Executive summary- This post gives first hand experience of Hyderabad 10K run organized on 26 September 2006 in Hyderabad India. The post gives overview of the event as well as writer’s experience/view on the subject.
Racing against the expectation that I’ll come to office and work, I participated in Hyderabad 10k run today morning and this post is a first hand experience of my participation.
Media Report
For those of you looking for quick info on Hyderabad 10K run, here’s a summary. What follows is an elaborated post giving additional inputs and views.
Hyderabad, Nov 25: The Radha Realty Hyderabad 10K run and half Marathon were successfully completed this morning at People’s Plaza, Necklace Road, Secunderabad. Several thousand participants, from across India and abroad ran for a cause today, showing the spirit of Hyderabad. Proceeds after the event expense will be used to encourage those who lack resources and to support various social issues related to Health, Sports and Fitness. Apollo Hospital provided medical assistance while Coca cola sponsored free drinking water. Traffic Police extended their support by closing the roads for vehicles during the run.
The run was pretty pleasant as the track had beautiful scenery of Hussain Sagar Lake and had several teams cheering runners all the way. I do not have the official winners list at this moment.
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End of media report-Additional description follows---
About a month ago, in my SMS and WIN post (http://www.enidhi.net/2006/10/sms-and-win.html), I’d commented about how SMS based contests often mislead people. But this time I’ve a good experience to share. Few weeks back as I was listening to Radio City on 91.1 Mega Hertz Frequency Modulation, the RJ asked a question: Why do you want to run? Send your answer by SMS to 7007 and win participation to Hyderabad 10k run. I had a genuine reason (which I’m not writing here as that statement is now proprietary information of Radio City), so I typed it, sent it across and forgot about it. Next Monday I got a call from Radio City and I was told “Congrats, you’ve won participation for Hyderabad 10K run and you’ll be running with Radio City team, please collect your participation kit from our office 20th November 2006 onwards”
Prior to this when I’d seen ads of 10K run in media I was considering running. Upon inquiry I learnt that participation costs Rs 200 and registration can be done at any Post Office. The kit involves a T shirt and a chest number. Now that I won an entry via Radio city, it was much more fun.
I reached the spot very early-at 5.45 AM today. The half marathon was flagged off first. People started assembling for 10K run and at around 7 AM stage was filled with filmstars, politicians and business men, who had their own interest in the crowd. While few girls behind me were struggling to get a better view of Akshaay Kumar, on stage he was blowing wistels and challenging people to do the same. Sameera Reddy openly declared she wants to hear the boys shout for her. Those on stage never bothered to run, and their way of motivating people was limited to their speeches and actions on stage.
The Radio city RJ Anuj compered the stage event and started count down for the 10K run while everyone were near the podium looking at stars. This made many people rush to starting point. (Serious runners were flagged off separately; I’m speaking of general crowd)
How not to run and yet not get caught?
Personally I’m not a professional athlete. I wanted to experience the 10K run so I was there. It was a great experience. There was no way I could run 10 KM and win. I ran for the first few KM and there after I walked, as fast as I could. All tricks of how not to run yet not get caught, which I’d mastered during my higher primary schooling were fully employed today after several years.I took little less than 90 mins to cover 10k, good enough.
I could see different kinds of people, such as
*Professional athletes who know what to do and what not during a marathon
*People who'll run only when there's a camera aimed at them
*People who’ll run only when there’re good looking girls around,
*People who take a break of 15 mins at a stretch but pose as if they’ve stopped only for a moment, just to tie their shoe lace.
*People who cant do without their cell phone and PDA and wanted connectivity on the run
*People busy taking photographs
*Someone who wanted to run in memory of his lost son Arun
*Children, youngsters,elders, Foreigners, software engineers, all kind of people
There were lots of people to cheer runners. Several schools had their music band playing instruments, Companies liked Deloitte had dedicated teams to cheer their employees at every milestone (As against some of the workplaces where you’ll be loaded with another deliverable and deadline as soon as you finish with one), Volunteers to provide water, glucose. Pickup vans to lift people who couldn’t run anymore, ambulances and other arrangements were good.
I left the scene at around 9.15 and started back. Some more stage shows were going on and winner’s list was coming up. My first long run after several years has thus ended. The fatigue in legs will take some time to heal.
The event is only an excuse. If you wish to run, you can run anytime, anywhere. But running in an exclusive environment has its own advantages.
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