Pssst. I’ll sell you some Budhia for $20

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I hate running.  I ran yesterday and my knees are pissed at me today.  I only run if I have to in order to quickly get in shape for something.  A high-altitude hike in two weeks unfortunately qualifies.  I have just never been able to develop that “runner’s high” that so many people get.  Although I love physical challenges of any kind, a marathon is out of the question.  After reading this article in the BBC I hang my head in shame:

He runs seven hours at a stretch, sometimes as much as 48km (30 miles). On a daily basis.

And Budhia Singh is just three and a half years old.

When Budhia’s father died a year ago, his mother, who washes dishes in Bhubaneswar, capital of the eastern Indian state of Orissa, was unable to provide for her four children.

She sold Budhia to a man for 800 rupees ($20).

But the young boy came to the attention of Biranchi Das, a judo coach and the secretary of the local judo association.

Mr Das said he noticed Budhia’s talent when scolding him for being a bully.

“Once, after he had done some mischief, I asked him to keep running till I came back,” Mr Das told the BBC.

“I got busy in some work. When I came back after five hours, I was stunned to find him still running.”

I think if they send him to Kenya to train for a few years Budhia could be a serious contender.  The kid is a beast.  His hobbies include eating an running.

Budhia is enjoying his stay at the judo hostel. “I can run and eat to my heart’s content here,” he says.

I hope they don’t end up taking advantage of his talents though.  It would be a shame if Budhia burns out before his time.

35 thoughts on “Pssst. I’ll sell you some Budhia for $20”

  2. be a shame if Budhia burns out

    Et tu, Abhi? I would expect this sort of punny-business from Manish. 🙂

    I wonder if there’s any impact this much running could have to bone development/child development, considering what running does to adult joints, etc. over time (you can guess that I’m not a big fan of running either).

  3. Et tu, Abhi? I would expect this sort of punny-business from Manish. 🙂

    I know, I’ve been feeling guilty ever since my post. I hate punnery.

  5. I find this hard to believe, yet I’ve read of other stories where very small children have been able to run very long distances.

    Knees aching? Maybe it’s the shoes you are using?

    Nothing takes the edge off a rough day like a good run.

  6. Er clarification. I find the ability to run 7 hours without stopping as a child hard to believe. Other children have done long distances, but I don’t think anything close to 7 hrs worth.

  7. This little guy probably loves the adulation. He wants approval, after being given up by his mom. It’s great that he supposedly loves it….but… I hope coach Das has his best interests at heart.

  9. Sifox,

    I don’t get the pun. Is this a drug thing?

    Sort of. It’s sad you can buy a sweet little boy for the same price as a big joint (not that I would know anything about that). That’s just wrong.

  10. I wonder if desi-Kenyans are notably better runners than their (literal) cousins back in the desh. . .how many years do you have to spend at high altitutde and when to really make those lungs strong? I mean, my understanding is that the Kenyan running advantage is not all genetic.

  11. Was it on here that I blabbered on about altitude training? I’ve studied it a fair bit. No Saheli, Kenyan Indians would be at no advantage. Number one – you have to live at altitude for tens of thousands of years for a genetic change, two – few of the Indians there DO live at altitude anyway and for optimal advantage you have to live high, train low and three – all the Kenyan Indians I know are fat!

    I’m rather worried for this little tyke. That much running is going to seriously stunt his growth. I used to be into athletics big time and my knees suffered permanent damage. And I didn’t start at the age of 3! I think it’s just too young to run so much.

    Indians don’t have a great rep at endurance sports, but I think that could be an area to aim for, light frames, slender build and slow twitch muscles are an advantage – in contrast to in sprinting. I’m sure those super fit yoga masters have great endurance – their heart rates are ridiculous. Random trivia – Seb Coe’s pulse used to be 30-35. Madness!

  12. think if they send him to Kenya to train for a few years Budhia could be a serious contender.

    I hope you were being facetious Abhi. Long distance runners come from all parts of the world – portugal, japan, korea, china, uk, russia have produced distance running champs in recent years. yes, genetic ability has a role to play but that is not constrained by “race” or “nations”.

    I had to answer this question for someone after the last olympics – why doesnt india have any representation – my counter was that it’s a mix of desire, physical ability and resources… a counter example was the canadian performance in winter versus summer olympics. another stronger point was that alberta produces more speedskaters than ontario… this is not really because of genetic difference … btu because there just isnt any damn oval within spitting distance of most urban centers here…
    good luck to budhia.. he’s definitely an ultra.. but i just hope nobody pushes him to do something stupid like ‘get into the guiness world record’… he’s a prodigy for sure… but needs to be mentored and i have my doubts the indian sports bodies can rise to the challenge… there’s a difference between being a winner and a curiosity… i’ll hope he gets a patron who understands the possibilities. just as an aside… high altitude trainign does benefit… even for short periods… los alamos is at altitude of 7000ft or so and it has a much touted olympic training pool and stuff. they have folks coming from all over to train, even for short intervals.

