Dad'," says Vaishali.