Bangalore Ultra run- 11th-Nov-2012

 Event name: Bangalore Ultra run

Event date: 11th-Nov-2012

Event venue: Bangalore

Run distance: 25 KM

Bib #: 2678

Overall time taken: 185 minutes (Exact to be shared by event organizers)

Overall run Speed: 7.23 minutes per KM

Time of run: The run started at 6:00 AM

URL: http://http://www.bangaloreultra.com/

Running Experience:

I got up at just before 4:00 AM to go at the venue for the run which was a good 30+ Km from where i stay. I was to report there by 5:00 AM and run was expected to start at 6:00 AM. I did wonder for a moment what will I do there so early but being an early morning person didn’t seem to be too bothered by that as I would anyway be in the company of the runners. I always find the pre-run environment quite inspiring. With all these thoughts I dropped in at the venue and was in for a treat for my eyes. It was still dark when I reached there but I found that felicitation for the runners who ran in 24 hour category was about to begin. Yes, it’s not a typo- I did mention 24-hour run. I had heard about it as a category but wished to see the people who actually do it. It was a treat for me to watch only a handful of people of the stage and one of which happened to be a lady. Took long time to believe that they actually had been running for 24 hours straight and some even completing 150 Km. This was an inspiration for me. As for my goals for this run, it was no different than the other runs i.e. to complete the run and not come last in doing so :-). But having got some shots of inspiration, a new goal starting conspiring in my mind and that was to better the time i did in the last Ultra 25 Km run and may be even try to do it in less than 3 hours.

I met a few colleagues of mine, one of which happened to be the VP and GM of my organization. He is a diabetic and runs regularly. He carries his own snack as usual stock at the aid station is usually have more sugary stuff. The run began and I took good strides forward. The first km was on the road and after that was a trail surrounded by the Japanese Bamboo forest. The trail was quite beautiful and surrounded by the trees so there was enough shade throughout the run. With the peripheral time goal in my mind, I began to push myself harder than what i usually do in the runs and i could see myself huffing at some instances. To me this was a bit if unusual experience as it try to keep things simple and not chase any time goals. This time i was clearly distracted.

However, i pushed on and completed my fastest 5Km in little above 29 minutes and then fastest 10Km in little over 60 min. I maintained the pace till about 16 Km and managing a bit of huffs but then a small incident happened between 16th and 17th Km that shook by body and muscles quite a bit. Being a trail, the ground was a bit uneven and i hit upon a stone half immersed in the ground. That strike made me go off-balance and i could feel the tension in my shin muscles and the back. The fellow runners who were at my pace advised me to walk a bit to recover, which I did. I walked for a minute or so and then started running. But the pain and heaviness in the muscles remained. But I chose to carry on. For my luck or may be lack of technique to run on this trail, I suffered couple of more such (but less impactful than the first) blows through which I could recover by slowing down my pace. I completed Half marathon in around 2 hours 25 minutes and after that slowed down considerably to complete the run. I think the Km from 22 to 24 were the slowest due to these minor incidents and eventually I completed the run in around 3 hours and 5 minutes or so.

I was happy to have completed and also learned some valuable lessons down the line. I had read about the distraction of Peripheral goals i.e. the goals that eventually get tagged along with your most important goals. e.g. when one starts running practice keeping in mind major goal of completing 42 Km irrespective of time taken. This goal remains active but the time goal (which was never in existence) gets tagged along just because fellow runners talk about it or some other reasons. The key learning was to always have a single focus on the major goal keeping the mind free from distractions.

