Gaurav Singh
Gaurav's Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon: Faster than Curiosity
Fundraising for St Christopher's Hospice
Story
Hi
Thanks for visiting this page. I (along with other Rockrunners/ESE, Imperial College) am participating in the Royal Parks Half Marathon 2013. You can just click on “Donate” directly and save yourselves of the trouble of going through the information below.
The Fact of the Act
Running seems to be the easiest of all sports - you just start running and don't stop before the finish line. I have never done any sport formally ever before, barring a 5K run this spring. 26 years is a long time, even by Indian standards! Also, as history does not matter at all – half marathon seemed a good place to start.
The Philosophy of the Act
Reminder: You can still click on “Donate” to avoid reading the below.
If the above section wasn’t motivating enough to donate some cash, the following sermon will bring in more suffering.
In this age of commercialization, there are way too many scientific-sounding rubbish on what shoes to wear, what clothes to put on, which songs to put on your playlist, which running app to use, how many calories to consume daily, how to land the foot on the ground at each step of run and most importantly “how to breathe” – like there’s an assortment to choose from. I disapprove them all.
It is the act of doing things – running here; which fascinates me. There is where the focus is.
Like all good acts, the act of running would be detached from the distractions of time and speed, emotions and thought, even body and soul. Following a famous Eastern Philosophy, I would be intent on the act alone and neither the reason nor the consequences.
When the intent is just on the act: just-winning and just-missing out, happiness and joy, sand and gold, darkness and light; all are seen by the same eye. To seek detachment, action must be done without desire and yet the action must not dominate the being.
Hopefully, I will be able to put this philosophy into practice.
The Act
I will start running and not stop before the finish line. I also intend to cross the finish line following Andrew Flintoff/Sourav Ganguly’s acts at Wankhede and Lord’s.