It was cold at the start and slowly got warmer. The weather seemed to dance to our tunes! It was a wonderful race and I ended up having my best race ever! ...I finished with an amazing pace of 8:25 mins per mile..my best ever in a race!
Know more about how I did at motive here . Type "1741" for my Bib no. or type my name.
I guess I have been more regular for training and the long runs this year. I have been doing my stretches, icing my shins and doing a lil' bit of strength training too..Hope it stays like this!
Gaurav, vinod, ganesh and me tried maintaining a 9:00 pace right from the start. Ganesh and vinod slowed down some time before the hill. Gaurav and I actually did better than 9:00 even till the hill. I was keeping time and we were doing good at every mile. We actually did pretty good on the hills too! ..We got a negative split with the pace on the hills being better than on the flat!...and the final few miles were even better as we held on to our MGP (actually faster than our MGP)...and we finished at 1:50s for the 13.1 mile race.
O.k..enough for all the runner/marathoner/geek talk...I did much better than last year when I had a terrible shin injury. I shaved of about 25 mins from last time! The race atmosphere was in its usual glorious way!...Ppl cheering along all the way..fun-filled water stops, Girl playing huge musical device outside her house - yes we saw the same girl again!! We thanked her and clapped for her as we crossed her.I really do admire the spirit of ppl like her who come out and cheer for all the 2000 runners right till the end!..
Team Asha had its own cheering team too! Anita and radha were our only cheering team. Poor guys had no company and they actually met us at several points!...radha even ran with aravind and ashwini for a few miles with all our extra clothing!
Asha austin might really have very few active volunteers...but, they are a dedicated bunch I must say!...
Everyone had a great race and finished injury free..at least from how we felt immediately after the race!...Savitha went back to run the last bit with gloria ! We were truly getting together as a team :) ...
Team Asha or Team yellow(thats how ppl cheered for us for most part of the race..) was getting itself heard ;) ...We were crying out hoarse every time a yellow finished the race!...
Our coaches steve and ruth cheered for 'Asha' as well!!..They made sure they didn't shout out 'rogues' (thats the name of the training group :) ...)..and instead they managed a 'Go Team Asha!!'.
After the race, we went to the newly opened restaurant..and we did cause a stir at the restaurant as well...quite a few ppl asked us about 'Team Asha'!!...Three cheers to bright neon yellow t-shirts!
I am hoping for a great injury free season for all Team Asha runners....now starts the more rigorous, testing 2nd half of the training program..Now, we would be doing even greater distances and will be pushing ourselves to heights we have never scaled before!!
I will soon post motive half-marathon photos...
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Children's day and "Akasmika"....
On Nov 19th, Saturday we had the ICC (India Community Center) Children's day event. We orgainized quite a few games. We had some good publicity and a lot of fun!! Our 'fill-in' newsletter was ready and we distributed those. The kids had great fun and I found I was talented at meddling with fuzzy sticks! (small metal wires that can be bent into any shape)..after a tough morning session, we had a movie event in the evening - "Rang" - the movie series to help the runners fundraise for Asha's cause.
Ashwini and aravind, two runners of Team Asha hail from karnataka. They wanted to raise funds for Srishti Special academy, an Asha Austin project. We screened 'Akasmika', a Dr. Rajkumar movie. Unfortunately, right on the same day the Austin kannada sangha had an unexpected event and we went short on crowd. Nevertheless, the few families who had come to watch the movie were impressed by Ashwini and Aravind's efforts.
Ashwini spoke about Srishti and her understanding of their efforts. It was a short and moving talk in kannada. It made me feel proud and happy to be a part of such a wonderful team of runners!
We hope to have more such movie screenings...
Ashwini and aravind, two runners of Team Asha hail from karnataka. They wanted to raise funds for Srishti Special academy, an Asha Austin project. We screened 'Akasmika', a Dr. Rajkumar movie. Unfortunately, right on the same day the Austin kannada sangha had an unexpected event and we went short on crowd. Nevertheless, the few families who had come to watch the movie were impressed by Ashwini and Aravind's efforts.
Ashwini spoke about Srishti and her understanding of their efforts. It was a short and moving talk in kannada. It made me feel proud and happy to be a part of such a wonderful team of runners!
We hope to have more such movie screenings...
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
The event and the race!
I am pretty bad at blogs :( ..For 10 days I couldn't get time to do this thing and now like with any other thing at work..I just do it all at once!
O.K...last week was pretty easy. It was recovery. So, we did an easy 10 mile run (yep..10 miles are easy now :) ..).
