On to the tough one third of my goal

The week following a fantastic run at the Suntrust National Marathon in Washington DC has been hectic. On 22nd March the day after the run I met with a lot of ex-colleagues from Tata Burroughs Ltd. (my first job) who are now living in Maryland/Nothern Virginia. We reminiscenced about the days together at SWIFT, Culpeper – I was there from February 1984 to June 1985. During that period I used to often run during lunchtime – a practice quite common in Europe and US. While most of the others from India used to go home during the lunch break to cook and have a proper Indian meal I would often have a run with a couple of American colleagues and then have a sandwich lunch. I used to always lag behind Dave Dobson(who unfortunately passed away recently) and Bill Turner(who’s still putting in his daily runs at the age of 65). We used to run 9 to 10K in about 40 to 45 minutes(that was 25 years ago!). I started running during my ME days in Indian Institute of Science in the early 80s and continued it through my stints in Mumbai, Belgium and UK. While living in Belgium in 1982 I got my first finishers medal for participating in a 10K event. In UK I had the privilege of putting in a number of runs in James Park and a few in Hyde Park. However, it was in Culpeper that I got hooked to running and used to do it regularly – come rain or shine.

I took a flight back to Bangalore on 22nd night. A couple of hours after reaching home on 24rth I went for a 3K recovery run. However, I found it a little tough to run as my ankles had swollen a bit. This time around recovery has been slow – probably because of the hard run followed by the long travel. However, normalcy had pretty much returned by Friday, 27th March when I went for a 10K in Cubbon Park. However, looks like I need to avoid running in Cubbon for now – I once again tripped(this time on a sprinkler) and ended up scraping the skin on my right knee.

The eight runs in the last eight months have all been pretty good – except for KTM in October 2008 I finished strongly in all of them. I feel good that I have achieved two thirds of my goal of running 12 marathons in 12 months comfortably. However, I am quite aware that the next one third is not going to be the same - it will be quite a challenge - more mental rather than physical. I have had a few runners tell me that I should perhaps stop at 8 marathons having achieved more than ever before. However, I am committed to complete the mission. While the running season is just starting in the US and Europe there are no long distance running events in India till August 2009. Therefore, the next four runs are all going to be part of RFL training fortnightly runs. The planned dates for these marathons are:

19th April
17th May
14th June
12th July

I hope to start these runs by 530am and finish around 10am or so. I plan to do these as easy long runs with the goal of completing them between 4:30 and 4:45. Its unlikely that I will get company to run the full marathon but I am looking forward to a few RFL runners running between 20 and 30K including at least one runner starting out earlier with me. The April run three weeks from today will be the first test of this!

Finally a sub-4 hour finish !!!

Though in the end I had a great run and managed to finish with chip timing of 3:56:49 – shaving over 7 minutes off my previous fastest finish at the SunTrust Richmond Marathon on November 2007, I had quite a nervous time during the 24 hours leading up to the start of the race. I woke up on the morning of Friday 20th March in Edison, NJ(where I was visiting my company Mformation Technologies on work) to light snowfall and apprehensions about the weather for the run as well several things falling in place during the course of the day. As it turned out things went smoothly. I completed several meetings and left my office at 11:30am to catch the 12:07 Amtrak train from Metropark station to Washington DC. By this time it had stopped snowing and since the temperature was not below freezing the snow that had fallen earlier was also rapidly melting. During the 2 hours 45 minutes train ride I had the interesting company of 62 year old Dave -a former AT&T engineer and currently a telecoms consultant who was visiting family in DC for the weekend. I had mapped out in detail the Washington Metro routes to take from the Union Station to collect my race packet at the expo, meet some ex-colleagues at the office of the World Bank and get to the house of my cousin in Maryland. However, based on Dave’s recommendation, I got off at New Carolton rail station(a suburban station prior to center of Washington) and took a direct metro to Stadium Armory Mall . This turned out to be very convenient and fast. The expo was in the RFK stadium just 5 minutes walk from the metro station. The expo itself was disappointing – I had expected it to be bigger. Reebok had a stall and also there were a few stalls selling clothes, fuel belts etc. Bart Yasso, dubbed 'The Mayor of Running' , was selling autographed copies of his book 'My Life on the run'. Unfortunately, I could not speak to him as he had taken a break during the time I was there. Another legendary runner who was a guest at the expo was Henry Rono a Kenyan runner who broke the 10K, 5K and 3K world records in 1978. . On good thing at the expo was the continuously playing 22 minutes video of the race route on a large screen. I watched this for a while and realized that the route was around the center of Washington DC through six of the eight district wards and going as far west as the Lincoln Memorial and as far north as Michigan Avenue crossing the Anacostia River along the way . The course seemed to have many gradients as part of rolling hills including a fairly steep one around the 35Km mark.

