Om Run 2010

in the beginning...

It started out as a brief conversation initiated by Sanjay Bombwal about organizing a run for fund raising.
In the formative stages it was deemed as far-fetched idea by the sounding board. The practical questions were,

• is running an appealing sport to the Mission's membership?
• the Mission's membership might be turned off to another fundraiser for the new building?
• the messaging for fundraising - what is that going to be?

The Om Run journey started thus in late September 2009. 

The initial thinking was to get a team of 50-60 runners, train for a marathon. We figured we'd get 10 volunteers and complete the run. Sanjay had even measured the distance from Sandeepany to the new building and figured it was only short by 3 miles for a half marathon.
What it morphed to become was something larger and wider to follow the guiding principle from Subbu,

must include Bala Vihar children

The planning and the event went through metamorphosis in the time leading up to the final version:

1. 5K race
2. 10K race
3. Walkathon
4. An all inclusive mela

What came about was that and much more; a grass roots event where the entire membership came out in support of OM Run 2010. There was good food and some wholesome fun to be had to boot.

It got pulled off due to some acrobatics by an amazing team, this was the Team Om Run. This writeup is an acknowledgement and a tip of the hat to this team. As I look back at this period it felt like a long haul; it came together mainly because Team Om Run set a very high bar and put together an immense event.
The efforts with the team began in right earnest during Thanksgiving 2009. The significant turning points of this project from one vantage point;

1. permits, insurance, locations (Radesh)
2. pre-marketing and web site (Sriram, Kris)
3. training (Ganesh, Ranga, Meyyappan)
4. phone-seva-Om-Run - dial-for-registration - walk the classrooms (Sanjay and Sri)
5. planning for the event - Walkathon superwoman Kanchana swoops down (Sid and Kalyani)
6. Om Run 2010 - March 21, 2010 - Gurudev was smiling down on us
7. Half Marathon at Pescadero, California - April 11, 2010 (Ganesh and Narayanan)

Significant, because each of these had a distinct personality and a  team (sometimes a team of one). It seems like every one of these needed a Hero to see it to completion. Though I have called these out as separate phases, they all did meld together and that's what made Om Run 2010.
The initial phase was convincing the organizing team that this could work - and making it bite sized, at each step of the way. This was exemplified by the milestones,

• make openid workflow work and open registration
• get he.net working and registration will work
• Om Run tshirt; need it as an incentive registration; and it became an icon
• make sure the training sessions' import is conveyed
• we need medals now, ok; done
• timing the race
• and so on it went. 

by the numbers...

1. 1647 - online registrations as of close 3/17/20
   
   
   
   
   
   
   1. 157 - as of 2/2/2010
   2. 889 - as of 3/5/2010
2. +200 - onsite registrations 
3. 252 - 10K Run/walkers
4. 588 - 5K Run/walkers
5. 55 - Half Marathoners 
6. $115K raised from Om Run 2010
7. 258+ volunteers 
8. 700 Gallons of water
9. 100% fulfilling

the journey

People make a project like this possible.