Hi Everyone,

Some of you might know me and many might not. First time I have come out of my comfort zone to be part of Melbourne Marathon (doing a 10k run) and also raise funds for the good cause of supporting the heart foundation which gives me immense personal satisfaction.

Firstly I want to thank my colleague Maggie for inspiring me to do this. Maggie has previously done half marathon and that plotted a seed in my head to seriously think of participating in a Marathon event (doing my bit) some time. I want to thank Arlyne for being the X-factor for my registration. I have first missed to read the email that we received about this event but Arlyne was kind enough to have walked to my desk and checked with me & encouraged me to register for the event.

Yes, I was never a runner before but I decided that’s a tame reason to give an excuse not to participate in something like this. I enjoyed walking long distances for the last 3 years over the weekends - Royal Botanical Gardens and the TAN circle have become my best friends. I loved having coffee with my best friends Sai & Chandra at the lake side restaurant in the botanical gardens (either we would wake up late and miss the booked badminton time in MSAC or there is no tram due to the road works). Miss these coffee catch-ups now as they have moved to Suburbs. As part of my running practice, I have taken my husband (who has just spent over 6 months’ time now in Australia) to Royal botanical gardens trip on a drizzling day and had coffee at my favourite stop. Was left with a nostalgic feeling as I missed my friends. I used this event to practice running and have seen constant improvement every time I went out for run. I have been managing 6k run with some walks in the middle and happy with how I am moving ahead preparing for the main event. 

My two best friends in Sydney Shilpa & Divya have encouraged me so much in the last 2 months which boosted my preparations for this event. Though they may be taking a nap or standing in a crowded bus or train (Shilpa with her adorable and naughty 2 year old twin boys and Divya with her multi-talented 5 year old daughter Akshadha (aka ‘Adha’) who is just buzzing our internal social network with her singing and dancing skills hardly get a chance to have decent sleep in the night), they would encourage me and make me feel so good about the 1hr run that I would have completed on a week day morning.

I previously had my fan moments when I came on TV for 6-8 seconds while watching a silent day of India Vs Australia 2nd test match (in Hyderabad) during peak hot summer in May 2013. I had the Indian flag on my cheeks and flag in my hand. I waited and waited and waited for one in Cheteswar Puraja/Murali Vijay to get dismissed so that I can see Sachin Tendulkar walking onto the ground. I cheered loudly supporting the Aussie bowlers for LBW decisions but it just wasn’t my day. Shane Watson noticed the pain and entertained the crowd at the boundary line. It took more than a month for the tan to disappear on my face. Michael Clancy is planning to take me to the boxing day test match this year and I better make solid plans to avoid the heat effects. Then I spotted Suresh Raina and Ravidra Jadeja in the CBD during Cricket World Cup 2015 and while they planned to just sneak through the crowd and do some shopping just couldn’t escape from my eyes. Both were kind enough to click my picture with each other. But none of these can beat the next part which I am going to explain you -

I have been privileged/honoured to be interviewed by CBD news who wanted to hear MY STORY for this event. I told them that I am happy to talk to them but not sure whether I have a story which would interest them. They were kind enough to pick me for the interview (based on the comments that I have put during the registration where I mentioned that my colleagues at work place have inspired me to do this and the company’s constant support has motivated many employees to raise funds for different charity activities). The article has been published as part of the October edition of CBD news and my husband grabbed few copies of the article before I was home yesterday.

http://cbdnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/CBD36.pdf

Page 16 has my article in the October Edition of the CBD news. I was thrilled to see my article in the news edition and the support/complements that I have received from my friends in Australia and overseas have been touching. I have decided to put my 100% + more efforts for this event and make my friends and family proud. My friends Chandra & Devi have called me to congratulate on the article and said they would turn up on 15-Oct to cheer me during the event. Along with me my husband Vamsi and friends Sai & Anvesh are also taking part in 10k run. We 4 are planning to do group training sessions in the next 2 weeks. Being a hard core fan of Virender Sehwag and Rafael Nadal, I just couldn’t go by the text book techniques of preparing for the event. I am doing it my way. I started the preparation going for run over the weekends and now increased the frequency to daily. 

I run, I stop, I walk, I jog, I succeed.

For the last 3 years of my association with AEMO, I have seen many of our colleagues going extra mile and beyond in doing things their own way in order to raise funds for charities. It is so satisfying to be working here where employees are so much encouraged to participate in different charity events. Many of my colleagues are taking part in this year’s Marathon and I wish each and every one all the very best in their preparations for this event and fund raising activity. I will be there running and also cheering for our guys that day ? I am every bit thrilled to be doing this with family, friends & AEMO colleagues. I want to cross the finishing line with memories, sharing, caring, friendship and celebrating the success with everyone.

Cheers,

Sumathi