I was able to sleep by 10:15 on 20th and woke up to the alarm at 4:20am on 21st morning. Had two bananas after which Ishwar(with whom I stayed during the weekend in Maryland) dropped me at the Grosvenor metro station by 5:20am. There were over a dozen runners waiting at the metro station. It was very cold – a few degrees below freezing. In order to keep myself warm I had on a track suit, full sleeves dri-fit shirt(NJ marathon), half sleeves sweater, gloves and a winter jacket. Was also carrying a windcheater with me in my tote bag.


Reached RFK stadium by 6:10am, changed to shorts, used the restrooms there and then hung around watching the other runners do their stretches etc. I encountered the first of my two dilemmas of the morning – should I or should I not eat a third banana?. I have handled the ‘banana dilemma’ differently before every run. Since I drink only water during the run and do not eat anything other than half or three-fourths of an energy bar, what I eat on the morning of the run and how my stomach handles it has a big impact on the quality of the run. I had run Mumbai with 2 bananas and Auroville with 3. On this day I decided to have the third one. On hearing the announcement urging runners to start moving towards the start line I left the stadium and went out towards the baggage counter around 6:40am. As soon as I stepped out of the stadium the harsh reality of the cold weather hit me again. I quickly joined the queue at the baggage counter(separate for FM and HM runners) and grappled with the second dilemma , that is, ‘layers dilemma’ – should I wear two or three layers during the run. A full-sleeves dri-fit shirt over a half-sleeves dri-fit shirt was a given but should or should I not run with the windcheater as I had done in similar weather conditions at SunTrust Richmond marathon in November 2007? Looking around at other FM runners waiting to hand their bags in, I noticed the whole range - with runners in sleeveless tank top to full sleeves shirt with a fairly thick layer on top of that. Based on previous experience of running marathons in the US I was aware that American runners will discard the other layers during the run as they get warmer- and the discarded clothing items get collected and donated to a local charity. Being a typical middle-class Indian , I don’t discard clothing easily and tend to keep an item till it is completely worn out or unusable. Just as my turn to give the bag came I took off my wind sheeter and shoved it into the bag and rushed towards the start line. I managed to get to coral no. 5 (assigned to runners with estimated pace between 8:30 and 9:15 minutes per mile) just in nick of time at 6:56am. Since the 5000 or so Half marathon runners and the 2000+ full marathon runners were starting together it was quite crowded at the starting line. I was shivering there for just a couple of minutes when the race started. It took me just under 3 minutes of walk/jog movement for about 250m (with a couple of brief pauses) to cross the starting line.

I got off to a fairly brisk start covering the first mile in about 8 and a half minutes. Staying in the middle of the pack I ran for a fairly good stretch with a bunch of runners running with the 3:50 pacers. I covered the first 10K in a little over 54 minutes and reached the half point in about 1hrs 55 minutes. Till the half way point the FM and HM runners were together. At this point while the HM runners went into the stadium for the finish the FM runners took off into the second wing of the butterfly course. Since I was feeling quite strong at the half way point I decided that this was an opportunity for me to try and get a sub-4 hr finish. Therefore, I put my head down and focused on the run – talking very little with fellow runners – something that I normally do. I did exchange a few words with a couple of fellow Marathon maniacs( Bekkie- Maniac # 244 running her 90th marathon and Joseph-Maniac #381 running his 83rd - they both finished in 3:53) who wanted to know why I was not running in Maniac gear.

I got hugely encouraging cheers of ‘come on NJ’, ‘Good job NJ marathon’ from volunteers at aid stations and also spectators – my full sleeves dri-fit shirt was from NJ marathon 2006. There were well stocked aid stations every couple of miles. However, I found the water too cold to drink. For a guy like me who prefers water at normal room temperature in warm weather the water was freezing even at the 20 miles mark. Therefore, I consumed very small quantities of water during the entire run. Which also meant I ate less than half of the energy bar in this run. I reached the 37K mark in 3hrs 20. Had I been able to sustain the pace I would have finished in about 3:50. However, my pace now started to fall quite rapidly and around this time the 3:55 pacers overtook me. I tried to keep pace with them but was unable to do so. However, I kept pushing ahead as hard as I could, not even stopping at any of the water stops in the last 5Kms, keeping in mind that I needed to stay ahead of the 4:00 pacers. I saw the race clock cross 3:59 as I came in sight of the Finish line. I managed to get there with the Gun time of 3:59:46 and my chip time of 3:56:49 – the announcer called out my name and time and I was greatly elated with a first ever sub-4 hour run in 17 completed Full Marathons!