The coming weekend is special! We will be organizing a fundraiser movie to support aravind and ashwini's runner funds! This is the first time we are trying out such an idea of helping runners out...heck! whatever we have done so far has been the first time in austin anyways :)
After a couple of events on saturday, we will be racing at MGP on motive half...'Team Asha's' first official race of the season- i.e. The entire team (almost) will be racing together! More about this after I finish it.
Getting up today at 5:20 with the temperature outside at 35-40 F was NOT fun :( ...I have also been icing my shins like crazy. 12 mins each leg, twice in a day. Hopefully it shouldn't give me much trouble.
O.K...last week was pretty easy. It was recovery. So, we did an easy 10 mile run (yep..10 miles are easy now :) ..).
The coming weekend is special! We will be organizing a fundraiser movie to support aravind and ashwini's runner funds! This is the first time we are trying out such an idea of helping runners out...heck! whatever we have done so far has been the first time in austin anyways :)
After a couple of events on saturday, we will be racing at MGP on motive half...'Team Asha's' first official race of the season- i.e. The entire team (almost) will be racing together! More about this after I finish it.
Getting up today at 5:20 with the temperature outside at 35-40 F was NOT fun :( ...I have also been icing my shins like crazy. 12 mins each leg, twice in a day. Hopefully it shouldn't give me much trouble.
What happened last year.
If you had donated on my runner page last year and are wondering where all the money went. Here is the annual report I had typed up for our newsletter. This should explain :) .
If you want more specifics do let me know. We are a flat and open organization!
Annual Report
The past year has been eventful for Asha Austin. In the few years of its existence the chapter saw unprecedented growth in 2004-05. The chapter strength in terms of active volunteers has more than doubled in the last year. In all around $50,000 was raised in 2005 alone. From being a satellite chapter, co-coordinating four projects in 2004, Asha Austin has come a long way in supporting nine projects from five
states.
The innovative marathon program called 'Strides Of Hope' was launched in September of 2004. This along with the long standing 'Support a Child' program has raised most of the funds for the chapter. Asha Austin also set a precedent with the 'Support a teacher' program that was launched last year. The volunteers also organized 'Play 'N' Help', a kids' fair to raise funds for the chapter's projects. The diligence, commitment and patience of the volunteers have been instrumental in the success of these initiatives.
The fundraising was not done without a goal in sight. The chapter is committed to the selfless work undertaken by our project partners. The belief in our partners and the change they bring about in the communities they interact with, inspired us to support them to the best of our abilities. Here is a brief description of how the funds raised by us are used for the underprivileged we strive for.
Asha supports recurring expenses and is also looking into development of school infrastructure at Asha Sikshan Sansthan in Reoti village of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. We funded a tailoring unit as part of our support for vocational training streams for the mentally challenged destitute women at Banyan, in Chennai, Tamilnadu. The training is not only therapeutic but also provides an opportunity for them to work their way back into society. We supported the Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram located in the village of badalpur in the district of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. The school aims to sustain free primary education, books and clothes for children. The school also hopes to generate an interest in children for higher education and to convince
their parents to send them to school.
Asha Austin approved a fellowship for Siddamma in the last year. Siddamma is a grassroots volunteer in India who works to provide a life of dignity for the Irula Tribals. Her work with the communities includes freeing bonded laborers, organizing the communities into cooperatives and mainstreaming the children into the education system by providing motivational educational centers. The chapter also approved funds for Gramin Shiksha Kendra. GSK runs an alternative school in a village near Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan) and provides meaningful and quality education to 100 children. Beyond running model schools the organization will work with the communities and instill the demand and help with the monitoring of quality education in all local schools.
Our chapter supported Prasanna jyothi located in bangalore, Karnataka. Prasanna Jyothi is a home for disadvantaged and orphaned girl children. The project takes care of the boarding and education of these children. We also raised funds to realize the long-standing dream of the children of Seva chakkara samajam of having their own permanent home. Seva Chakkara Samajam is an Orphanage that houses 99 children and is located in the heart of Chennai. Srishti Special Academy is a non-profit organization, headed by a team of trained, qualified and experienced special educators who feel the need today is to provide quality services and well designed and structured intervention programs to children with mental retardation, autism or
any other intellectual impairment. Asha Austin hopes to provide able support for their structured intervention programs. Finally, Asha Austin successfully supported Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya in raising funds for building a laboratory for the school, located at Sawantwadi, in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
Asha Austin is currently discussing new proposals and we are looking for a more eventful year in 2005-2006. We hope to reach out to more lives as we set upon a new year.