  14. kenyans themselves havent lived there for 10’s of thousands of years let alone trained in mountains for that long…none of their advantage is genetic……its b/c the air is thinner, your lungs have to expand much more to get the same amt of air in as if you trained low….with lungs that are conditioned to expand more, when you run at lower altitudes your increased lung capacity allows you to breathe more oxygen in, giving you a slight edge ..with regards to live high, train low..that’s the case b/c at high altitudes you end up not running as fast and therefore it makes no sense to train at a slower pace, just living high will allow your lungs to adapt greater lung capacity and your blood cells will adapt to use your oxygen better as well…any indian (or person) who was willing to live at high altitudes would notice a inceased lung capacity im sure within a relatively short period of sustained exposure….americans do the same in denver…same concept and it works for any race.

  16. none of their advantage is genetic…any indian (or person) who was willing to live at high altitudes would notice a inceased lung capacity im sure within a relatively short period of sustained exposure….americans do the same in denver…same concept and it works for any race

    That statement is absolutely false. I don’t even know where to begin. High altitude training provides short term gains only as the body increases it’s red blood cell count to overcome a decrease in oxygen. Within hours that benefit disipates. I used to live near Denver so I know this from personal experience, in addition to the fact that I’m a high altitude climber and have undergone high altitude physiology training with my employer. The Kenyan runners are genetically predisposed to running as well as they do. I’m going to let Bong Breaker or Razib handle the details on this one if they care to.

    yes, genetic ability has a role

    Yes, in the case of Kenyan runners it has a major role. Natural selection over hundreds of years helped make them the fierce runners they are. I will take a random Kenyan male over a pretty good Indian runner in a bet any day.

  17. This little guy probably loves the adulation. He wants approval, after being given up by his mom. It’s great that he supposedly loves it….but… I hope coach Das has his best interests at heart.

    Angie’s probably hit it bang on.

    I read the bbc article… glad the kid’s getting good food… but I sure hope there was exaggeration … they want to get him to run 90k to get into the guinness book… what’s this, a freak show!!… and is the food the prize for being a freak… what if he wasnt a runner?

  18. Natural selection over hundreds of years helped make them the fierce runners they are. I will take a random Kenyan male over a pretty good Indian runner in a bet any day.

    them… ! who’s them!!!? they’s me, and you!!

    agree on genetic ability – but it is the kalenjin tribe in kenya which has traditionally produced the good runners. So much for the random kenyan theory…

    and why not india… or turkmenistan or iceland… my hypothesis is athletic performance is driven off resources, ability and personal drive… the last is the critical link… 20 yrs back i was in kenya – nobody knew of kipchoge keino… the role models were platini, pele etc. soccer flavor… things changed after kip keino broke through… and you’ll notice the rise in kenyan domination of distance running from that point… all things considered… it’s the notion of race and nationality i find foul…

  19. ok… i went totally off tangent on the base posting… anyhoo.. good luck to the little man. he’s one the genetic lottery… hope he saves enough for the primetime

  20. my hypothesis is athletic performance is driven off resources, ability and personal drive

    1) Genes . . 2) Resources . . . 3) Ambition

    it’s the notion of race and nationality i find foul…

    Evolution. In some things you can’t escape it.

  21. “los alamos is at altitude of 7000ft or so and it has a much touted olympic training pool and stuff. they have folks coming from all over to train, even for short intervals”

    yes, my brother lives there. he told me quite a few teams from different nations go there for training.

    china is a great example that one has to set up a long term investment to get great athletes, like anything else (science, arts, etc.).

    i have always been a fan of kenyan runners. i want your theory on ethopian runners, just curious.

  22. Evolution. In some things you can’t escape it.

    Is it evolution or self-selection? Evolution does not optimize the human for an athletic endeavor… the humans self-select in response to the rewards for the athletic endeavor… furthermore, the athletic endeavors evolve constantly … in some cases if a guy never reaches the pinnacle of an established sport – (s)he just creates a new sport to his/her own liking… so rather than focus on the ideal body for a sport, the challenge’s about applying oneself creatively to an athletic activity that’s suited to the body type and the inclination… and then let the sponsors take over… think murderball.