Comparing the split timings of this run, to the one in Richmond in November 2007 I realise the key was to get to the half way point under 1:55 and sustain the pace till at least 35K point.

Though I had achieved my personal best in a Full Marathon and this kind of a pace (9 minutes per mile) would have probably placed me in the top 3 in the 50-54 years age group in India, here I was 49th in my age category with the top 4 all finishing below 3:15! That shows the big gap in capability between average Indian and American runners.

It was still quite cold at the end and though I ran the entire race with gloves on, my fingers were frozen by the time I completed the race - I had a real tough time opening the water bottle and peeling a banana. There was also pretzels, bagels, oranges and an energy drink at the finish point. I hung around for about an hour, calling my family in India and also my hosts in DC to give them the good news. Though an expensive run, the sub 4 hour finish made it worthwhile! Looking back at the run I think the course was not too easy – with several fairly steep gradients. The two big factors that helped me accomplish the feat are the weather and the extended company of similar paced runners specially the pacers.

Below is some on-line press coverage for the race:
The fourth annual SunTrust National marathon and Half marathon

Moulton captures National Marathon

Moulton wins running away

Also some PR done by Dean Nattu, my classmate from BITS ,prior to the run.
And here are my pictures taken by Brightroom the official event photographers.

Taiwan has seven marathons per year!

Its amazing that while I am struggling to find 12 organized marathons in a large country like India, Taiwan , a country with a population of just about 23 million has seven marathons every year. The seven marathons are run in different settings and in different parts of Taiwan. There is always a marathon coming up, except during the grilling hot months of summer.

Marathons in the First Half of the Year
In January, there is the Kinmen Marathon held in the Kinmen National Park, basically a scenic course for most of the 42.2 km. In February, the action continues in Tainan. The Tainan Ancient Capital City Marathon starts at the City Hall of Tainan and takes the runners back along the memory lane to visit many buildings and streets, looking the way they did a hundred and fifty years ago. In March, the Taipei Freeway Marathon is run, the first of the two marathons run in the capital city of Taipei every year. This race course is mostly flat and is one of the fastest course in Taiwan. April sees the Taitung Taiyuan Valley Scenic Marathon, the second of the three scenic marathons in Taiwan, run in the valley of Taiyuan, at Taitung.

Marathons in the Second Half of the Year

Runners in Taiwan take a summer break and return to race in October at the Taichung Boulevard Marathon, the first major event in Autumn. In November, marathons gather at Taroko National Park, Hualien, for the last scenic marathon of the year, the Taroko Gorge Marathon. The runners' year close in December with a grand finale at Taipei again with Taiwan's biggest marathon. The Taipei Marathon is the best known marathon in Taiwan and takes its runners throughout the central city district and many landmark buildings and historical attractions of the capital city. It is also the truly international event.

Read more about the other runs in Taiwan: "Marathons in Taiwan: The Small Land With a Big Craze About Marathon"

Less than a week to Number Eight..

My 8th marathon in the current series will be the Suntrust National Marathon(http://www.nationalmarathon.com/) in Washington DC on 21st March. This is the 3rd edition of this marathon and entry is restricted to a maximum of 3000 full marathon runners. They also have a qualifying time of 5 hours. The run is mostly through central Washington that is full of monuments and landmarks. Luckily for me I am travelling on work to my NJ office the week of 16th March. I plan to take the train from New Jersey to DC on 20th afternoon and go straight to the expo to collect the race packet. As of now the 10 day weather forecast for DC says 21st is going to be a cold(max 11, min 3 celcius), rainy day. If its just cold then I will not be unhappy as my current PB was in similar weather at the Suntrust Richmond Marathon in November 2007. However, if it rains or even drizzles during the run I am not going to enjoy it(I just don't like to get wet in rain. Period.).

I did my last road run before next week's marathon today - a 15Km run in CV Raman Nagar at a fairly fast pace of 5:30. While the left knee impacted in the fall at Cubbon Park last Saturday did not hurt it did not feel completely normal either! Hopefully, it will get better in the next 6 days.