Funds Raised:
SAC (Support a Child) program, Marathon, SAT (Support a Teacher)
program, Matching/giving funds from companies, Play 'N' Help, General
donations contributed
Total: $49,949
Funds Disbursed in 2005:
Seva Chakkara Samajam $10,600.00
Bodh Shiksha Samithi (GSK) $6,131.87
Shristi Special Academy $3,600.00
Asha Sikshan Sansthan $3,100.00
Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram $2,225.00
Prasanna Trust $2,160.00
Prasanna Trust $2,040.00
The Banyan $1,400.00
Bharati Trust $1,350.00
Total: $35,357
Note: The disbursal does not include planned/committed funds for the
rest of the year in 2005.
If you want more specifics do let me know. We are a flat and open organization!
Annual Report
The past year has been eventful for Asha Austin. In the few years of its existence the chapter saw unprecedented growth in 2004-05. The chapter strength in terms of active volunteers has more than doubled in the last year. In all around $50,000 was raised in 2005 alone. From being a satellite chapter, co-coordinating four projects in 2004, Asha Austin has come a long way in supporting nine projects from five
states.
The innovative marathon program called 'Strides Of Hope' was launched in September of 2004. This along with the long standing 'Support a Child' program has raised most of the funds for the chapter. Asha Austin also set a precedent with the 'Support a teacher' program that was launched last year. The volunteers also organized 'Play 'N' Help', a kids' fair to raise funds for the chapter's projects. The diligence, commitment and patience of the volunteers have been instrumental in the success of these initiatives.
The fundraising was not done without a goal in sight. The chapter is committed to the selfless work undertaken by our project partners. The belief in our partners and the change they bring about in the communities they interact with, inspired us to support them to the best of our abilities. Here is a brief description of how the funds raised by us are used for the underprivileged we strive for.
Asha supports recurring expenses and is also looking into development of school infrastructure at Asha Sikshan Sansthan in Reoti village of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. We funded a tailoring unit as part of our support for vocational training streams for the mentally challenged destitute women at Banyan, in Chennai, Tamilnadu. The training is not only therapeutic but also provides an opportunity for them to work their way back into society. We supported the Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram located in the village of badalpur in the district of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. The school aims to sustain free primary education, books and clothes for children. The school also hopes to generate an interest in children for higher education and to convince
their parents to send them to school.
Asha Austin approved a fellowship for Siddamma in the last year. Siddamma is a grassroots volunteer in India who works to provide a life of dignity for the Irula Tribals. Her work with the communities includes freeing bonded laborers, organizing the communities into cooperatives and mainstreaming the children into the education system by providing motivational educational centers. The chapter also approved funds for Gramin Shiksha Kendra. GSK runs an alternative school in a village near Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan) and provides meaningful and quality education to 100 children. Beyond running model schools the organization will work with the communities and instill the demand and help with the monitoring of quality education in all local schools.
Our chapter supported Prasanna jyothi located in bangalore, Karnataka. Prasanna Jyothi is a home for disadvantaged and orphaned girl children. The project takes care of the boarding and education of these children. We also raised funds to realize the long-standing dream of the children of Seva chakkara samajam of having their own permanent home. Seva Chakkara Samajam is an Orphanage that houses 99 children and is located in the heart of Chennai. Srishti Special Academy is a non-profit organization, headed by a team of trained, qualified and experienced special educators who feel the need today is to provide quality services and well designed and structured intervention programs to children with mental retardation, autism or
any other intellectual impairment. Asha Austin hopes to provide able support for their structured intervention programs. Finally, Asha Austin successfully supported Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya in raising funds for building a laboratory for the school, located at Sawantwadi, in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
Asha Austin is currently discussing new proposals and we are looking for a more eventful year in 2005-2006. We hope to reach out to more lives as we set upon a new year.
Funds Raised:
SAC (Support a Child) program, Marathon, SAT (Support a Teacher)
program, Matching/giving funds from companies, Play 'N' Help, General
donations contributed
Total: $49,949
Funds Disbursed in 2005:
Seva Chakkara Samajam $10,600.00
Bodh Shiksha Samithi (GSK) $6,131.87
Shristi Special Academy $3,600.00
Asha Sikshan Sansthan $3,100.00
Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram $2,225.00
Prasanna Trust $2,160.00
Prasanna Trust $2,040.00
The Banyan $1,400.00
Bharati Trust $1,350.00
Total: $35,357
Note: The disbursal does not include planned/committed funds for the
rest of the year in 2005.
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