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).







Comments
13 comments
Brilliant presentation and quotes!
April 21st, 2008, 12:45 am | #
Love the slides! Awesome!
April 21st, 2008, 12:57 am | #
Amazing talk it was Swaroop… i landed a lil late but as they say, better late than never. Cheers Vaibhav
April 21st, 2008, 9:18 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, 9:56 am | #
Great slides .. Convinced me to run
Thanks ..
April 21st, 2008, 12:29 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, 1:15 pm | #
Good work on the slides!
Reminds me of the nike ad.
April 21st, 2008, 9:41 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 21st, 2008, 10:02 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 23rd, 2008, 7:17 pm | #
Swaroop, which shoes do you use?
April 28th, 2008, 1:23 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, 7:51 am | #
Hey Swaroop, Nice slide.I miss my cricket and I think I should start running
I visited Niara’s blog as well and she has said it all very well ….
I missed all the fun at BCB and yes,congrats for going fulltime into your venture !!!!
-Himanshu Sheth
April 28th, 2008, 3:56 pm | #
Nice post Swaroop. I agree running is good, but Bangalore doesn’t make me feel like running.
May 1st, 2008, 6:25 pm | #
Leave a Reply