Why You Should Run
One fine day, I was running by myself. It was a few weeks before Barcamp Bangalore 5. I got an idea that I should talk about a non-techie topic at Barcamp since I’ve been giving tech talks for the past few years and I wanted a change of pace. I brainstormed many ideas on the reason for the talk, what to say and how to explain, etc. all during that one run.
Unfortunately I couldn’t attend BCB5. But I stored the notes in a safe place. And when BCB6 was announced, I wanted to be sure to talk this time around.
A few weeks back, Ramjee called me and asked whether we can talk about running. I smiled and thought to myself “Great minds think alike”. Or at least “Runners think alike”.
So I made a ppt and we landed at Barcamp on Saturday morning. We had never discussed the presentation. And we were going to give a session on it. Truly unconference style.
Note: The slides below have been modified to make it useful for a web audience. It has a lot more text now.
| DownloadBarcamp crowds are very inquisitive and so we didn’t actually go past half the slides, which is actually a good thing. Instead, we discussed a wide range of things about running right from finding good places to run to trouble with dogs.
In spite of the delays causing us to start at 12:45 (which means almost lunch time) the discussion went on till 1:45 and 90% of the 30-40 odd crowd were present till the end. When we went to grab what was left of lunch, lot of people asked us questions including how to avoid knee pain (tip: it’s the shoes). Since questions are always a good sign, I think it was a successful discussion.
We both still consider ourselves amateurs at running but at the end of the day its an activity we like and Barcamp is a perfect platform to talk about our passions.
Oh, and if you’re still not a believer, I’ll end with a quote:
Games require skill. Running requires endurance, character, pride, physical strength, and mental toughness. Running is a test, not a game. A test of faith, belief, will, and trust in ones self. So hardcore that it needs a category all to itself to define the pain. When game players criticize, it’s because they aren’t willing to understand, not because they’re stronger. Running is more than a sport; it’s a lifestyle. If you have to ask us why we run, you’ll never understand, so just accept.
– Jessica Propst
Update: SlideShare decided to make it a Barcamp spotlight presentation:
The online slides has had 1274 views and 116 downloads as of this writing (2008-05-04 Sun 10:04 PM).
(8 votes, average: 3.88 out of 5)
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April 21st, 2008 at 12:45 am
Brilliant presentation and quotes!
April 21st, 2008 at 12:57 am
Love the slides! Awesome!
April 21st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Amazing talk it was Swaroop… i landed a lil late but as they say, better late than never.
Cheers
Vaibhav
April 21st, 2008 at 9:56 am
Nice slides. What did you use to make them?
And I really should start running too. When and where do you normally go?
April 21st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Great slides .. Convinced me to run
Thanks ..
April 21st, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Missed your session at BCB but the slides are great and I have made up my mind to start running
Thanks
April 21st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Good work on the slides!
Reminds me of the nike ad.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I have been running in the gym for a while and I have been thinking that I should do it outdoors. And then I chanced on this link in the barcamp mailing list. And after that I have discovered a whole lot of stuff about running in and around bangalore.
I would like to join you guys next time for a run. When and where do you run on the weekends?
-b-
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
@Lakshman, @Vikram : Thanks for the encouragement
@Vaibhav : I guess if you really like something, you’ll evangelize it
well
@Jace :
Thanks.
Err, Powerpoint. Were you expecting something else?
Ramjee and me usually run in the mornings (although off late we’re not
regular) in Jayanagar. We don’t have a fixed path, we take random
routes depending on our energy and interest.
@Chintan, @Amit : Awesome! Great to hear that.
@Niara :
…. which Nike ad are you referring to?
@Balaji : We’ve not been running on weekends, but as I mentioned
above, Ramjee and me run in the weekday mornings together since we
live close by. Email me if you’re interested to join
April 28th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Swaroop, which shoes do you use?
April 28th, 2008 at 7:51 am
@Akshay : After some bad experiences with other brands, I personally prefer Nike shoes. I recently bought a Nike Air Pegasus+ 2007 and I’m liking it already.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Hey Swaroop,
I visited Niara’s blog as well and she has said it all very well ….
Nice slide.I miss my cricket and I think I should start running
I missed all the fun at BCB and yes,congrats for going fulltime into your venture !!!!
-Himanshu Sheth
May 1st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Nice post Swaroop. I agree running is good, but Bangalore doesn’t make me feel like running.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Swaroop !!! This is fairly surprising -
I too shed a tons and tons of flab with running , though i kept mine to the treadmill. That apart, it is impossible to discount the value of exercise.
I do have to disagree on one point – I think its impossible to think of much else while running. Its mostly the goal of my run, which is in my mind.
-Swaroop
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Quite relief to see your blogs apart from my work. I too agree of running. what ever you mentioned in your reply to one of the post, it’s true.
But do you think running on a road is good for health. I just heard from one of my friend that it’s not a good practice. That’s why i gave a break:)
What’s your opinion towards this?
December 24th, 2008 at 8:36 am
@Sujith There are always downsides to everything, but personally I haven’t faced any problem with running on roads. The pollution outside is far more dangerous. The killer drivers on the road is far more dangerous. Sitting and not exercising is far more dangerous. Sitting and eating junk food is far more dangerous.