Polluted air doesn't deter distance runners

NEW DELHI - People breathing New Delhi's acrid air for the past month have suffered burning eyes and rasping throats, so the notion of thousands of distance runners gulping down lungful after lungful may have seemed strange. But even as the polluted air threatens health, India seems to be embracing physical fitness.

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon went ahead on Sunday, even after a last-minute attempt by the Indian Medical Association to have it postponed.

In the cool half-light before dawn, street-dwellers stoked smoking piles of trash to keep warm while organizers adjusted placards along the route.