Still no announcement of 13th December Midnigh marathon

This is as ridiculuous as it can get. Its barely 2 weeks from the supposed Midnight marathon on 13th December and there is absolutely no information on the details of the event and registration. This surely must be a record of sorts. I doubt this situation happens with a marathon anywhwere else in the world. Shows the nascent state of road racing in India. And yet, I am anxiously looking forward to making it my December event - though night time running will be tough and I am unlikely to have too many RFL runners for company in the Full marathon! An amateur runner needs at least 3 months to prepare for a full marathon. So there probably won't be too many participants even otherwise. In case the event does not happen then I will do a 42.2 Km run as part of the RFL run on 14th December.

Great Hash run on 23rd November

One of the great things about a Hash run is the beautiful trail running route within 20-30 Kms of Bangalore. The trail runs that RFL does including Bellandur, Kanakpura road and even ONV have their origins in HASH runs. HASH runs are usually held on Sunday afternoons starting 3:45PM or so. They also provide a great opportunity to socialise and network. Checkout the Bangalorehash website and also the hash group on RFL. I greatly enjoyed the run on 23rd November which was in a trail beyond Yelahanka. It was very beautiful and the weather was ,once again, perfect for running. Did about 8.5Kms in 66 minutes of run/walk. I got rides from two wonderful Hashers: Vikram while going and Jayanth on the way back. While the average Hash runner may not run long distance there are a quite a few Hash runners who are RFL runners and run marathons/ultra marathons regularly. And of course a few serious RFL runners, like me, have started enjoying Hash runs - though I am not able to go as regularly as I would have liked to. Perhaps in 2009.... Click here for more pictures of this run.

Taking stock of 12 in 12 @ 50..

With 4 months gone by since my decision to do a marathon a month for 12 months it is time to take stock. Last year I did 3 marathons in 3 months : Richmond marathon, 1st Bangalore Ultra and Mumbai marathon on Nov 2007, December 2007 and January 2008 respectively. I have anow gone beyond that by doing 4 marathons in 4 months as follows:

16th August 2008 Hyderabad Marathon 4 hours 6 Minutes
21st September 2008 RFL Kanakpura road run 4 hours 29 Minutes
19th October 2008 Kaveri Trail Marathon 4 hours 51 Minutes
16th November 2008 2nd Bangalore Ultra (50Km) 5 hours 51 Minutes

It looks like the Crossover organised Bangalore midnight marathon is going to happen on 13th December - I am actually looking forward to this event as there is no other event in December. Though I fail to comprehend the fact that with just about 3 weeks to go for a Full marathon no formal announcement has been made yet. So the next 3 runs are likely to be the following:

13th/14th December 2008 Bangalore Midnight Marathon
18th January 2009 Mumbai Marathon
15th February 2009 Auroville Marathon

After that, with the Running season in India practically over, it is going to get really tough to do the remaining five runs. All or most of them are likely to be RFL runs with a few RFL runners joining in. Anyway, its still some ways to get there. I will take it a month at a time and focus on doing a sub 5 hr Midnight marathon. As one is not used to running at night or even in the evening running from midnight through 5 am was quite tough last year(May 2007).

More on this year's Ultra experience

The past week since the Ultra I have been pigging out with a couple of buffet lunches at the Unwind Island and dinner at Jalsa on Outer Ring Road(all official as my Manager from the US was visiting).

Last Sunday, Vetcha Rajesh (who stayed over with me on 15th November) and I left home by city taxi at 3:30am to ride with Dharam in his car from Cubbon at 4am. On Old Madras Road half way to Cubbon Park I felt quite low on suddenly remembering that I had forgotten my Garmin 305 at home. Having got used to running with one I was despairing that I might not have such a great run without it. The ride to ONV was very fast and when we were there by 5am I regretted not having pushed Dharam to take me home to pick up my Garmin. So when Dharam offered me the use of his Garmin I took it up. Even though the unit did not have the Average pace as one of the display settings I am quite certain that, without it, I would not have managed as good a run. Dharam - thanx very much for letting me use your Garmin.

About 70+ runners started off at 6:30am after a motivational speech from Madhu - the race director and visionary behind the Bangalore Ultra. We havce certainly come a long way from the time in September 2006 when Madhu first posted the idea of organising an ultra in Bangalore. This time there were 4 aid stations which were well stocked as expected. Almost 4.5 KM of the 6.25 Km route was open. Though the trail was beautiful, had the weather god not been so kind and provided the perfect running weather , all the runners would have had a much tougher time. The last 500m or so to the turn around point was a real magnificent stretch. At the turn around point in the first loop one of the runners from the opposite direction shouted to me saying I was in the 43rd place. I was not surprised - at the pace that I run I am usually middle of the pack in the first half of a race. I completed 2 loops (25Km) in about 2 hours 45 minutes. And then of course the pace started to drop. In the first 3 loops I ran quite a bit with Gopal and Lingraju . I am very satisfied with my 5 hrs 50 minutes completion time which gave me an overall 9th place among the 50K finishers. While I felt quite strong at the finish , with an average pace of 6 minutes 55 Secs per Km and average heart rate of 153, I don't think I can ever push myself to run beyond 50K or so. The one problem I have is I cannot pick up my running rhythm if I talk a walk break of more than a couple of minutes. And I believe it is almost impossible to go beyond 50K distances without walking for fairly long stretches. Hats off to Jacob Bhoopalan and Mukesh Singh for completing 100Km and several runners who did the 75K : Sunil Chainani, Manoj Bhat, Athreya etc. And the amazing achievement of Santosh Padmanabhan of Asha Foundation who ran 156Km in 24 hours with Doc Rajat and Shumit Vatsal giving him with 127Km and 100Km respectively. Shows there's no limit to which the human body can be pushed with the right physical and mental training. Check the complete results of this year's event and the pictures. Also the pictures from Sabine and Anita. Overall, the event was well organised and I look forward to the most runner friendly race in India going from strength to strength.

