The Sunfeast Marathon: My Run- Towards Right to Education for Children

“Hey Resh! Are you interested in participating in the Marathon race??” This question just came so unexpectedly, and I couldn’t react other than a surprised question back to the person: Was that question really for me…. ??? Me and Marathon??? Please!! Without enquiring anything further about it I jus turned to my monitor and continued my work… There was a mail in my inbox sent by HR, saw the word “Marathon” and immediately switched back to my work as I knew I’m not going to participate… I was never an athlete in my school days… Sharmila, one of my best friend shot it to me after this, Hey gal!! Marathon???????? I couldn’t believe her asking me.. and looking at her bubbling excitement I asked what’s it all about? Gradually came to know that “Sunfeast” in association with “CRY” (Child Rights & You) has organised a marathon race on a Sunday, the 23rd of May, highlighting the right to education for every child. Ya, I love kids very much!! So thought to myself, why not run a little for these kids if that contributes to their better future? And I gave my consent for the race :)

Couple of days before the race, we were asked about our t shirt size, and also given a bag of goodies like bingo chips, Sunfeast biscuit packets, a handful of mintos, pain balms, bands, vitamin tablets, sunscreen lotion sachets, sugarfree tablets, Cherry shoe polish in a cute red Sunfeast satchel, … they gave us our bib with the participant code which was supposed to be attached to our t shirts…



But why pain balms? Is it going to be that tough??? Will I be able to run the whole race which is “5.7 kms”? These questions in my mind… like a feather on the cap I got these comments from people who knew I was participating:

• “Are you tied to 108???” (108 is ambulance number)
• “Should I send a nurse behind you?”
• “OMG, don’t tell me!! Are u really participating????”
• “Do you think you’ve stamina to complete the race”?
• “Should I send a vehicle behind with glucose”????
• “I’ll get my bike along Resh, don’t worry, you can hop in if you are tired” !!!

All these made me totally skeptical about participating in the marathon…. Yet in the corner of my mind, I knew I was going for a noble cause and just comforted myself that I would back off during the race in case I felt that weak!

The day finally arrived and I had a complete athlete look,- t shirt, white band in my hand, sports shoes, hairs tied up, jeans instead of track-pants because I was more comfortable with them, and a backpack with all eatables that were given to us, a water bottle, pain balms, and never to miss : Glucon D :P

Reached the starting point on time, 8:15 a.m. : Kanteerava Stadium near to Mallya Hospital, UB City… people were flocking from all directions, with Sunfeast backpacks and t shirts that represented their company…The race for 10k had already begun…. it was indeed an exciting event to see such a huge gathering of youngsters, middle aged, senior citizens and also kids participating in the event. I was touched to see ‘special’ people (disabled) participating in the event too…



We entered into Kanteerava Stadium and found it was crowded with lots of people shrieking at the top of their voice, cheering up the event, and especially applauding those who were finishing the 10k race….



Spectacular events were happening amidst the stadium, with people dressed in different costumes, really pleasant view….



And the gate opened at around 9:00 a.m. for the race, we gradually moved to the stadium ground along with the crowd…. Remembered my school days as I heard the band and jogged on the tracks and then slowly to the main road!!! We were just lost in the excitement, there were lot of cameras and spectators gazing at us, and in no time we saw that our first km was OVER!!! Wow.. !!! Not bad!! And there were volunteers who put a stamp on our arms to denote the successful completion of 1km.,, At every one km there were mineral water kiosks sponsored by Kingfisher, and ample number of dustbins to ensure no littering on the roads…


As we moved further, we enjoyed looking at people dressed in fancy costumes, standing out of the crowd, some looked like witches, some apes, and few others were just fancy to the maximum extent possible!



In no time, we reached 3 kms, passing through Cubbon Park and Vidhana Soudha…



Was really happy to see CRY volunteers at every kilometre motivating the crowd .. “Run Bangalore….! Run… ! Just 2 kms more to complete and it’ll be all over!!! Come on Bangalore!! Run!!! You are doing greattt!!!!”

Jogging and walking, walking and jogging we however reached the finishing point , where the CRY volunteers cheered us up saying “Congrats!!!” and put a stamp on our hands :)


We completed the race exactly at 9:57:27 a.m.



We were given refreshments and then it was all done!



A feeling of success made me feel fresh and I actually forgot what being tired really meant! I regretted for not participating in any of my school sports for the reason that I thought “Sports isn’t meant for a gal like me”!! But from today I’ve a strong point to boast my stamina to myself and surely to all those who were sceptical about my success in completing the race! :D


Just Had Fun Unlimited, this time it was For a Noble Cause!!!

Cheers!


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