We did this last year and it was...fun. Difficult to pull off, but fun. Had one or two 'interactions' that were tough; I was also scaling up mileage as training for Mumbai Marathon and would do crazy things because of that, but overall, it was a great experience.
It started off I think with a discussion Deshvaasi & I had with the Chennai Runners. They asked us how many runners from the campus we expected as participants in the race. I think I said 25. And he said 50. We finally had like 500 registrations! Wooo!
So we decided that we should have a formal set of sessions where we just say a few simple things to race participants. Increase mileage slowly. Do some stretch/strength type things. Don't have to run everyday. Focus on your breath. Don't just up and run the race. Stuff like that.
There were never 500 people at our Saturday morning 'Training Sessions' as we called them, rather egoistically. There were at best 15 people I think. But still, it was great. It felt like an activity that would scale up well. And I know at least a handful of young people who have picked up running as a part of their keep fit routine since then.
I called my trusted friends Basa and ludwig to join me today. So we were the middle-aged folks. Then there were a bunch of young guns. I am scaling DOWN my running mileage currently. Because I want to work exclusively on strength for a bit; plus, my long run is scheduled tomorrow. So this time it worked great for me, personally, in terms of my own training plan.
I think the activity will grow, for sure. I sent the email out late (around 7 pm last night). We haven't tapped into the previous year's email lists as yet. I was really keen to get the thing rolling today and then worry about the tweaks, later.
In many ways its just awesome to see enthusiasm in young people. They find it hard to wake up in the mornings (yes, 6:30 is super late for a run, but even that is early for them!). They also have their share of inhibitions. Seriously. Its difficult to start something new. 'Race' is still a scary word to most; because the concept of it is unclear to them.
I am just glad we were out there today, and hope that this becomes part of the weekend routine henceforth... The race web-page, if you are interested is The Wipro Chennai Marathon (Dec 2nd, 2012).
It started off I think with a discussion Deshvaasi & I had with the Chennai Runners. They asked us how many runners from the campus we expected as participants in the race. I think I said 25. And he said 50. We finally had like 500 registrations! Wooo!
So we decided that we should have a formal set of sessions where we just say a few simple things to race participants. Increase mileage slowly. Do some stretch/strength type things. Don't have to run everyday. Focus on your breath. Don't just up and run the race. Stuff like that.
There were never 500 people at our Saturday morning 'Training Sessions' as we called them, rather egoistically. There were at best 15 people I think. But still, it was great. It felt like an activity that would scale up well. And I know at least a handful of young people who have picked up running as a part of their keep fit routine since then.
I called my trusted friends Basa and ludwig to join me today. So we were the middle-aged folks. Then there were a bunch of young guns. I am scaling DOWN my running mileage currently. Because I want to work exclusively on strength for a bit; plus, my long run is scheduled tomorrow. So this time it worked great for me, personally, in terms of my own training plan.
I think the activity will grow, for sure. I sent the email out late (around 7 pm last night). We haven't tapped into the previous year's email lists as yet. I was really keen to get the thing rolling today and then worry about the tweaks, later.
In many ways its just awesome to see enthusiasm in young people. They find it hard to wake up in the mornings (yes, 6:30 is super late for a run, but even that is early for them!). They also have their share of inhibitions. Seriously. Its difficult to start something new. 'Race' is still a scary word to most; because the concept of it is unclear to them.
I am just glad we were out there today, and hope that this becomes part of the weekend routine henceforth... The race web-page, if you are interested is The Wipro Chennai Marathon (Dec 2nd, 2012).
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