One last thing, I had run in Bangalore Ultra for the first time in last year and with great effort completed the 25 km run. I was awarded a medal then, which i proudly displayed on my desk at office. The medal looked like sliver one (though it was made up of some plastic) and I was surprised to find one day it was no longer on my desk (i suspect somebody stole this thinking its silver :-( but I may be wrong). It was obviously not a good feeling and since that day I longed to complete this run again to regain that medal. And I did it this time. Only difference is that the medal won’t sit on my desk anymore. :-)

Timing data (shared by event organizers):
First split  (6.25 Km): 00:37:22
Second split (12.5 Km): 01:18:12
Third split (18.75 Km): 02:06:51
Fourth split (25 Km): 03:05:36

My Rank was 194/366 in 25 Km Category

Mysore Half marathon- 28th-Oct-2012

Event name: Mysore Marathon 2012

Event date: 28th-Oct-2012

Event venue: Mysore

Run distance: 21 KM

Bib #: 1113

Overall time taken: 140 minutes (Exact to be shared by event organizers)

Overall run Speed: 6.7 minutes per KM

Time of run: The run started at 6:45 AM

URL: http://www.lifeiscalling-sports.com/mysore/

Running experience:

One of the runs for which i had prepared really hard for last 2 months. Last year i did 25 km Bangalore Ultra run but i must admit i didn’t practice well for that run barring a few long walks and occasional run. For this time, i actually started to prepare following an overall marathon training schedule as prescribed in the book- The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer  . The practice of last 2 months helped a lot on this run in which i managed my best timings so far. If i remember, i completed 10 K mark in this run in 63 minutes and overall half marathon by 2 hour 20 minutes or so. Though i have never run with any time goal in mind but this run was quite satisfying. I often jokingly tell my friends- i run only for 2 goals- one is to complete the run and second is to not be last in doing so. So i achieved both this time :-)

Since this run was in Mysore, i along with my family reached Mysore a day earlier. My plan for to start back from Bangalore immediately after the run was over to i hired a driver, the move which will allow me to relax a bit. Spent the Saturday going around in Mysore vising places like Zoo, which my son liked a lot and the Palace in the evening which was looking as beautiful as any monument but it was overly crowded. So didn’t really get down. Other thing was that my run the next morning was expected to start at one of the gates of the Mysore palace called as "Balarama Gate" or "North Gate". Zoo visit was a good warm-up for me as it was a long walk of 3 Km or more. I was a bit cautious on what i was eating the day before and had some good intake of Gatorade and water.

The next day morning, i got up a bit early around 5:00 AM. Had Gatorade, freshened up and had half banana and set out towards the Palace. The atmosphere was electrifying as usual with loud music and lot of people around. There was a unique freshness in the air which one would find only with lot of energetic crowd around. I could spot Reeth Abraham , one of the premier former athletes from India. She was not surrounded by many people but i could not gather courage to go and speak with her at that time.

Eventually the run started. The route was tricky for me because i was running in Mysore for the first time. It involved going through a lot of turns around small roads. I realized that Mysore had lot of roads with elevations, something you don’t realize when you are driving on wheels. But while running you experience each and every slope. I did maintain a steady pace and starting setting small goals for myself. My basic approach, since this was a long run, was to make each and every kilometer important i.e. to say that i had goals to cover each Km and motivated myself to find something unique in each Km e.g. 7 Km mark is important because that will mark the 30% of run being over or if i was on a steep road on 9 km mark, i would say i got to focus on and complete this milestone because i will conquer the steep slope. While completing 15 Km, i said i need to reach 16 Km because then i could say only 5 km are remaining. I found this type of Self-talk helping a lot during the run and achieving each sub-goal gave confidence. I felt quite good on completing 10 Km at 63 minutes (which is my fastest 10K so far). One of the other things that i experienced was the beauty of Mysore. You got to be on the road to experience the same. The run went through the Mysore University campus, around the lake and lot of shade which made running a pleasure even though there were less than usual water stations. The last few Km were particularly tough not because i was tired but because the route was very steep at times, causing me to slow down. Eventually i beat all the demons and reached the finishing line with lot of satisfaction in the mind.