  23. I sincerely hope the kid is not made a freak show……but is given education and stability.

    Ethopian runners are an older phenomena than Kenya. What I understand it is the mix of nature and nuture for thousands of years.

    However, China is coming with some surprises.

    Xing Huina, who won a surprise gold in the women’s 10,000 metres in Athens.

    110m hurdler Liu XiangÂ’s gold in Athens has challenged the notion East Asians cannot be world-class sprinters.

    Elite Chinese are training at Baylor U. and Michael Johnson is their new guru. We do not have this in place in India – it is only for cricket.

  24. the humans self-select in response to the rewards for the athletic endeavor

    Dude, in order for just this part of your statement to be true, it would mean that athletes would only date and make babies with other athletes for generations. “Selection” takes place over generations in order to be considered evolution. I didn’t understand the rest of your comment 🙂

    In any case, I know from your blog that you are a runner so I wish you well. At the very least you can marry someone who runs faster than you and then support your kid with encouragement.

  26. I dunno, watching hyperactive kids out in public, I’ve always wanted to chain one to a big gerbil wheel and see how much energy it could produce. 😉

    Abhi, perhaps you could try swimming or rollerblading or biking if you’re trying to get your lungs in shape but not blast out your knees?

  27. My bad. You’re right Abhi,

    From Science, Peering Under the Hood of Africa’s Runners July 30th, 2004

    Altitude is not the key to the riddle, they have found, because there’s no difference between Kenyans and Scandinavians in their capacity to consume oxygen. And the Kenyan diet is on the low side for essential amino acids and some vitamins as well as fat, says Dirk Christensen of the Copenhagen center: “In spite of the diet, they perform at high level.” …. The differences in physique and muscle makeup that underlie the dominance of Kenyan endurance runners and West African sprinters doubtless have a strong genetic component. But researchers are only just getting off the starting mark in the search for genes that influence running performance. Bouchard’s group, for example, is collecting DNA samples from 400 runners and other top endurance athletes from the United States and Europe, but he says they haven’t spotted any running genes yet. There are a couple of intriguing possibilities, though. In 1999, a team headed by Kathryn North of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Australia described two versions of a gene that affects production of name-actinin-3, a protein found only in fast-twitch muscles. They found the less efficient version of the gene–which results in poorer energy conversion–in 18% of the members of a group of Caucasians. In 2003, North’s group reported in the American Journal of Human Genetics that only 6% of a group of sprinters had the gene defect; 26% of endurance runners had it. The authors surmise that name-actinin-3 helps muscles generate “forceful contractions at high velocity.” Alejandro Lucia Mulas of the European University in Madrid is taking DNA samples from Eritrean runners to explore another candidate: different versions of the gene for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Lucia says the less active version, or I allele, of this gene is associated with less muscle, less fluid retention, and more relaxed blood vessels–which would enhance oxygen uptake–and appears to be more prevalent in endurance runners. And in Scotland, sports physiologist Yannis Pitsiladis has launched a major onslaught on the Kenyans’ secrets with the International Centre for East African Running Science. Headquartered at the University of Glasgow, the virtual center will bring together research on demography, diet, and socioeconomic factors as well as genes. Pitsiladis says he has spent the last 3 years in East Africa collecting DNA samples from their “living legends” and now has DNA from 404 Kenyan and 113 Ethiopian athletes. His team has found a higher prevalence of the I allele for the ACE enzyme in male marathoners compared with men from the general Ethiopian population. But Pitsiladis thinks his numbers may lack significance given the variability of the trait in African populations. “At the moment there is no evidence” that East Africans have a genetic advantage in running, he says. None of the data negate the importance of cultural habits and training. But as Entine quotes anthropologist and sports science expert Robert Malina, who is retired from Michigan State University, “Differences among athletes of elite caliber are so small that if you have an advantage that might be genetically based … it might be very, very significant.” Next month’s Olympic games in Athens should demonstrate yet again that West African runners are built for speed and Kenyans built to endure.

    But I’d like to add that these genes probably are not be a result of Kenyans living there…When I said genetics had nothing to do with it, I was trying to negate the previously implied understanding that b/c Kenyans had lived in high-altitudes for 1000’s of years they evolved genes that help them run better. I think that’s still false. They are however genetically better equipped but scientists don’t have a clue why they have such advantages; they’re still trying to figure out exactly what those advantages are. But you’re absolutely right that high-altitude training is a short-lived advantage.

  32. When I posted the above i’d been quite pleased someone i asked came through on getting the kid sponsorship – there’s more to it and not all of it is positive – look at the news articles here .

  33. Just tell me : If you were Budhia, what would you prefer – to run or not run ??