The man who ran the New York Marathon inside his house in Chennai

Narayanan Parthasarathy would be running in the New York marathon on November 6 this year, and he se

Narayanan Parthasarathy would be running in the New York marathon on November 6 this year, and he sealed his “ticket” to the mega running event, just “running around in circles” inside his home in Mylapore last year.

“I ran a full marathon inside my house,” chuckles Narayanan, 56 years old, and afire with a passion for running that showed up in 2015 and has often risen to terrifying levels (that is, in his friends’ opinion).

“It was November 7, 2021, the last date for completing the New York marathon. I had a guaranteed entry to the 2022 edition of the New York marathon, on the condition that I complete the 2021 virtual edition of the event. I had been given a bandwidth of two weeks (between October 23 and November 7) to run the New York marathon. I had already run the London marathon on October 3, 2021 and the Boston marathon on October 10. It was back-to-back Sundays of marathon running. These two marathons were also virtual. As I had done a full marathon on October 10, friends were giving me a piece of their mind: That I can be doing back-to-back runs of such intensity.”

In deference to their well-meaning advice, Narayanan inked in the virtual New York Marathon for the last possible window, that is, November 7.

Unfortunately for Narayanan, the rain gods sent a curveball targetting his running feet. “It was raining crazy on the morning of November 7, and my wife said there was no way I was running on the road, as there was flooding. So, I decided to run inside my house. During the lockdowns, I had been running within the house, doing short runs — 5K and 10k — and then graduated to doing half-marathons, also inside. I was accustomed to running in this manner: From the bedroom to the kitchen and the hall. I would also run around my bed. My mind had worked up a formula.”

As it panned out, the November 7 virtual New York marathon inside his house was the fastest full marathon he has run.

“I did it in about four hours 23 minutes,” reveals Narayanan. “I had hydration support, and all I had to do was ensure that nobody came in my way. I planned it accordingly. I had moved into our new house, only on October 27. In the earlier house, I was used to a particular formula. I decided to run between the living room and bedroom, and there were places where I zigzagged a bit to beat the monotony. People who had planned my hydration support were monitoring the run, talking to my wife. In the last one kilometre, people were cheering me, as my wife had done a video call. It was a whole new experience.”