The 10 Deadly Shins get it done (by Snehashree Mahasuar

The 10 Deadly Shins

The 10 Deadly Shins pose with their hard-earned Road Warrior trophies. These are the group members: (standing) Neha Gupta, Janet Dam, Pinky Pagoria, Anjali Raichura Divya Sharma and Manisha Rustogi; (kneeling in front): Sanchali Nair, Poonam Kuhar, Snehashree Mahasuar (the author) and Tuna Sareen.

By Snehashree Mahasuar

A journey started with the MRTC Road Race Series 2020. It was a journey of 10 girls who had individual reasons to register for RRS2020 but with a goal of 10 races ahead to be finished. They were individuals (some of them knew each other some way or would have crossed paths) but one of the 10 Deadly Shins created a WhatsApp group. Seeing a group to walk/run with and a plan sounded easy, exciting and felt much better than the time they registered (especially to the first-timers and nonrunners) thinking, “How am I going to make it to 10 miles? Forget about Half-Marathon.” The group is a combination of ladies from age group 35-65 and a range varying from no walkers to marathon runners. Wow!! How are they going to train together, race together and complete this journey? Sounds Impossible – or let’s be generous in using the word: sounds Difficult, right?

That one person put a lot of thought into this group. She was the true leader who went beyond to make sure everyone was safe, everyone was taken care of, everyone was meeting their goals, no one is injured, everyone takes proper nutrition, everyone does their warm-ups, cool-downs and stretches, checks the weather, dresses accordingly, get some hot tea and snacks to refuel the souls, and last but not least, everyone gets started with their walk/run and complete the journey without much difficulty. I know she will not agree to this as she is too modest, but she has been the heart and brain to keep the group together at all times. We all accepted her as our group leader, our mentor, our teacher and our everything when it comes to running. Without Janet, it was impossible, and to complete this journey without her by our sides was unthinkable. So big thanks to Janet Dam from the entire group of 10 Deadly Shins for everything she did for us and to keep us motivated.

We started running in the evenings initially as it was summer vacation and a little easier for everyone after work, with kids and long summer evenings definitely

added. Slowly, it moved to early mornings and then for sure, and that’s how we took baby steps and have Saturdays as we moved ahead in our journey. From pulled each other up at all times and reached the goal Cameron Brown Park to Johnson Park, Shelby Farms to complete the RRS series. Age is no bar, a perfect Park and the Shelby Farms Greenline, we explored example being our senior-most member Anjali (Anjuji everything throughout the journey and we enjoyed as we call her). She cannot run because of her knee each and every one of them. Dawn and dusk both condition but she never ever was falling behind. In were beautiful while we trained and did our races. fact she taught us that just keep walking if you cannot We all would have read the principles of running, the run and achieve your goal on the not-so-good days accessories, the momentum, the steps, the breathing, the and we all did it so easily. We missed doing the races heartbeat, the diet, hydrating oneself, icing, bath salts, live this year but definitely will be back with better customized running shoes for long races, proper inners results with the same excitement and motivation in and how much a pepper spray is essential for us, but the coming years. And yes, we all finished our last this group lived all of these this year. half marathon as a group and are very proud of our

The pandemic was a concern, so we took safety completion. measures at all times, but never stopped once we Nothing is impossible A big thanks to all the family members and friends started. Initial races were easier when you put in of each and every one of us. Without because of weather, the distance and your hard work and their support this journey as a group the excitement and later it became difficult as any determination. or as an individual could not have been possible. We are other long race. We trained individually on most happy to share this with everyone and anyone who weekdays but definitely showed up for the Saturday wants to do something which they haven’t. early-morning run. We did not mind giving up the Please find a way and you can do it. Nothing Friday late nights because we had to rest enough is impossible when you put in your hard work and before our morning runs. determination. As individuals, we all do many things

We were at a point where we thought we should and achieve many goals in our lives but as a group have a name for this group. Loads of discussions were we achieve a lot as we still learn in the process of going on knee pain, shin pain, 10 years of Greenline, achieving our goals. Thank You, MRTC, St. Jude, 10 girls, how rocking we are, deadly snakes we come Susan Komen and others for organizing these across while running and in the midst of all these we events and inspiring us so that one day, someone like came up with this one and all agreed to one name “10 us participates, gets motivated, motivates others and Deadly Shins.” for the noble cause:

The group started bonding together. Running We all try our best to contribute our share however was definitely our main goal, but along with this we we can. started sharing our stories, made fun of each other, took lots of happy and weird pics, laughed together, shared our pains, celebrated birthdays together, shared food once in a while, thought of each other and most important, if we couldn’t make it for a run on Saturday we definitely missed each other and couldn’t wait for the next one. If one of us needed motivation there was another one to motivate her