Stroll in the park in CWDR 2012

The Contours Women's day run has now become part of the running calendar in Bangalore.  The event usually has 10K and  5K runs - this year there were shorter distances too. The first edition was held around the Ulsoor lake in 2010. Last year (which I skipped) was at Clarkes Exotica - a resort  on the way to the International airport. The 3rd edition was held on 4rth March at Kanteerva stadium/Cubbon Park.  Being in the middle of my break from running(see previous post) I was not planning to run in this event. However, I still wanted to participate in support of the event as well as the NGOs benefitting from it. Chandra Gopalan the organiser of this event is a good friend and veteran runner passionate about promoting fitness and running in general and among women in particular. I convinced all my family members to participate in the 5Km and registered myself, my wife Asha, son Rahul and daughter Ritika barely a few hours before the registration closed.  While Rahul was planning to run 5K the rest of us were going to take a walk in Cubbon Park.

Asha,Rahul and myself(Ritika dropped out of the event  at the last minute to go on an excursion with some ex-colleagues ) left home around 630am and reached Kanteerva at 7am on 4rth morning. Musical warm up was going on - I spotted Vishy and Ravi with their kids. Pankaj showed up after completing one lap as part of his 10K to do the 5K with his kids. This year's event had over 1200 participants across all categories.

The race start just after 715am . Rahul took off at his usual pace trying to squeeze his way through the crowd. Asha and I walked pretty much the entire distance enjoying the nature and fresh air of Cubbon Park. Though I have run here several times - see Cubbon Park weekend - I thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely stroll. I stopped to take several pictures and chatted with a few other walking runners along the way. The route took us past the Sheshadri memorial Central library , KSLTA  center and Bal Bhawan . Asha and I completed the walk in about 56 minutes while Rahul took 32 minutes for his run. Met several other runners in the finish area  including Naresh and Sridhar from the Chaitanya Samarpan gang.We returned home by 9am after collecting our certificates.

start of the 5K

The 5K route



Towards the end of a Longish Break...

It is now exactly 4 weeks since I last ran any distance or cycled over 2Kms.  As mentioned in my previous post I decided to take a few weeks of complete rest from cardio exercises ie running or cycling before resuming training for my next marathon.  This was primarily to enable the stress in my left glutes and left calf to heal. Also a rest period helps heal mirco muscle tears that are caused by intense long distance running.This is the longest break I have taken from running - voluntary or involuntary- since January 2004.

After completing my first marathon in Janaury 2003 I was forced to take several months off from running due to a knee injury. However, this time it is a voluntary lay off. And it has not been easy. Not only have I been missing exercising but also  the energy levels have been low and stress levels high.  This is not surprising. A run in the morning not only makes one feel good about oneself but also improves the energy level for the rest of the day.  The stress levels have also been very high in part due to increased professional workload but largely due to lack of exercise. Another dimension has been to avoid putting on much weight. My  two main motivations to take to  distance running were so that I could eat and drink without feeling guilty and to manage stress. So far I have been fortunate enough   to keep my weight around 61Kgs over the last 4 weeks without controlling my diet too much.  It is not that I have not been exercising at all. I have been doing some stretching and glutes strengthening exercises  3-4 days a week and strengthening sessions at the Manipal Hospital department of sports and exercise medicine 2 days a week. I also walked 5Kms  in Cubbon Park at the Countours Womens Day Run on 3rd March - will give more details of that in the next post.

I am looking forward to resuming my training in a couple of weeks from April 1st. Hope to build some base mileage and pace in April and May and then embark on a 16 weeks marathon training using the FIRST training program with the goal of running my next marathon  in late September or October . I evaluated 4 fall marathons in the east coast of US :   Wineglass marathon on September 30th , Steamtown marathon on October 7th,  Mohawk Hudson River marathon on October 7th and Baystate marathon on October 21st. All of these races , specially the last 3, are ranked high by Marathon Guide for the large percentage of runners that qualify for Boston from these races.  The Mohawk Hudson River marathon and Baystate marathon are also in the Runners World list of 10 fastest marathons for 2012. Taking into account multiple factors: type of course, weather history and distance from Southbury Connecticut I have more or less decided to register for the Mohawk Hudosn River marathon and will be doing so within the next few days.