'Cubbon Park' Weekend

FOTS run on Sunday 8th March 2009

Beautiful shot from Cubbon - borrowed from Peter in the RFL website

Cubbon Park in the centre of Bangalore is quite an amazing 100+ acres area of greenery with diverse flora. It is probably one of the most popular locations for runners and walkers in the city. On any Saturday or Sunday or public holiday, one can find a number of RFL runners running here - some are members of Cubbon Park irregulars and others not. Many of them also end up at Airlines Hotel for a hearty South Indian breakfast after the run. I am an occasional runner at Cubbon Park - I generally prefer running a maximum of 20K there. At Cubbon one can do loops of between 4Km and 5Km - either completely road or completely trail or a mix of the two! The trail is very nice, though uneven in sections - its quite incredible to have such a, green, pollution free, traffic free, running track in the centre of the city!. What I don't like about Cubbon is the fact that one cannot maintain an even pace here (due to the nature of the route and also the breaks every loop) and also that the gates open to road traffic at 8am. Last weekend, however, I ended up running at Cubbon on both days and it was fun!

I decided to do a 30Km+ run at Cubbon Park last Saturday(7th March) mainly to run in the company of fellow RFL runners. This meant doing 6 loops or so.I had expected the company of some of the Cubbon Park(ir)regulars – Ashok, Pankaj, Prateek, Shantanu etc. I was pleasantly surprised that over 15 of us started the run at about 5:35 am. Since it was still dark we ran the first loop on the road- running in front of Vidhana Soudha. Second loop onwards it was mostly trail – we ran a 5Km route devised by Rishikesh. It was great fun chatting and catching up with fellow runners. In the third loop Praveen Singh and Satsang joined us. Unfortunately, in the fourth loop, at around the 22Km mark, I tripped on a stump of root or stone and fell pretty hard. I normally keep a cautious watch on the terrain that I run on but I guess being engrossed in good conversation caused a misstep and a stumble. Luckily, I escaped with just skin scrapes in both my palms and below my left knee. I decided to be safe and abandoned the run. Accompanied by Praveen and Satsang went to the Sanjivani ambulance and got the bruises in my hands washed and dressed. Returned home disappointed that for the first time in many years(after the first marathon attempt in Pune in December 2002) I was unable to complete the targeted run distance. Also, this will be the first time that I would not have done a long run of 25K or 30K+ distance between two marathons. Doing a long run between marathons has more a psychological impact for me than physical benefit given that I have been running marathons regularly . Anyway, I hope this does not impact my performance in the next marathon which is within 2 weeks.

Sunday, 8th March, was the 1st edition of Feet on The Street(FOTS) a 5Km run organized by Runners For Life with the goal of getting more Bangaloreans to run with a portion of the registration fees going to Dream A Dream - a Bangalore based children that works with children from vulnerable backround. As an active and enthusiastic supporter of both these organizations I Had to be there. A little over 200 runners took off at 7am doing 2 loops of 2.5Km. I had a nice leisurely run at 6minutes 44 seconds per Km–the event had a lot of new runners – apparently less then 10% were RFL regulars. Though personally, with all the media coverage, I had expected at least 300 runners, it was a great start to a new monthly event!. Hopefully it will grow in leaps and bounds during the course of the year and we will see a FOTS with 1000 runners!. Click here to see more pictures of the event. It was good to chat with Vishal, Bobby, Sangitha and others from Dream A Dream. I really love the employees of this organisation and I must add I had a wonderful time being part of the first day of their 3 day annual retreat at Manthan Farms of Banjara Academy on Monday 9th March.

Kudos to Preventive Strengthening and Conditioning Sessions at Manipal hospital

Strength conditioning is an important requirement for distance runners to stay injury free specially when planning either to run a lot or run at a faster pace. This article from Dr. Stephen Pribut - a renowned podiatrist with special interest in sports medicine and biomechanics provides a good explanation of the three dimensions of overall fitness - endurance, strength and flexibility. It elaborates very well the benefits of strength training specially for older runners like me.

The Manipal Hospital Department of Exercise and Sports Medicine , setup by Dr. Rajat Chauhan in late 2007, in the basement of the hospital offers strengthening sessions as one of its services. The cost of the Preventive Strength Conditioning at this department is Rs 1500/ for 8 sessions if unassisted and Rs 2000/ for 6 sessions if assisted by a sports Physio. The sessions here on strengthening machines from Nautilus . I have been a regular here doing 2 sessions per week for the last 9 months or so(since May 2008) working out 10 excercises on 8 different machines involving hamstrings, hip/quads, leg/calf, back, abdomen, chest and the arms. These sessions have helped me tremendously in finishing strongly in the seven full marathons that I have completed since August 2008. As with the runs, on most days I feel great at the end of the 30 minutes session while on a few days I feel so-so as I struggle to work the machines. The sports physios in the above picture - Anitha, Princy and Sudeep - have been assisting me patiently session after session constantly pushing me to achieve more. Big thanks to them for their significant contribution to my successfully running a marathon every 4 to 5 weeks for the last seven months! They can be reached at the department on 080-25024467 in case anyone wants to learn more about these sessions.