Decision of Running Marathon & Asha..

My name is Raju Vusirikala. I have been thinking of running a marathon for years. Never had time and courage to do it. Attempted to do it 8 years back in 1999 and started with smaller runs like BayToBreakers, WharfToWharf etc. Completing those 10k, 12k runs was big deal. Running marathon seems like a dream.

Then, I met my old room-mate Raghavan who completed 5-6 marathons including the Boston Marathon. He inspired me and encouraged me to pursue my dream. Talked briefly about ASHA Organization & their involvement in educating the under privileged kids in India, how they successfully executed various project in that front. It immediately brought my childhood memories back where I saw how many children in India doesn't have basic privileges to learn read/write. We are fortunate enough to have that and I strongly feel like contributing to this noble ASHA cause.

Main source for ASHA projects come through the fund raising done by Marathon runners being trained by ASHA. I am up for this cause and ready to raise funds & finish my first marathon.

Thought of blogging my preparations, experience in training for this first marathon. I will be posting entries here regularly. Come back here to check them out.

Enrolled into the training program on May5th 2008 and first training run was on May 22nd, 2008 under the mentorship of the couple Krishna & Deepu.