Bangalore Ultra 2008..

Just a short post to say that I had a pretty decent race. I finished 50Km in 5hrs 50 minutes - pretty much the same timing as the 1st Ultra last year . I was the 1st Runner again in the Senior Men's category - thanks to some of the faster runners like Madhu running a longer distance. I felt the route was better and easier this year and the fantastic weather really helped. More later..

My brothers dropped out of the Ultra..

Lakshmi(Mahesh's wife), Rahul(my son), my brothers Chanru and Mahesh with Manohar - a CV Raman Nagar runner








I was quite looking forward to the experience of Ultra 2008 with my brothers Mahesh and Chandru who had registered to run 50K and 25K respectively. Unfortunately, due to last minute work commitments neither of them can make it to the event . Since it is an out and back route at ONV it would have been fun to see and cheer each other in the course a few times. Well hopefully some time in the near future. My brothers are among the few people who have been inspired/influenced by me to take up distance running. In fact I would say we are kind of a family of runners - 5 of us from the family ran the Sunfeast 10K in Bangalore in May 2008. The picture above was taken just before leaving home for this race .

Inspiring read before the Ultra..

Survival of the Fittest: Anatomy of Peak Physical Performance by Dr. Mike Stroud is an inspiring book to read in the week leading upto the Ultra. Dr. Stroud - polar explorer and practising hospital physician analsyses individual feats of survival and athletic prowess that illustrate the way the human body functions at its best. Events that he describes include crossing Antartica with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, running marathons in the Sahara, story of running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days in 2003 and an Eco-challenge race in 1995. The last race involved teams of 5 (together) crossing more than 300 miles of back-country in South Western United States using a variety of modes: running,hiking, mountain biking,horse-riding, canoeing and white-water rafting. The author's team included Helen Klein - a 72 year old great-grandmother who had completed over 50 marathons and 100 ultra-marathons since she took up distance running at the age of 55! Quite a fascinating book that makes you think that 50Km in under 6 hours should really be a walk in the park!

I particularly liked the chapter called 'The Happiness of the Long distance runner' which interperses the author's experience of running the London marathon with the physiological aspects of endurance training and explanation of what influences the ability to run distance at speed. One perhaps debatable statement he makes in the book is' It is your genes that make you go fast or far'.

Runs outside Bangalore

I have not been able to run much during the last ten days due to travel - first on personal work to Chennai and then on official work to Belfast in UK. However, the few runs I managed to do during this period were quite enjoyable. It was a nice change to do training runs in places other than Bangalore.

On Saturday 1st November I did a 25KM/2hours 35 minutes run in Chennai. Started out with my brother Mahesh from his home in Kilpauk Garden road around 530 AM. Ran through Nugambakkam road to Marina beach - a distance of approximately 8KM. While Mahesh returned back as he had to go to work I ran up and down along Marina Beach for about 8KMs before returning back. While running along Marina beach I was pleasantly surprised to see another runner with the Bangalore ultra 2007 T0-shirt. I caught up with Ramani and ran a couple of Kilometers with him. It was really wonderful - I look forward to seeing him again at the Ultra next Sunday. I was quite skeptical about enjoying a long run in the streets of Chennai and was surprised with the experience. While there was reasonable traffic even at 6am and more so on the return leg the roads were very broad and one could run on the side without a problem. I had to stop for traffic only to cross the road to the beach side (that intersection is a fairly busy one) and then at EGA junction on my return. I also found the roads much smoother(that is without potholes) compared to the roads in Bangalore. The heat was not bad at all till about 730am. There was shade along most parts of the route and also a gentle breeze. All in all a very satisfying run!

The week of 3rd November I was in Belfast on work for 4 days. During this period I ran in the treadmill in the hotel gym a couple of times. I don't do much running on treadmill - only when I am unable to run outside. In this case, I was staying in the city and could not find a suitable running route. Besides, it was quite damp and cold with morning temperatures of around 6 Degrees celsius. While long runs on the treadmill can be quite boring I do not mind running for an hour or so indoors. (For the record I did do my first ever 20K+ run on a treadmill in Plano Texas in February 2002). On Monday 3rd November I did a 45 minutes, 8.5K run and on Thursday 6th November I did a 61 minutes 11.7K run . I enjoyed both the runs. The gym was very spacious and there were quite a few people for company. In between I cycled 30K in about 50 minutes - not sure if the reading on the machine was correct - normally when I cycle outdoors I do about 15K an hour pace - so this seemed out of wack.

I intended to end the week with a 12K run in Bangalore on Sunday 9th November - however, I felt too tired (with slight sore throat and cold) after the travel to get up early and run. So I ended the week with just about 20K of running instead of the planned 30K+.

I feel I am a little short of training runs and have put on a couple of Kilos in the last couple of weeks with all the gorging during Diwali, the Chennai trip in which I attended a wedding and visited several relatives and also the travel to UK. (I do tend to eat a bit - specially fried stuff and sweets and gain weight easily. I first got into running so that I could eat and drink what I like without adding weight!). However, I feel reasonably confident of tackling the 50K next Sunday and completing it between 5:30 and 5:45 - barring any last minute injury or sickness.