The Marathon Managers: What motivates CEOs to participate

Mumbai is known as a city that never sleeps. In normal course during the weekends, people party till late at night and wake up by the afternoon of the next day. But when it's time for the Mumbai Marathon that is held in the first month of every year, it's a great feeling to see the Mumbai streets (mainly, the Marathon route) crowded with residents of the nearby areas cheering and encouraging runners. They offer sweets, water, tea and biscuits to the runners. One runner who has run the Singapore marathon says this generosity is not the case in Singapore.

The true spirit of Mumbai comes alive with the Mumbai Marathon.

January, 15, 2012 was a fun-filled Sunday when a total of 38,775 participated in the 9th edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM). What's interesting is that over the years participation from corporate India has increased.

Some of the corporate participants spotted at this years run were from Cadbury India, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Acme Housing India, Bank of America, Godrej Industries, Kotak Mahindra, ICCI, IL&FS, HDFC, Aditya Birla Group, The Walt Disney Company India, Tata Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs and others.

While you have the usual suspects - like Anil Ambani - running the half marathon, ever since the Mumbai marathon's inception in 2003, N Chandrasekaran, CEO and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has been taking part in the half marathon (21.1 km) since 2008. Anand Mahindra was seen leading his employees at the dream run. A total of 210 employees of M&M ran the dream run (6 km), 15 ran the half Marathon and one person ran the full marathon.

"TCS has an average age of 27 years and wellness is an important part of our corporate culture," said Chandrasekaran. Over 1,500 TCSers participated across various categories in the Mumbai Marathon.

Vodafone had 39 employees who ran the marathon, of which 18 took up the challenge to run the Half Marathon (21.1 km) and the balance ran the dream run (6 km). Many corporate employees also ran for a cause. Forty employees of Edelweiss ran to support the EdelGive Foundation, a philanthropic arm of Edelweiss. The company collected close to Rs 35 lakh before the marathon, money that will go toward EdelGive and other NGOs.

On Sunday, Chandrasekaran was spotted running the half Marathon with Praful Uchil, the core trainer at Striders, a fitness training group that helps enthusiasts run for fitness and competition.

Chandresekaran's last run was the Berlin full marathon (42 km) and therefore this year he ran the half marathon as his trainer claims he had other commitments after the run. Striders have been training several corporate head honchos and other managerial-level employees for the marathon. He says: "Most corporate participants wants to test [their] limits and stay healthy. They want to remain fit to be able to do a good job and running the marathon is the best way to stay fit as you can train anywhere even if you are on a job tour."

For most runners I spoke to at the event, first it was about participating and secondly it was about keeping fit. There is an increased feeling among the corporate managers to remain fit to be able to do a good job. They say you just cannot run the marathon without training. So if you register for this run you automatically get into training for it and that brings about a routine in your life.

For Krishna Kumar, CEO, Media2Win, a digital advertising agency, running is a solo sport. He says: "The battle you have to fight with your mind [to] convince it to perform makes it extremely challenging. You are always with yourself and that helps discover your potential far better than any other sport. At times it's almost like meditation. So participating in this event makes me discover and better my capabilities as a professional."

Krishna Kumar began participating in the SCMM since its inception in 2003 and has been running the half marathon for the last 3 years.

Gagan Banga, CEO of India Bulls Financial Services Ltd., has been participating in various marathons from 2003 onwards. "To run the full marathon of 42 kilometres, it requires a lot of motivation and rigorous training for months in advance. Meditation is my motivation and I focus on my mental health more than physical training," he says.

"Completing 42km is a matter of pride, irrespective of the number of times one does it. The Mumbai Marathon marks the completion of one journey which starts with training soon after the marathon and is also the opening of a new chapter, more training, new targets. Overall, a very satisfying exercise," he adds.

Personally from a runner's perspective I would say the one big difference that I have been seeing over the years is that this event is something which I haven't come across when I played a team sport.  Everyone around is very encouraging without being judgmental about the fact that I don't know her or him or someone cannot run, is fat or thin, is running for the first time etc. It's one event where I find people are not here to prove something to another person but prove something to their own self.

Many run just for the fun aspect while some run to actually be better with every run. This is one event where one and all can participate irrespective of their status. There are people of all ages, religions and occupations participating in the run, defying obstacles like unequal socio-economic background or physical condition and capability.

The Mumbai marathon unites people at a very different level. It is a true kaleidoscopic reflection of Mumbai. Lastly, it's a great ground for amateur photographers who are on the street from 5 am in the morning trying to capture every moment of this event.