25m 01s, 5000m, #187, #35, 10, €500+, 15/04/2011, The UNICEF Breukelen Loop

It was a fierce competition between Mind and Body, with Body forcing itself to Stop and Mind never letting that happen, and that is what I like the most about Running. It is about “Preparing and Challenging Yourself!”

It was almost 3 years that I had last participated in an official running event. So, though I was excited about running, I wasn’t totally sure about me on the running day. The least minimum goal I had set myself was to break my last timing of 5 kms in 27 minutes, which I had run with my good friend Rohan Mandora, running for a charity in Bangalore, and which I had incidentally won!

I got to know about the UNICEF Loop Breukelen, a charity running event to raise funds for UNICEF, from Bram Stevers, a fellow Nyenrode Student. I remember his email, it said, “Winter is over and the sun is shining again. So time to get running and burn some calories! On the 15th of April a running event is organized in Breukelen City. This is the http://www.unicefloopbreukelen.nl/, so you are not only running for yourself but also for the children all around the world. Together with Nyenrode employees we want to set up a team.”

It was an opportunity I felt of many things, to participate in a running event (which I always love to), to represent Nyenrode, to quantify my fitness, to challenge myself, to break my own record and the best of all, to be able to donate for a good cause and raise more donations.

I and Kumar (and Pieter who joined few hours before the event) represented the Nyenrode International MBA class for the run with Kumar taking the lead for collecting donations from the class. €300 was the donation target Kumar set for raising funds, which for sure was not an easy one.

Though I got to know about the event 15 days before, I wasn’t able to prepare much for the event due to the hectic schedule of my Nyenrode MBA, which is in a way a different kind of running experience, Great, Challenging, and Fun! So, I signed up for 5Kms rather than the more enticing 10Kms run, in an effort to reconcile, reality with fantasy!

THE RUNNING DAY:

Did I mention? 15^th April was not just about the physical stretch, it also included academic and industry activities! The day started with an insightful discussion on “Ethics and Leadership” with Joanne Ciulla from Jepson school of leadership taking the example of Nelson Mandela, from 9:00 till 11:45AM. It was then followed by a visit to Achmea as part of our Nyenrode Friday CEO Visit, which I always feel great about. It was a great 5 hour visit from 12 to 5 PM, that comprised of interaction with Mr. Willem van Duin, Chairman of Eureko  candidly speaking about his company, strategy and about insurance industry ending with what I feel a wonderful consulting presentation by some of our classmates on Achmea’s strategy.

Nyenrode UNICEF Breukelen Loop Fund Raisers

Soon as I came back from Achmea, I picked up the Nyenrode Shirts for the run and then started doing some stretches in my room! …and very soon it was 7PM, the time we had set to leave to Breukelen Central from our Nyenrode Campus. Kumar gave a final count of the funds raised which totaled to 237 Euros. It was later handed over to Bram for combining it to the overall Nyenrode donations which amounted to 563 Euros!

Nyenrode International MBA, Runners and Supporters!

Our pre-run warm up started from Nyenrode to Breukelen, a distance of 1.7 kms. Many others, Jessica, Gijs, Javen, Tobias, Maarten, Sanjoy, Sophia, Samant, Benjamin and Manon came along to cheer us for the start. Folks, Thanks to all of Ya!

We were also joined by Lieke van Dingenen, Laura Mulder, Marjoleine Wortel, Adriaan Rijkens, Anouk Ruczynski, Allard van de Loo and Marc Bergers, all from Nyenrode M.Sc Programme for the run, hence making the number of students representing Nyenrode to 10.

Starting Point

It was a huge gathering, and the run started at around 8 PM (since it was the DST season there was still lot of daylight left). My running number was 187, I pinned it up to my Nyenrode Running Shirt, to which I had also pinned up my MindTree Foundation Badge!

Once the run started there was nothing else in my mind, than about seeing the finish line. At times, I slowed down my pace and at times I increased it, I also ensured that I never took breath from my mouth, because I knew it would drain me quickly. It was a great experience running alongside small beautiful canals, lush green estate, hundreds of cheering people and people running beside me from all walks of life. Every time I surpassed someone it got so encouraging but when it was the other way it was not at all entertaining. Though I didn’t see it as a competition between individuals it made me aware that I was either falling back or leading ahead in the race against time. Since I wanted to beat my own timing, I was pushing myself hard enough.

I and Kumar after completing the run

After running 5000 meters in 25 minutes and 1 Second, I reached the finish line and what a sight it was to pass it! [YouTube Video Link] It was great feeling, I had beaten my earlier time, I had finished the run without any discomfort, and overall I stood 35^th in position! [Here is our timing http://uitslagen.nl/uitslag?id=2011041500781&tl=en]

It was a GREAT DAY, I RAN with HUNDREDS of people, SPOKE to INSPIRING leaders, Interacted with STIMULATING SCHOLARS, and at the end PARTIED (Birthday party of Tobias) as well!

So when is YOUR next RUN?