IPMX ’14 runs from Noida to Lucknow for health!

All work and no play makes jack extremely dull. To avoid the same fate, the One year MBA (IPMX) Class of 2014 at IIM Lucknow (IIM L) came up with an interesting strategy. By following a regimen consisting of a number of running activities, the Class managed a collective run of 500 kms. and symbolically ran the distance between IIM L’s Noida campus and its Lucknow campus.   

By Ronak Amin

The IPMX Class of 2014 is unique in many ways – every person carries a string of accolades from his/her professional life. One might argue that this is no different from past batches at IPMX. All MBA participants have exceptional qualities and therefore they are in a premier institute like IIM Lucknow! Agreed. However, the IPMX 2014 Class is rather unique in terms of its display of values of commitment and perseverance. The batch has shown this in more than one ways.

The thought behind IPMX Milers

Let us ponder over a larger issue for some time. What value-add does a one year MBA participant bring to the table? Possibly an ability to create a ‘vision’ and the capability to see it through, resilience and a trained brain with an enhanced power of association that can build ‘enduring’ solutions. All of this stems from the extensive experience the participants carry with them.

But what about the flipside? What about the ability to embrace change? To see things differently and look for ‘innovative’ solutions? After all age does have a toll on both the mental as well as the physical functioning of a human being. Right?

This set us thinking. We realized that getting out of our comfort zone should be an integral part of our training as future managers.

This, coupled with the fact that while our teachers were doing an excellent job of building our mental endurance, our physical endurance was getting ignored, led us to explore running.

The vision of running a distance of 500 kms. during an academic year was born of this thought. From a psychological point of view 500 is an important number for us. It is huge. And it is equal to the distance between IIM L’s Noida campus and IIM L’s Lucknow campus.

Now let us focus on the ‘how’ part. A general observation with one year MBA programmes is that there is a disproportional shrinkage in the scope and the timeline of coursework. In short, there is a lot to do in a very short duration.

The simplest way to achieve our goal was to find a solution that integrates with our day-to-day life. The answer: to make every run contribute to goal: running on a treadmill, walking on a cross-trainer or the tarmac in our beautiful campus, all added to our movement towards the 500 km goal.

For running conducted on machines we decided to use to the metered readings and for running done on road we used freely available smartphones applications. In order to log the miles we used the Facebook social network platform using a countdown mode. Now that’s an innovative use of mobility solutions and social networking!

The run

On May 18, a group of running enthusiasts embarked upon a run that was 500 kms long and stretched from Noida to Lucknow. In a way it was reminiscent of an Olympic torch relay from the Noida campus to Lucknow campus. The group was named IPMX Milers.

The result

The mission was accomplished much before the planned target of 44 weeks. Infact, we took precisely 224 days to complete the mission!

Of course there were challenges, particularly during periods of examinations and other unavoidable course related activities. There were periods of lull. There were ankle sprains and shin-splints. But the fire was burning all year long. As they say “when the going gets tough, the tough (read IPMX Milers) get going”.

The 500 kms. run not only improved the overall health index of the batch but also motivated many participants to experience the joy of running. Last but not the least, the batch showed tremendous enthusiasm and courage by braving Delhi’s winter and participating in the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. Kudos to IPMX  Class of ’14 and the IPMX Milers!

The future

IPMX Milers group has decided to raise the bar by doubling the annual target to 1000 kms for the year 2014. That’s the level of endurance that we strive for!