5k/10k spring run for 2008

I participated in a 10k race organized by Team Asha last spring.  It was my first long distance race and it took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to run those 6.2 miles. I ended up training for a marathon with Team Asha and I ran the Chicago marathon and the Silicon Valley marathon during the fall season the same year. It is amazing what a little bit of training and a bunch of motivated people can do. Later that year in November, the fitness center at the Sun Campus in Menlo Park conducted a 10k race and I was able to run the same 6.2 miles in 53 min 28 sec.

This year the Team Asha spring run is this coming weekend, the 16th of March. They are planning a carnival this time with more activities, games and food too. I plan to run this 10k race again as the first race for 2008. Wish me luck.

If you are around the bay area this weekend, this race would be a fun place to drop-by. 

Help me educate children

There are certain things in life that give me great pleasure. Among the top is intellectual stimulation. My job provides me with plenty of those. Another aspect that is almost as good is, when I help someone and see their eyes light up. You have to be physically close to the person that you are helping to see that. It could be any kind of help. Teaching someone the way something works; helping someone see a familiar situation in a new perspective; providing a helping hand to someone slipping down a hill. It is the same feeling, the feeling of doing good. It is the discovery of the exact value of your action to the receiver.

There is a problem with this, it is the problem of scale. The problem with enjoying the feeling of altruism is that it is not always possible to be physically close to the person that you want to help. so what do you do ? I try to find a organization that I can trust, a organization that has a similar goal. I have recently chosen a cause which has the greatest impact, the cause of educating children. Say what you will about people that are poor, but the children of the under-priviledged cannot go to school because they do not have a choice. They are on the path of withering away without even an opportunity to succeed. That is not right. I intend to fight to change it.

People have dedicated their life for a cause that they believe in, I am just running a marathon. I want to make a difference to these children’s lives. I want to see the light in their eyes. I want to visit the school at Pune to see the effect. If I do, I will provide a complete report, I promise. Join me in this cause and support my marathon. Let us make a child smile with gratitude. It will change their lives forever, guaranteed.