In January 2015, I visited my company's Mysore office for 2 weeks. During my time in Mysore, I stayed at my company's owned lodging called the "Guesthouse."
Friday, February 6, 2015
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Ramanagara Marathon in India
My most memorable experience while in India was running the Ramanagara Marathon (11K distance) on February 1, 2015.
The purpose of the Ramanagara Marathon was to promote organ donation and child abuse awareness in India. My friend Sunaina Ravindra suggested the run to me since we both enjoy running.
The race organizers offered online registration, bib pickup, and charter bus transportation from Bangalore. Online registration was a challenge (as their online payment system did not accept credit cards from outside of India). We made special arrangements with the race organizers to pay at bib pick up. To further complicate things, we made arrangements for Sunaina's friend to pick up our bibs. The admission fee was approximately the equivalent of $7 USD.
On race day, we woke up at 4:30 am and took a Rickshaw to the bus station to meet the charter bus to the race. The bus picked us up at 5:15 am and we arrived at Ramanagara at around 6 am.
At the finish line, we received our medals and certificates of participation.
The purpose of the Ramanagara Marathon was to promote organ donation and child abuse awareness in India. My friend Sunaina Ravindra suggested the run to me since we both enjoy running.
The race organizers offered online registration, bib pickup, and charter bus transportation from Bangalore. Online registration was a challenge (as their online payment system did not accept credit cards from outside of India). We made special arrangements with the race organizers to pay at bib pick up. To further complicate things, we made arrangements for Sunaina's friend to pick up our bibs. The admission fee was approximately the equivalent of $7 USD.
On race day, we woke up at 4:30 am and took a Rickshaw to the bus station to meet the charter bus to the race. The bus picked us up at 5:15 am and we arrived at Ramanagara at around 6 am.
We found Sunaina and Balaji who gave us our bibs and packets which included a small drawstring backpack and a race shirt. Balaji is wearing the race shirt in the above photo.
It was cold, dark and foggy before the sunrise. Once the sun started to rise, the start line was a band of drum performers symbolizing the start of the race.
 |
| Start Line |
We enjoyed a beautiful run that included the beautiful countryside of Ramanagara
 |
| Family of Spectators |
 |
| Water stop along the race course |
At the finish line, we received our medals and certificates of participation.
Although there were water stops along the race course, as outsiders, we were advised to only drink bottled water. We brought 1 bottle of water each to the race which we drank while on the race course. In the US, we usually receive granola bars and bananas at the finish line. In India, curry and/or other traditional Indian dishes were served. We needed to get back to our hotel, but the charter bus we took wasn't scheduled to leave for another 2-3 hours. We hitchhiked our way back to our hotel with a wonderful, kind, and generous family. We will always be thankful for this act of kindness.
On a very sad note, while we were leaving the race, we saw an ambulance behind us at one point. The next day we found out that one of the participants died of massive cardiac arrest. He was only 27-years-old. Read the entire article here.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Train Station in Bangalore
Train travel is probably the most common method of transportation between cities in India. Here are some scenes from the Bangalore main train station. Hosted by Paul Dunn.
There is a front entrance and back exit from this train station. When we arrived in Bangalore, we followed the crowd to the back exit and jumped into a cab. We should have walked to the front entrance and booked our return train ticket. At the time of the shooting of this video (February 2015), online train ticket reservations were not available to us.
There is a front entrance and back exit from this train station. When we arrived in Bangalore, we followed the crowd to the back exit and jumped into a cab. We should have walked to the front entrance and booked our return train ticket. At the time of the shooting of this video (February 2015), online train ticket reservations were not available to us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)