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DETERMINED Idris Mohamed started running to shed a few pounds Ö and never stopped getting a kick out of his new healthy routine.
One step led to another and last weekend he pounded the roads of India claiming second place in a mighty 100km ultra-marathon.
He said: "It was my decision to lose weight because I was uncomfortable with the extra load that I had put on over the years, even though I was very active in my younger years.
"I decided to turn the clock back by running and I am really happy that I made that wise decision and stuck to it.
"I encourage others to take up the sport for a healthier living. Everyone knows running is a demanding sport but if you take it slowly, with proper stretching and full commitment, anything is possible."
In 2000 he hit a mid-30s crisis and started getting podgy around the belt. Idris weighed in at 75kg. "I took baby steps at first and went through many injuries because I didn’t do any stretching at the beginning of a run," he explained. "Then when I joined the Bahrain Road Runners club in 2002, my whole perception about the sport changed."
Now, a 44-year-old weighing 12kg lighter, the sales manager from Hoora has finished nine marathons in Bahrain and one in Dubai and even took part in the 2,500th anniversary of the Athens Classic Marathon, the London Marathon, the Great Wall Marathon in China, as well as an Ironman (2.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km marathon) event in Malaysia.
His most recent sporting achievement was completing the ultra-marathon in Bangalore, India, which according to organisers Runners For Life, ‘has since become the battlefield where runners test their audacity every November’.
The 6th Bangalore Ultra attracts runners from all over the world to celebrate the sport by competing in distances ranging from 25km to 100km and this year they even added a 24-hour challenge which was held over two days.
Idris was one of 25 runners to take on the 100km challenge, a trail and distance which he has never tackled before.
He said: "I never raced more than a regular marathon distance which is 42.2km. The reason for taking part was because I wanted to break my mental barrier by running more than I had ever run before and to prove to myself that it was possible.
"I ran in the bamboo forest, a very scenic route and full of soft sand. The distance was 12.5km and we ran to and fro to complete a loop which made up a distance of 25km. I had to complete four loops to finish my target of 100km."
Idris followed a 16-week fitness programme that was specially designed to prepare him for the run. He added: "It was really tough to do and I learned how to run on tired legs."
The training paid off and he finished in second place in a time of 11 hours and 43 minutes.
He said: "It was a tough race that tested my willpower to the maximum. I suffered severe cramps towards the end of it, but managed to hold on. I was very happy with my overall performance."
He added that his wife Afrose Banu, 36, son Sohaib, 13, and daughter Aysha, eight, were excited about the adventure and had been a ‘huge support’. "Without them I never would have made it this far," he said.
