Season of Giving

Season of Giving..

This is that time of the year.. Time to be with family, reflect & share.. This mail is about sharing.. and I am requesting you to share for a good cause and help me run 2013 London Marathon.  

Many of you might recall that I ran 2012 Boston Marathon for  UMass ALS Champion Fund. to help discover new treatments for Lou Gehrig's disease.  Thanks to all of you, I raised over USD 7000 and successfully finished the Boston Marathon.  

Next year, I will be running London Marathon for Lenoard Cheshire Disability - Young Voices to help create barrier-free world.  This group has been working across the world to create awareness and provide basic access to special people and help them to be mobile and independent.  Also, all funds I raise through this initiative will be routed to charity work they do in India.  

Young Voices India currently does work in Delhi, Bangalore & Jharkand and mainly work on accessibility. Here is what I learnt from their website..

Members focus on making sure that existing laws are enforced and lobbying for new legislation. Campaign issues include: access to public sector jobs, accessible voting, access to social protection and advocacy for a new law to harmonise with theUNCRPD.

I have a setup a fund raising page in Virgin Money Giving site.. Please open up your hearts and wallets to support my run and help create a barrier-free world for all..
Please open your heart here.. http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RamViswanathan

You can also help me by spreading the word sharing this message in FB, Twitter and Google Plus.

A short brief on my running background

I  started running marathons seven years back and 2005 Singapore Marathon was my first one which I completed with a timing of 4:49.  Since then I have run 35 marathons in 9 countries spread over 3 continents.  My last marathon was CTC Marathon in October,which I finished with a time of around 4:40.  My next marathon is Shahid Ultra in a weeks time from Chennai to Mahapallipuram.  I am also the co-founder of Chennai Runners, a running group in Chennai which has over 1600 members.  We organized our first ever full marathon; The Wipro Chennai Marathon on Dec 2, 2012 which had a record turnout of over 6000 runners in 3 categories; full, half & 10k.

Wishing you & your family..Merry Christmas & Happy New Year