Tuesday 28 February 2012

Uterus Calling



My friend tells me this story of how she was running. Alone. She was in kilometer 15 of her long run that warm humid Sunday in Chennai when she was accosted by a buxom old lady. Who stopped her. Chow had to take her music off and cock a polite ear to said lady. She was informed that she should stop running, stat, because her uterus would fall out if she continued to gallop like a horse.

Chow is a nice girl so I guess she didn't smack the lady but smiled and continued to gallop in a distinctly equine manner. I cannot wait for her to come back to the circuit now, after her well deserved break for what else? Motherhood.

I am usually small enough to go un-noticed by passersby. In fact, I think I am well nigh invisible. The deshvaasi will tell you the story of how I went to buy tickets in a smelly sweaty office in IIT one time, with him in tow. People walked over me (literally), sticking their armpits in my face and stuff. So, except for a few stray dogs, I don't receive much attention from fellow citizens on the road.

But in general, there is a lot of gyaan dispensed over the years that rings in my head. This business with the uterus? Well. I was started on it a long time ago. I used to cycle a lot in my youth. Yes, yes, you are not surprised, I know. My parents bought me a nice shiny red bike when I was 12 or so. Sort of right on the cusp of adolescence of womanhood or whatever. I used to ride it like a banshee all over the city at all times of day (not night. I had 7 pm curfew. Seriously. I think I still have 7 pm curfew in my mum's house. For sure).

My aunt who lived with us was pretty upset at me. She was sure that I was ruining my body with all the cycling and running and so forth. I think she even tried to accost me one time to talk about my hymen. Thankfully I escaped her clutches and complained to my mum who had bigger battles to fight and some family thing or the other ensued and everyone forgot about me, my uterus and tubes and associated things and I was left to my own devices.

We should have a short race for women in the near future (March 11), in our campus - I am working on it. I hope we get rid, at some point, of all these stupid notions about the relationship between exercise and our bodies. I am not recommending that we all jump on the marathon band-wagon, and I am the first one to preach moderation (even if I don't always practice it). Also, I believe strongly in the power of training, good support, hydration, discipline, and taking small steps. But seriously? It is really unlikely that your uterus will fall out if you run.

14 comments:

madraskaari said...

Funnily enough only yesterday I remembered some random conversation we had about biking and baby-bearing abilities :-).

wordjunkie said...

Hi
Not a comment so much as a question. You mentioned vibrams in an earlier post... do you use those for all long runs?
Have been reading up about the damage traditional running shoes can cause. what has your experience been with them?

Simplethoughts said...

good one....hilarious indeed...

after i delivered ..i waited for 3 months before i could resume running....when i did start..i could see a lot of surprised faces and quite a lot of apprehensions.....luckily my mom and MIL felt reducing the extra pounds was more important than uterus falling :)

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

WJ- I don't use them for v long runs. Max. 15km so far. Have heard mixed reports from friends so taking it slow. Current thought is that 'its not about the shoe' If I may be a bit Lance Armstrong about it. :-) I do like the vibrams for things like generic weekday runs and recovery runs and so on but don't totally buy into the barefoot/minimalist hype myself. So far, so good! We shd talk - wish i was next door so i could get you to fix my stupid dorky swimming for me. :(

madrasi - yeah, seriously. most ridic. these people are.

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

Simplethoughts - yes. I actually feel it got much better after I produced a healthy baby. I am pretty lucky of course that not too many people tell me stuff in general!

Choxbox said...

This is a new one!!

madraskaari said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

dr gita mathai runs with us. she is in Vellore though she comes to chennai often. you mean her or someone else.

Anonymous said...

small small world dr gita mathai is mum to one of my wackiest and a very much loved friend

madraskaari said...

Githa Arjun is head of E.V.Kalyani on R.K.Salai in Chennaimadras.

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

oye MIM i think i met her couple times (the daughter that is). must put intro.

wordjunkie said...

Thanks. And likewise, would love to talk swimming and running. Is Velachery an Olympic sized pool?

Re the swimming, I watched a lot of Youtube videos when I was figuring out how to swim. Maybe that would help?

And hey, cut Buxom aunty some slack. In the dark ages before episiotomies uteruses did actually pop out. My aunt dropped hers while using the loo a day after delivering Baby number 3.
So can see how ladies of a certain vintage would harbour fears like that.

Stopping one mid- run, though..unforgivable.

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

WJ- Yeah I watch the videos. But still the penny hasn't dropped I guess.

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

Noooo!!! Seriously...the things people say!