Countdown to Sunfeast World 10K 2009 on 31st May

Life has been extremely hectic the past couple of weeks – and I have not been able to make time to catch up on the pending posts – definitely hope to do so this weekend after the Sunfeast 10K on 31st May. Based on the pre-race publicity in the media it looks like the second edition of this event will definitely be much bigger than the first one and hopefully at least as well organized. I consider myself more of a long distance runner specializing in Full Marathons and I have been able to improve my performance at this distance in the last couple of years. I have typically not been able to do very fast 10Ks or HMs. However, I did enjoy last year’s Sunfeast 10K and am looking forward to it again. Especially after my ‘personalised’ running bib and the goodie bag got delivered to me a couple of days ago – courtesy Bangalore Cares and Dream A Dream – the excitement has been on the rise. Again several of the family members are participating – my brother Chandru is running the 10K – while my son Rahul and my brother’s son Akshay are doing the Majja run. My Chennai based brother Mahesh and his wife Lakshmi are pulling out of the race as Mahesh has been transferred to Mumbai from Chennai and is busy with the related logistics.

Last year I missed my target of doing the 10K in 50 minutes by about 30 seconds. This year I am definitely in better running form - however the impact of all the running I have been doing the last 10 months is beginning to show. Ideally I should have done a couple of fast 9Ks at close to 5 minutes per Km pace after the FM on 17th May. But I have not been able to make the time to do this. Nevertheless, I remain positive that my target is achievable- one lesson from last year is to breakaway from the crowds early and get a faster start. The 8:10 am start instead of 9am should also help. If it turns out to be a not too warm a day then I don’t intend to make too many water stops. The intent is to focus on the run and give it my best and see what happens.

I am also making a final push to raise funds for Dream A Dream – will be wrapping up my efforts for this year the week following the Sunfeast run. I am quite overwhelmed with the support I have received from friends and family around the world. I am still some ways from meeting my target of Rs 1 Lakh – I welcome anyone who would still like to contribute and help me meet the goal. Contributions can be made via check or Bangalorecares(INR) or GiveIndia or Paypal – see the RHS of this page for more details.

The Nike+ Human Race 10K

After some dilly-dallying I decided to go ahead and run the Nike Human race 10K on 24rth October with the goal of trying to complete it under 50 minutes and if possible under my  Sunfeast 10K 2009  time of  48:24. We ( myself and 3 others : Parminder, Shahid and Rajeev) left Domlur a little after 2:30PM - reaching Clarke's Exotica at just about 4PM - the traffic was a little more than we expected. There seemed to be a over 1000 runners in the starting area. Since everyone was wearing the red Nike race T-shirt the holding area was a complete sea of red.  Though at the time of picking up the race kit we were given a colour band based on estimated completion time this was not strictly enforced. I sneaked through the crowd and positioned myself towards the front. The race was flagged off a little before 430 PM by cricketer Sreesanth. Mahesh Bhupathi and Anju Bobby George were two other sports celebrities who were part of the event. I took off at a pace of about 4:35 per Km and ran the first Km in about 4:45. After that my pace started to drop. My stomach started cramping and I felt quite dehydrated. It was sunny and warm when the race started and I had lunch a little later than planned. Also, it probably was the side effect of indulging in a couple of drinks of  single malt on Friday night in the company of some relatives who had come over for dinner. Unlike at Sunfeast 10K I felt so thirsty that had to stop at each of the water stations which was every 2Km. Nevertheless I managed to get to the 5Km point in just over 25 minutes. The route was quite nice - completely within the resort property. At a couple of points enroute there was live music.The weather cooled off in the second half - this definitely helped me sustain my pace. Then with a little over 1 Km left I managed to accelerate a notch  to finish in 49:32 overtaking 'veteran' RFL runners Sunil and Jugy. Though a minute slower than at the Sunfeast 10K I was quite satisfied. For most runners like me who normally train in the mornings running in the afternoon has its challenges.  As per the results on the Nike website I finished 63rd among the Bangalore runners and 11644th globally among all the runners across the different cities where the race was held!

The men's winners in Bangalore were all from the army and clocked a little over 35 minutes. Among the runners I recognize,  ANS who is also from my age group, clocked an amazing 42:13 and finished 10th among Bangalore runners.Globally the fastest time clocked was 28:42 by a runner in Berlin - extremely impressive considering the world record for a 10Km is 26:17:53 set by Kennesa Bekele of Ethiopia in Brussels in 2005. Post the run we had some snacks and beverages and a foot massage before heading back around 630PM. We did not stay back for the live music and the dinner. That evening I felt quite fatigued even more so than I do after a long run. I crashed early and even skipped my Sunday morning run/cycling. This is probably due to pushing myself that too during an afternoon run- I do not seem to have the muscle strength and stamina to sustain a high pace for a period of time. Overall, I enjoyed the experience but now I need to focus on the Ultra on 15th November. My long runs have gone for a toss due to the cyclothon, sickness and now the 10K race - my last 30K run was on 27th September. I hope to get in a good 35K+/4hour  run this Saturday before tapering off!.

