Science and Technology Run- 11th-Apr-2010

Event name: Science and Technology Run
Event date: 11th-April-2010
Event venue: Bangalore, Indian Institute of Science
Run distance: 10 KM
Bib #: 2303
Overall time taken: 67 minutes
Overall run Speed: 6.7 minutes per KM
Route: Marked route in Indian Institute of Science
Time of run: The run started at 7:45 AM
URL: http://www.sntrun.org/
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/amagazine/ScienceAndTechnologyRun11thApril2010#

IISc Image courtesy: http://z.hubpages.com/u/332603_f496.jpg

Running experience:
This run marked the 100th Anniversary celebrations of prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc) . Runners for Life had organized the usual Feet on the Street run on the same day. I usually don't miss Feet on the Street runs but when organizers could not oblige to my request of changing the date of Feet of the Street, i had to choose this run because of it being a 10K and chance to run on different terrain.

I reached for the run along with my cousin(Rahul) by around 6:45 AM on a rather hot Sunday morning. Having completed the registration formalities, we stood in anticipation for the run to start at prescribed time of 7:30 AM. But the organizers seemed to be a bit lax with some organizational arrangements still on the way and soon they started customary introduction of sponsors and some esteemed professors. All this (including all invited individuals on stage speaking a few "words") made the run schedule move up a bit and by around 7:40 AM or so, we were at the start line eagerly waiting for the run to start. Apart from inherent enthusiasm with every run, one more reason we wanted to the run to start early was because of heat. The sun was unforgiving. There was one elderly gentleman at the start line who intended to give directions on "Dos" and "Donts" regarding the run. His words reflected his simplicity as well as a bit of Ignorance. Inagine this- "This is the start of 10Km run in which both Ladies and Gentlemen will run together. Also remember that this is a run and not the walk and you are not supposed to walk." The audience certainly took these words in a lighter vein and had a good laugh. After a while, Finally the race was declared open to my relief.

I knew the sun would be a challenging factor in this run because of start timings but one of the comforting factors were the tall trees throughout the IISc. Though the usual Bangalore breeze was missing but the greenery certainly helped a lot. The terrain was quite challenging too. With the initial part of run starting on leveled road, the terrain soon took us to uneven areas within a sort of mini forest. For most part of the run, the terrain remained zig zag and full of uneven surface. The terrain reminded me of Kaveri Trail 10k run, which was one of the most challenging and physically demanding routes that i have been part of. I had passed through the institute from the outside road quite a times before but could never imagine it to be so huge as it was. The event was fairly reasonably organized with the help of many volunteers from the institute. I maintained a steady pace and did not really push hard during the most of the run. Just an energy saving tactic to deal with heat. Overall, it was as usual an incredible moment crossing the finish line.

RFL Mad 5 run- 21st-Mar-2010

Event name: RFL Mad 5 Run
Event date: 20th-March-2010
Event venue: Bangalore, Prakruthi Resort (near Olde Bangalore resort close to Airport)
Run type: Relay race with team of 5 and each participant running
Overall time taken: 90 minutes
Overall run Speed: NA. I completed 10 rounds out of my team's 49.
Route: Marked route in Prakruthi resort
Time of run: The run started at 7:00 AM
URL: http://runnersforlife.com/events/rfl-mad-5-run
one more...http://runnersforlife.com/page/the-mad-5-run
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/amagazine/RFLMad5Run#

Running experience:
This run was organized to mark the 5 years anniversary of Runners for Life (RFL) . I must say the organizers at RFL has done a tremendous job over these years not only to connect the Running community by organizing world class running events but also by working with many charitable organizations to bring the smiles to often neglected and ever needy sections of the society.
Before i started for this particular run, i had an idea that this run would be some sort of a long distance run to be run in the stipulated time (1 hour 30 min). But soon after reaching the venue my notions about this run were corrected. The venue was a rather secluded and serene resort close to the North of Bangalore. One good part for me was that this venue was not too far from my residence.
The organizers explained the format early on- it was a relay race and hence a team race with each team comprising of 5 runners (with "5" signifying 5th anniversary of RFL). Each runner had to run a round of around 450 mts and the next turn to run would come only after all 5 people in the team had completed their respective laps. All this sounded quite trivial considering all the people who signed up were long distance runners. I am sure some people would have felt- 450 mts., thats sort of below dignity! But all that ego fell down like pack of cards once the run ended.

Each team had a leader and the one leader the team i belonged to was one Mr.Yasuhiro Honda , who had run distances as long as 100 Km with a smile on his face. We were about to start the run and our leader- the man of few words, just said- "Enjoy the run". No pep talk about winning, no strategies against competition, just simple words to Enjoy running.
The format of the run was tougher than many anticipated. The part of run that was most challenging was the wait between the laps. The wait time certainly stiffed the muscles and by the time your chance to run again came, it was a challenge running with seemingly "heavy" legs. There was another lesson i realized just after the first lap. As i started my first lap, i ran like a machine soon to be finding myself running out of breath. Soon afterwards, i got a feel of the format that is to be a consistent runner than just being fast. Lesson learned early on!
My team did not bad at all- we finished joint 2nd with our team completed 49 laps in 1 hour 30 minutes. The team that came first did 52 rounds.
Overall, the morning well spent with a unique run experience.