Why Do I Run ?

As i start answering this question, i can clearly separate the pre-marathon and post-marathon days..

During the school days, i was lucky to win a few medals at the school / district and run at the state levels. I ran 100 / 200 mts at school / district levels and 400 mts & 4x100 mts relay at school / district / state levels. Those days, i admit , the top reasons for running were to be the fastest runner in school , receive the medal from the school principal at the morning 'assembly' in school , win a medal at the state level ( and get into a top engineering college through sports quota!! ) , impress some of the 'friends' at the school sports day :P .. okie, i know that was selfish !!!

Move a few years forward and i ran my first marathon in 2006. And here are some of the reasons why i run these days...

• The Marathon Dream
• The Bet
• A simple morning run can result in this - An idea that was discussed over a morning run :)
• The Marathon
• Have fun with pals here , here , here and here and more...
• and listening to that Pink Floyd ( high hopes / coming back to life) or A R Rahman , an hour into the run, is surely out-of-the-world - a 'free high' !!
• And many many more...i sure can write a book on this...

“If you want to win something, run the 100 meter race. If you want to experience something, run the Marathon” – Emil Zatopek

India Today - Newsmakers 2009

India Today has an anniversary 'Youth Special' this week on 'Newsmakers 2009' - They had chosen Archana and me, on behalf of Deepam. The group is shaping up pretty well, with contributions from a number of volunteers. They, truly, are our strength. Expect more to come out of Deepam, in the coming days / months / years... check out www.deepam.org.in

Bits2Marathon

A new initiative :) - Reproducing Vignesh's email to the BITS Community -

Running is probably one of the most popular and yet simplest sport, ever. All you need to start running is just a pair of shoes and the will to hit the road. It is this reason, why there is a huge bunch of people who are already running or eager to jump into it with that small and much needed nudge.

We all run for different reasons, sometimes to burn that double cheese burger you could not resist, or the 5 pints of beer that you drank during your last Friday pub evening. Some run in groups and join running clubs to make it a social activity and others use it as a point of introspection running alone to clear the multitude of thoughts. I know friends who started running to apply to B-schools, to travel and see places by running marathons around the world and sometimes just for the feel good factor after a great run, what is commonly referred to as the “Runner’s High”!

However, the key still remains that everyone needs that first nudge to start running. During a Skype call with a few fellow Bitsian running friends, the idea of promoting running amongst Bitsians through a forum was formed – Bits2Marathon. Being amateur runners, with a couple of marathons under our belt, we’ve benefitted tremendously by staying as part of a running club in terms of running tips and advice, motivation to run and help in garnering funds when running for charity (BITS.aid has a Run for a cause program encouraging Bitsians to run and raise money for the many projects under its banner). We hope to achieve the same through this forum.

The aim of this group is to promote running within the Bitsian community, by meeting for weekend runs, train for marathons in your respective cities, travel together for running competitions, run for charity and change lives, get new friends and stay connected in the process. We have created a Google groups as of now and invite all runners and those interested in running to join the group. Also, feel free to spread the word amongst your Bitsian friends who do not know about the group. The more the merrier!

Please click here to join group

Slowly as we grow in size, we will start up with more activities and have weekend or long-runs.. Who knows one day, we will be strong enough to have our own Bits Marathon, around the campus in Pilani!

Happy running,

Mahesh Krishnamoorthy

Boston – Vigneshwaran Chandran

KK – Karthikeyan Vijayakumar