Countdown to the 3rd edition of Sunfeast World 10K

This year's edition of Sunfeast world 10K on 23rd May which  is less than a week away is expected to be bigger than last year's event. It is anyway by far the largest road race event in Bangalore. With more and more Bangaloreans taking up running the popularity of this event is growing.  This is the first year of the event after it was recognized as a IAAF Gold label event. There are a couple of changes from the last two years:

•  the start time for the open 10K event has been advanced to 8:10am compared to 9am the last two years - this will be a big help specially if it turns out to be a warm day
• the timing chip is compulsory for all 10K participants and the entry fee has been increased to include its cost

Surprisingly the website does not still have any information on the race route. I assume it is going to be the same as the route of last two years - despite the roads being dug up around the Chinnaswamy stadium/Cubbon road areas.

Though my training has been a mixed bag the last couple of months, after a solo 52minutes 10Km a couple of days I feel reasonably confident of at least a sub 49 minutes finish this year also. This is provided I am able to borrow a Garmin 305 for the race- else I will probably just focus on enjoying the run and be satisfied with  sub 53 minutes.  My son Rahul who has done the Majja run last two years is looking to complete his first 10K this year.

2nd Science and Technology Run

Due to work related travel  I could not participate in the 1st edition of the Science and Technology run(http://www.sntrun.org/)  at IISc in 2009 though I had registered for it. So I was eagerly looking forward to this year's edition on 11th April - to go back and run a 10Km in the beautiful campus of my alma mater. To relive my early days of running for it is in this campus 30 years ago that I first started jogging. This year my son Rahul also decided to run this. He was prepared to run the fun 5K in this event. However, when we reached the venue around 7am we realised that I had registered him for a 10K instead of 5K. The longest he had run before was 5.7K as part of the Majja run in Sunfeast World 10K 2009. Recently he had done 4Km as start of  his training for the Sunfeast World 10K 2010.  He decided to run/walk and do as much as possible.

I left home around 620am with Rahul and Adam. Space for four wheeler parking was provided in the gymkhana grounds. Met Athreya and Reena at the parking lot. We took the overbridge to cross the main road and enter the main campus and walked over to the main building area with the statue of JRD Tata to collect our bibs. There were quite a few familiar runners from RFL there. The bib collection process was quite smooth and all runners were also given a cap and a T-shirt. Adam and I decided to warm up by running back to the parking lot to put the T-shirts in the car.

All runners moved to the starting line around 7:35 am and after a wait of nearly 10 minutes there the race was flagged off. There were probably around 500 runners for the 10K. I decided to try and keep a steady pace and target a below 50 minutes run. Ran the first 3 Kms or so with Nari at about 4:45 minutes per Km pace. The route was wonderful with fair amount of green cover. However it was quite a warm morning and soon the pace started to drop. However, I managed to keep the pace just around an average of 5 mins per Km. There were'nt any Km markers along the way. The route seemed to take a criss-cross path and if it were'nt for volunteers at vantage points the chances of taking a wrong turn was quite high.

Most of the route was on the road ; however there was a good trail section as well. There were water points every few Kms. While my intent was not to stop at the water points in the first half of the race the ehat got to me and I had to stop at least at every alternate water station.

When my Garmin showed just about 8Kms and I was looking to sprint after about 1.5Km I suddenly realised that the finish point was a few hundred meters away. Therefore I accelerated and finished in about 43 and a half minutes with my Garmin showing a little over 8.5Km. Athreya and Adam had finished a few minutes earlier. It was quite disappointing that the route fell short by nearly 1.5Km. When I spoke to the organiser he said that the route was marked for 10Kms and I must have missed a turn somewhere. That seemed unlikely as all runners I spoke to concurred that the route was well short of 10Km. See here for a discussion on this.

After cooling off a bit I walked to the T-intersection in order to join Rahul for his finish. After a few minutes he came by and I did a run/walk with him for a little over a Km to help him finish his longest distance ever.

Considering that he was mentally prepared to run only 5Km in this event this was a great achievement. As we were leaving the 5Km run was starting. We returned home by about 10am quite satisfied with the event despite the route being shorter than 10Km.

Interesting posts on 10Km runners' performances

With the 2010 edition of the Sunfeast world 10K around the corner I found a couple of recent posts on The Science of Sport(which BTW is a great site that I highly recommend to running and cycling enthusiasts for scientific comment and analysis of sporting performance). The first with the headline of An exclusive club of sub-27 minutes10Km runners explains that only 31 runners have done sub-27 minute 10Km and of these 31 only one is non-African. Chris Solinsky became the first American to join this club  by finishing a 10Km in 26:59.60 recently. And he is by far the tallest and heaviest runner to do this - his weight being over 8Kgs more than the average weight of the previous 30 sub-27 minute 10Km runners! He is also 3cms taller than the previous tallest runner!