I could still spot Reeth Abraham post the run and now i gathered the courage to reach out to her and ask for a picture. I asked the person standing next to her to take a picture but he messed it up and did not take us at all. In my excitement to see her, i did not even check the picture. She did however ask, how was the run and how much time did i take to complete. Felt great, not only because i spoke to her but also that i gathered courage to approach her. One more interesting thing happened at the start of the run when one of the participants came over to me and said he recognizes me as he had heard me in many of the public talks that i have delivered. Felt good to get that mini-celebrity feeling (atleast for a moment :-))

On to the next run now!

Timing details shared by the Organizers:
Bib Number:    1113
Rank:    142/260
Gender:    Male
Gender Rank:    137
Category :    open
Category Rank:    122
Split@6Km:    00:39:45
Split@7.25Km:    00:46:38
Split@13.65Km:    01:27:33
Split@14.85Km:    01:34:21
Net Time:    02:22:50
Gross Time:    02:23:13icv

Certificate:

Image Source:

http://www.lifeiscalling-sports.com/mysore/

http://www.endomondo.com

Sunfeast World 10K Run- 23rd-May-2010

Event name: Sunfeast World 10k
Event date: 23rd-May-2010
Event venue: Bangalore
Run distance: 10 KM
Bib #: 4513
Overall time taken: 69 minutes (Exact to be shared by event organizers)
Overall run Speed: 6.9 minutes per KM
Route: http://images.photogallery.indiatimes.com/photo/5917754.cms?
http://sunfeastworld10k.indiatimes.com/race-day-information/Open-10-K-Category/articleshow/5670861.cms
Time of run: The run started at 8:10 AM
URL: http://www.sntrun.org/
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/amagazine/Sunfeast10KRun2010#
Image source: http://images.photogallery.indiatimes.com/photo/5917754.cms?

Running experience:
Certainly the most special run for me as this was entirely dedicated to my new born son- Anusheel born exactly 5 days before this run.
The start of the run had a same story as with some of the previous runs i.e. i could not get much of the practice, infact no practice at all for last 2 months or so (except the occasional RFL runs). Something i need to seriously consider changing in the coming time.

From my experience in the past runs, i knew that the traffic situation is quite messy during the Sunfeast 10K run. So i parked my vehicle around 3 Km from the venue and boarded an Auto till the venue. Reaching the venue was quite challenging with loads of traffic diversion. Despite all this, i along with my cousin (Rahul) managed to reach on time for the run.

I heard the event organizers announce that for Open 10K run there were around 7000 participants. Thats a huge number for Kanteerava Stadium to hold but as it happened in last 2 years, this run was quite well managed too. Unlike last years, the timing chip was mandatory for all the participants.

The run started at an sluggish pace. With scores of people around, it was tough finding space to put one's feet on the group so the first kilometer went quite slow. After that it was fine. I purposefully ran slower than my usual pace. Since i was out of practice, i was trying to find out how my body was responding. This is one thing i learned in today's run- Learn to respect one's body in marathon. We cannot take for granted that the body will be able to carry the load always. This knowledge helped me immensely as i was not in best of shapes for the run. I knew when i had to slow down or catch pace.

The water stations were at regular Intervals and i deliberately took Electral and water at regular times. One of the new things that i saw introduced in this run was the Cool zones after about the half the distance. Cool zones were nothing but a covered place along the route with constant spray of cold water. I did not find it very effective, may be it did not work as expected.

Another new thing was the presence of Cheering stations along the route, it was not there in any of the last editions. It helped to hear the cheers like- "Go Bangalore Go", "Dont listen to your legs, only your mind", "Only 3 Kilometers to go..."
I was able to complete the run in around 70 minutes, may be less but i am happy that i was able to sustain myself throughout the run.

