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| RANJANI
KUMAR RUNS LONDON MARATHON FOR CMUK |
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We
are extremely proud of one of our dedicated CHYKs (Youth),
Ranjani Kumar, who completed the gruelling London
Marathon on 17 April 2005 in 5 hours 20 min. This is very
impressive. Her purpose for running was to raise funds
to help to repay the large property loan for our Centre Chinmaya
Kirti in Hendon and to build up the Mission activities in
the UK.
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| In
true Yagna spirit a lot of people came forward to sponsor
Ranjani - we are grateful to all of you; and of course we are
all extremely proud of Ranjani. |
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| Ranjani's
Marathon Results |
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| Runner
Number: |
49663
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| Nationality |
GBR |
| Position
(Overall) |
27837 |
| Position
(Gender) |
7306 |
| Position
(Age Group) |
2158 |
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SPLITS
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| KM!0 |
1:01:18 |
KM20 |
2:09:57 |
| HALF |
2:17:53
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KM30 |
3:33:42
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| KM40 |
5:02:48
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FINISH |
5:20:05
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| Interview
With Ranjani Utpala Kumar By Devi Khakria |
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| 1.
What made you run the London marathon? (how many mile/km is
it?) What were your timings and split? |
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| I
remember the sequence of events leading up to the 'decision'
very vividly - Manan, Shabir (a fellow Sydney Chyk) and I were
sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing. I had the computer
on and an email had binged in from CM with the subject 'London
Marathon'. It said that CM had two places for the London Marathon
and were looking for volunteers to run it. I was only kidding
around when I said to the guys, 'do you guys reckon I could
run a marathon?' and both of them (without so much as batting
an eyelid) said 'course you can Ranj - go for it'. So I responded
saying that I would like to do it…I didn't even know how
long a marathon was!!! |
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| I
had never even considered running a marathon before - my friend
Terry at work was training for the marathon and had said that
it was very difficult to get a place.So when I saw the email,
I felt like a fantastic opportunity had just presented itself
to me (without me even asking for it) and it seemed like a shame
to let something like that go without even trying to make it
work. |
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| 2.
What date did you run the London marathon? |
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| Sunday
April 17th, 2005 |
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| 3.
What are your memories/experiences of a) the night before the
race and b) the actual day itself? |
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| The
only thing I remember was being up at 11pm trying to iron Gurudev's
Om and the CM website information onto my running shirt!!! On
the day itself, I was extremely nervous until I started running,
but once I started, it was like 'I've trained hard for this.
I know I can do it, lets see how it goes'.
The
first 8 miles of the race were very memorable as we went through
the south of London and the feeling of running across Tower
Bridge with all the crowds cheering was exhilarating! I think
the crowd and atmosphere just carried me the first 10 miles
or so.
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| 4.
What did your family/friends/fellow Chyks/acharyras think of
your achievement? |
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| Everyone
was very proud of me and very happy for me. |
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| 5.
What advice would you give to any Chyk/CM member or Bal Vihar
who might feel inspired to do what you did in 2006? What did
you wish you had known before running? |
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| My
advice would be 'Just do it' - the only thing stopping you from
doing this is your own fear and uncertainty in your ability.
And there is only one way to overcome that…by doing it!
I
wish I had known earlier what an amazing feeling it is when
you cross that finish line - had I known this, I would probably
have done one YEARS ago!
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| 6.
What inspires you about CM, any favourite words of Pujya Gurudev
/ any texts in particular? |
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| The
people that make up CM are what inspire me the most - everyone
is dedicated and committed to follow Gurudev's teachings and
become better people. It is hard not to be inspired by such
a group of people.
I
love my Chinmaya Diary - every time I open it, the quote at
the bottom of page seems to have been written with me in mind
to help me get over whatever 'injustice' I'm feeling at that
time! It's incredible.
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| 7.
When you look back at the experience what do you think about
the whole thing and what did you learn by it? |
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| I
think that I'm so lucky to have been given the opportunity to
take part in the London Marathon. I'm so grateful to CM UK for
allowing me this amazing chance to challenge myself like I've
never done before.
The
lesson I learnt was that I can achieve ANYTHING as long as
I put my mind to it and make the effort. The result is irrelevant
as long as you've tried your hardest and given it your best
shot. As Swami Swaroopanandaji has said to me repeatedly -
'do your best and leave the rest' - I've really understood
the meaning of this.
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