My First Marathon Experience..here we go!!

Well, I started running when I was in LKG. I used to run all the 100 meters, the 200 and longest for 1-kilometer. I was always a Sprint runner. But, I have never been a Marathoner. My journey for Marathon started in 2012, and My Interest continued when Milind Soman - Founder of Pinkathon decided to organized a Marathon with a motive to encourage women to adopt a fitter lifestyle and to increase the awareness about Breast cancer. Since it’s an all women run, he decided to name the Marathon as PINKATHON. In those days, marathons were never commercial like these days. They did only with a motive to encourage and spread awareness.

My First Marathon Experience... Here we go.. 

It all started when I saw the banner of The Tata Consultancy Services World 10K Bangalore Marathon while travelling. On seeing the fifth edition of the TCS World 10K Bangalore Marathon banner, there was a sudden rush of adrenalin and a childish joy within me. I remember registering for the event on the same day and came up with a training target to go for, but I was totally out of practice. Still I decided to give it a shot.

During my Second Marathon @Zumba Session 

I ran my first marathon at Sree Kanteerava Stadium on 27th May 2012. For the first time 10KMS?(eek!)?! An early morning start at Kanteerava stadium, running through  cubbon park, nice cool breeze, extremely passionate runners, cheer crowd pushed towards the finish line. Though I finished the race with extreme difficulty, I felt happier about my running. After that event, I was unable to walk several feet. I couldn't even get into an auto. That day, I felt extremely dizzy and sick. Yet, I loved it from start to finish. My second marathon was Pinkathon. I proudly say that I was part of the first Pinkanton event. It was an experience I will never forget.

From there on, I registered for any 10k race I could find. My passion fostered to take part in different cities. Coimbatore, Salem, Namakkal, Pondicherry, Ooty and the list goes on.  I am yet to sign up for the big half marathon which is still in my bucket list. I would also like to see how I would get on with a full marathon. I am nervous about the distance of 42 kilometers. Soon I will overcome the fear with practice and will blog about it. After all, What in the world, when I don’t run just 42 kilometers.

Here is the list of few Marathon's from my life that I got inspired to blog about.

2012:

1. TCS World 10K Bangalore 2012, Kanteerava Stadium on 27TH MAY 2012.

2013:

1. Pinkathon Bengaluru, Kanteerava Stadium on 7th of April, 2013.
2. TCS World 10K run 2013 - Namma City Namma Run - Bangalore, Kanteerava Stadium on May 19, 2013

2016:

1. Salem Marathon 2016 at Mahatma Gandhi Stadium - Salem on Feb 19th 2017 

2017:

1. Vodafone Coimbatore Marathon at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium- Coimbatore on 1st October 2017. 

2018:

1. Auroville Marathon - 2018 at Auroville - Pondicherry on February 11th 2018.
2. Rasipuram Rotary Mega Marathon at Tiruvalluvar Govt arts college, Rasipuram on April 29th 2018. 

Every Marathon gives an indelibly experience. I feel extremely happy when my family and friends gets inspired to run Marathon and ask me if they could run with me.

What advice would I like to give to the people who wanna run a Marathon?

Remove all your limitations for a moment, go ahead and register for any Marathon and complete the run either by walking or scrawling. Who knows that one run would change your life..

Interview with Rachana Krishna - Best Outgoing Student of VIT

Gone are the days where Best Outgoing Student Award are honored to the student with Highest Grades. These days, student should be highly creative, exhibit exceptional effort and must make a huge difference.

"Outstanding achiever" is every student's dream. 

I had the opportunity to interview Rachana Krishna who has bagged the VIT's Best Outgoing Student Award. In this interview, lets dive deep into Rachana's journey as she shares her interesting student life.

I hope students as well as others will find many of the tips useful and motivating.

Congratulations on achieving Outstanding Student award. Could you please introduce yourself?

Hi, I'm Rachana. I'm from bangalore, born and raised here. I did my B.Tech in Computer Science from VIT. Currently I'm working at Cisco.

What was your priority when you were a student?
When I started off B.Tech I only wanted to enjoy my engineering life but soon realised my kind of enjoyment lies in many things, achievements, accomplishments and not mere entertainment. Priorities are never a constant they keep changing with time. At each instance I had to focus on what was most important at that time and move ahead with it.

What specific activities did you engage in college to achieve outstanding student award?
Firstly, I never compromised on my main virtue as a student that is being academically good. I learnt the subjects to the best of my abilities and maintained good grades. Grades only matter to teach you school lessons but life lessons are completely outside of it. So I involved myself in a number of activities. I was always inclined towards sports and adventures and decided to become part of our college trekking club. I had a flair for speaking and writing as well and hence became a core member of some clubs and chapters like the Hindu E-plus, VIT community Radio for a short period. As I knew my strength was in the manegerial line I started working for my college fests and events.

How about your extra-curriculum activities? 
As I already stated, I'm into sports. I used to be an athlete in school. I couldn't really continue that in college however I used to swim in college as a hobby, play badminton occasionally. I also hit the gym in the evenings. I went on a number of treks and even organised trips to places like Coorg and Kerala where I had my share of adventure+learning. I did white water rafting, waterfall rappelling, kayaking, rock climbing.

What pieces of advice would you offer to the students who aspires for "Outstanding Student"?
One has to know what he or she wants in their life and there is no bigger achievement than this. A person who knows what he wants will make sure to reach the goal. By life I don't always mean the big picture but even small goals will do. Goals as small as hitting the gym everyday. They keep you motivated in life. This motivation can achieve anything in life.

Who was your mentor/s in your college? 
To be honest I have been my greatest mentor all life., because only you know what you want in life. However, My mom is my support system. I have a best friend from school who is often my go-to person to share with.

What was one challenge you faced during college and how did you overcome?
During college it's very common to look at others and compare yourselves. This is not wrong as long as you get something good out of it. But if this is something that's pulling you down its high time you understand that each one lives their own lives. I did face a lot of competition and was at many instances motivated to do what others were doing. But not everything is for everyone. When ever I thought someone was doing something really nice in their life I took that as a motivation to do something in my life. Peer-pressure if a big challenge, but I used it for my benefit. And ofcourse because I stayed in the hostel, I missed home a lot. This can often pull people down, so did it pull me. But I always remembered why I was here and what I as supposed to do.

What was your daily routine as a student and now as an Employee?
As a student first half of my day would be spent in classes and assignments. Second half I would spend some time on myself, meeting friends, gym, netflixing. I'm an early bird so my day ends a little quick. So far my life as an employee hasn't really changed much as I am still an intern and have my trainings.

Share us a time where you broke a rule for a student?
Oh I'm not a person who breaks rules usually. I don't think I have broken any major rules. Except I didn't always have an ID card around my neck. So yeah this was one small rule I broke.

What is your philosophy of life? 
You take  your life decisions because nobody knows you better than you. Have goals, they keep you motivated in life. The only people who matter in life are those who keep you going, ignore the rest. Work hard, party harder. And yeah there is no substitute to hard work. I believe that there are a number of success stories with smart work, but there are no failure stories with hard work.

What are your current interest and what is your learning right now?
I want to move into entrepreneurship and finance now. I'm reading more on these.

All the best for your dreams and Thank you so much for your valuable time! 

Congratulations Once again Rachana!  You truly deserve the award!!  Good luck with Everything!!! Cheers.