Feet on the street- 09th-May-2010

Event name: Feet on the Street
Event date: 09th-May-2010
Event venue: Bangalore, Cubbon Park
Run distance: 5 KM
Overall time taken: 34 minutes
Overall run Speed: 6.8 minutes per KM
BIB number: 533
Route: Marked route in Cubbon Park
Time of run: The run started at 7:10 AM
URL: http://www.feetonthestreet.in/
Pictures: None

Running experience:
I was on the running track after quite a lull. For some reason, hadnt been training for 2-3 weeks so getting to this run was mentally challenging for sure. But as usual, in the end i was glad i made it.
For a good change, this Feet on the Street run was run to support 3 charaties (details mentioned in the next section). The one that quite caught my attention was tGo Support, which was working towards a rather unconventional cause of providing the right means to prospective Olympians, which is an often neglected cause. I hope to associate with them in coming time.

With time to be given to 3 Charitable organizations to give their introductions, the run started around 7:10 AM. Being out of practice, i purposly decided not to push myself hard. So i went on to cover the entire distance at a steady pace. The only time i accelerated was the last leg of the race when i suddenly realized that amount of reserve energy that i have and went on in a full throttle.
Overall, a satisfying run and glad to complete it without much of after effects- read pains. :-)

Other Notes:
Below content taken from Feet on the Street May 2010 announcement email-
GoSports Foundation
Registered as a non-profit trust in September 2008, GoSports Foundation was conceptualized by an Olympian, and graduates of Harvard and Oxford who wanted to translate their passion for sport into a concrete idea that strengthens the future of Indian sport.
In India, junior talent in Olympic disciplines has very little recognition and funding support to motivate them to stay in their sport and proceed to senior and international levels. At GoSports Foundation we believe that champions are created when the right talent gets the right support at the right time. We have directed our efforts toward providing crucial financial support for high-potential athletes. We are committed toward building an India where the best sporting talent, regardless of economic background, physical ability, religion, caste or region is given fair opportunities to perform and incentives to excel.
We invite you to be a part of the GoSports Foundation Sporting Revolution.

India Literacy Project
India Literacy Project, ILP, is a volunteer based non-profit organization dedicated to the cause of literacy in India. By empowering every individual they serve with functional literacy and an understanding of their basic rights and responsibilities, they strive to be a catalyst for 100% literacy in India.

proVISION ASIA
proVISION ASIA was started in Bangalore with an objective to assist the differently abled and encourage them to live a life of self reliance. To enable them so that, they provide differently abled people from very weak economic background, free mobility aids like wheelchairs, crutches, calipers, walkers; provide physiotherapy and sponsor corrective surgeries; sponsor education to many of the special kids who are disabled or whose parents are disabled; provide job placement services and mobility aid camps in villages with an aim to reach out to the people who cannot afford to come to Bangalore.

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.

Feet on the Street- 14th-Mar-2010

Event name: Feet on the Street
Event date: 14th-March-2010
Event venue: Bangalore, Cubbon Park
Run distance: 5 KM
Overall time taken: 35 minutes
Overall run Speed: 7 minutes per KM
Route: Marked route in Cubbon Park
Time of run: The run started at 7:00 AM
URL: http://www.feetonthestreet.in/
Pictures: None

Running experience:
This run was a week after the Countours International Women's day 10K run. The best
part about the Feet on the Street runs is that it happens in Cubbon Park which has a lot of greenery and even on early Sunday morning, one can see a lot of like minded people exercising. For some reason, it always feels great after completing Feet on the Street run in Cubbon park. This time was no different. Though i went a bit slow as compared to my usual pace but it was something i felt comfortable doing i.e. not exert too much and enjoy each and every step. Good run completed in around 35 minutes of time.


Other Notes:
This times charity partner is ImagineIndia, an organisation formed with the basic premise that one person CAN make a difference. It’s an organisation that believes that each of us out there wants to do something for the needy and ImagineIndia provides a space for all the little drops to become an ocean. ImagineIndia is currently focused on child care and development. ImagineIndia works with grass root initiatives and projects aimed at child development and education with community involvement. ImagineIndia adopts rural schools with the objective of improving the facilities, infrastructure, quality of education and the overall joy of schooling. ImagineIndia also connects potential donors and volunteers with other NGOs, enabling the NGOs financially, helping them focus on their objectives and increase capacity. For more, check - www.icanimagine.org