Run for India 2009

Last week was a busy one, and the weekend was even more packed with activity. So I haven't been checking the blogs I usually read, or been able to compose new posts ... will hopefully catch up on that soon.

Sunday, Feb 15th was the day of the Austin Marathon & Half Marathon. Our team from the Association for India's Development (AID) runs this race every year as a fundraiser. This year, seventeen of us participated - eleven volunteers ran the half marathon, and six ran the full.



Over the past few months, Saturday mornings have been exactly the same: wake up at 6am, get to Lady Bird Lake (see my post about the lake) by 7:00 or 7:30am, and run the prescribed distance for the week. Some days were beautiful, and running was a pleasure. Other days were cold, windy and miserable, and running was really painful. But it all paid off on Sunday, coz all of us had a good run.

R and I ran the half this year, since we had lots of injuries after running the full marathon last year. It was a perfect day on Sunday, partly cloudy and cool. The 13.1 miles seemed pretty easy after having done the 26.2 miles last year on Austin's hilly course.



Our bright yellow team t-shirts stand out in the crowd (I designed these last year).



This run is the biggest fundraiser for our volunteer group each year, and the training program is called Run for India. Runners raise money through their run, for supporting projects in rural India that are sustainable and holistic in their approach:

"AID is a volunteer movement committed to promoting sustainable, equitable and just development. In solidarity with non-violent people's struggles, AID supports grassroots organizations in India and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, health, women's empowerment and social justice."

The idea is to learn from our project partners on the ground, and have study groups where we try and understand the issues behind the realities that exist on the ground. As a result, we learn a tremendous amount from our NGO partners in India.

I coordinate two projects (with NGOs Kalpavriksh in Delhi, and Exnora Green Cross in Vellore), both of them related to environmental issues, since that is what interests me. I serve as the link between these two NGO partners and our group so that we can learn as much as possible about the issues - social, political and scientific, that relate to the projects that we support.

It is work that has taught me so much more than I have been able to contribute. Our group of runners are all volunteers - students as well as professionals. The energy and excitement in this group is awesome, and now that we have raised some money, it is time to invest it in some deserving projects on the ground in India!



Hope your week is going well.

Run for India!

It's marathon season again! Around this time every year, thousands of folks in Austin hit the Town Lake trails to start their training for the February marathon.


This lovely trail around the lake is a 10-mile loop at the max. There are shorter loops of approx. 3.5, 4.5, 5 and 7 miles as well. As temperatures drop and the weather becomes pleasant again, Saturday mornings start to look something like this ...

* the alarm goes off at 6am and is greeted with disbelief that it's already morning
* it's pure torture to get ready, get a little food down and leave while still half asleep
* Town Lake is already buzzing with activity as we get there in the pre-dawn darkness
* we stretch by the lake as morning sunlight filters through the trees and lights up the waters
* a pleasant breeze stirs the leaves overhead and brushes your face and finally you fully wake up
* what a joy it is to be alive!
* once we start to run, conversations die down and a quiet rhythm falls into place
* the camaraderie of silent runners joined by a common zest for life is exhilarating!



Last season Raghav and I trained for 5 months and completed the Austin full marathon in Feb '08. We run with our volunteer group Association for India's Development (AID), and raise money through the run, for sustainable development projects in India. This is an annual event, and this will be our second season.

This year I plan to train for just the half-marathon. Years of running has taken its toll on my knees and I have some fluid leak in there and some cartilage damage, which makes running painful over longer distances. Those days are gone when it was pure joy and an addiction. Now I have to run slow and step carefully so that I don't aggravate my knees. If I could change one thing about my body, it would be my joints - I'd ask for stronger knees so that I can run again as I used to. But that's enough whining ...


We ran 3.5 miles today and it was great. I'm looking forward to this season - training for the half marathon is pretty relaxed and so it should be more fun than work.

Let's hope we raise some money for India, attract some new volunteers in the process and have a blast!

P.S. That was my design for the Run for India 2008 t-shirt ...

Ad for the Austin Marathon!

Here's an eco-friendly ad for the Austin Marathon!


This week's theme for our photography class is perspective and portraying depth through lines. I have three pictures for this theme that I like among all the ones that I took. Here's the first.