If you were surprised I was training for a half marathon last year, brace yourself…I am training again this year! I can get quite hooked onto things that way ;). And while I hope to overcome some of my challenges from last year, my motto again is,

“‘Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up. ” – Dean Karnazes

It has been a year since my first half marathon training program (you can read a little about it here) and boy, have I come a long way! Thanks to the support of my friends and family, I completed two half marathons last year and successfully fundraised to help support education for children in India. I enjoyed the experience and opportunity to help so much that, in addition to training this year, I am also volunteering as part of the Strides of Hope program organizing crew.

Asha for Education is a zero-overhead, non-profit organization dedicated to change in India by focusing on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change. You can find brief descriptions of the supported projects here.

Pahla Kadam (Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal) is one of the projects I feel strongly about. This is a special school helping children with mental retardation and other learning disabilities. It provides vocational training for the children to help them become independent. The project reaches out to severely challenged children through the Community Based Rehabilitation workers.

I would like to invite you to be a part of this endeavor in any way that you can and work with me towards this cause. If you would be interested in spending some of your time and also helping me work towards my fundraising target, please contact me. Hope to hear from you soon!