An early june run in the outskirts of Bangalore, Anandayana http://anandayana.runnershigh.in/ embodies the essence of the joy of running. The run organized by the group Runners High, hosted by the charities/schools supported by the run and managed by the volunteers from the running communities in the city, is devoid of any corporate sponsors. All the funds raised in this event go towards the race expenses and the charities supporting the education of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The run has also been a green one, right from its inception. Notable features of this run - 1. The run closes registrations at a predetermined capacity to avoid overcrowding. 2. Cloth bibs - Yes! No more non-recyclable tyvek paper! Bibs can be reused or dropped off at the venue post run. Last year’s bibs were made into beautiful products and displayed at the venue. 3. Steaming hot food on reusable plates - Ragi based healthy nutritious breakfast and steel cups for tea and coffee. If all spoons could be steel (instead of some), that would complete the score card to 10/10. 4. All hydration points stocked banana, bubble-top water dispensers and steel cups. So, there was ZERO litter on the scenic route. This also simplifies the logistics of waste management post run. Apart from some leftover food, tissues and spoons, there is not much waste generated otherwise. 5. The goodie bag is not given at bib-collection like most other races. It is given to you against the bib at the finish point - A reusable cloth bag branded with the ‘Anandayana’ logo. 6. No medal, no certificates, no podium places - Being able to run is its own reward. It is heartening that every aspect of the run oozes empathy and joy apart from green wisdom every year and brings together so many from the running community to volunteer. We need more feel good runs like these, which maximize the camaraderie and joy of running and minimize the unnecessary paraphernalia. It will be unfair to say that a run with 1000 runners faces less challenges than one with say, 10000. Food, cutlery, volunteer logistics, water, route and lastly waste management etc need considerable planning and are common to all events. It rained cats and dogs the night before, yet the route was in good runnable condition thanks to the efforts of the organizing team. The fact that there are ZERO corporate sponsors makes this minimalist run a unique case study among the typical city runs. Even the large scale organized city races have a lot of takeaways from runs such as Anandayana to make running a joyful exercise it is meant to be. It can be a small start, but it needs to be made somewhere. A beautiful and much needed perspective here on running ‘in Ananda mode’ http://anandayana.runnershigh.in/2015/05/28/being-in-ananda-mode/