That explains the title of the second post titled Chris Solinsky - "A fatty world record" which gives the height/weight table of all the 31 runners. And as part of the reader comments there is a table of BMI of all the runners which shows that Chris had the 2nd highest BMI at 21.33. Hmm..  with a BMI of around 22, my goal in the forthcoming Sunfeast 10K  is to get to within 21 minutes of Chris's timing!

2010 thus so far..

I had set myself the following goals for the year 2010 as part of my 2009 year end musings:

1. Run at least 5 Full marathons/Ultras

• Mumbai Marathon - 17th Jan 2010
• Auroville Marathon - 14th Feb 2010
• Hyderabad Marathon - August 2010
• Athens Marathon - 31st October 2010
• Bangalore Ultra - 14th November 2010

2. Sub 4:05 finish at Mumbai marathon 2010 in 2 weeks from now

3. Sub 4 Hr at Hyderabad marathon 2010

4. 75K at Bangalore Ultra? - it is tempting to go beyond 50K

5. Invest in a better cycle and do a few trail rides with Tandem Trails
 

The year 2010 started off well with a good first week of running , better than targeted performance in SCMM 2010, an immensely enjoyable run at Auroville in February and my longest ever distance as part of the Strides of Hope. Howevever, the 10 weeks or so since the distance running season ended in the 3rd week of February has been a real mixed bag or more like a yo-yo. I have not had two consecutive weeks of solid running since then and have had several periods of not running for more than 3-4 days at a stretch. This has been partly  due to frequent bouts of stomach upsets and cold/fever(off-season blues?). My Garmin 305 that I have been using for nearly 3 years going kaput did not help the cause. And then when I went back to Manipal hospital department of sports and excercise medicine to restart strength conditioning sessions after a break of couple of months I was disappointed to learn that the remaining two sports physios with whom I had trained in the past were leaving their jobs. So I had no choice but to sign up for the unassisted (or membership as the department calls it) sessions. Though lower cost than the assisted sessions I am a bit skeptical about their effectiveness for me. As I am now without the benefit of a sports-physio watching to ensure that my technique is right and also push me to do a few more repeats. The natural tendancy is not to push oneself completely and stop a couple of repeats early which is less beneficial.  So I am not certain that I will continue with this much longer. On the plus side during the last couple of weeks I have enjoyed a few rides in my new Schwinn Searcher sport bicycle and look forward to doing a couple of long rides in June/July timeframe.

 

Due to personal/family reasons I have decided not to run Athens marathon this year. Instead I will probably run the KTM in September. I have also pretty much decided to do the 75K at the ultra in November. So my long distance running goals for the rest of the year looks thus:

• a sub 4 hour marathon at Hyderabad in August
• KTM in September
• 75K at Bangalore Ultra in November
• HM at Bangalore mid-night marathon in December

The new season of events starts in a couple of weeks with the Sunfeast World 10K on 23rd May 2010 followed by the 2nd Bangalore duathalon on 13th June 2010 - am looking  forward to maintaining my timing from last year's 10K and also doing my first duathalon.

Momentum week with a bad ending

After a long while I managed a 55Km +  week with a 20Km  run with BHUKMP and Red Dragon runners on Saturday followed by a 18Km solo in  EGL. Add to this 12Kms of cycling and two strengthening sessions at Manipal hospital department of sports and excercise medicine. This is the highest mileage in a non marathon week in a long time. While the next event is the Sunfeast world 10K 2010 it was important for me do a high mileage week after a break of nearly two months after the Strides of hope. I also decided to resume strenght training again after a break of 2 months. While I have found it quite comfortable to do a 2 hour 20K run (have even managed a few 50 minutes 10Km solo runs recently) I found strength training to be much more challenging. Even though I re-started the excercises with weights of less than 15-20 pounds it has been a struggle to do sets of 2 minutes on most machines. Hopefully next week should be better from strength training perspective. Of course, next week will be a low mileage week running-wise as I am travelling to Chennai for a couple fo days for a wedding and I do not plan to run there.

A decent week was ruined with my Garmin 305 dying this morning. I have been having trouble with the buttons that change the display pages for the last few weeks. One of the buttons stopped working and the other has gradually worn out completely. As a result I have been unable to change the display to the page with the average pace which is my favourite parameter when I am targeting specific finish times. So I tinkered a bit with it this morning after the run and the power went off on the device and now I am unable to power it on again. Am extremely sad about this as for the last three years I have been so used to running with the Garmin that I felt quite lost whenever I had to run without one. I am going to try and get the device fixed in a local watch repair shop. However, if that does not work out then I will have to order a new device soon. I am not sure what the average life of the Garmin 305 is or should be. I have used my device for over 5400Km of running and 1600Km since July 2007.

Sunfeast 10K 2009

I had a great 10K run on 31st May 2009 comfortably meeting my goal of completing under 50 minutes. My finish time of 48 minutes 24 seconds gave me a 4rth place in the age category and 107th overall among those who ran with the timing chip. Details of the results are here. (The Split timings at the 4K and 8.5K mark are incorrect - these timings are actually for the 4.5K and 9K points). We(myself, my son Rahul, my brother Chandru, and his son Akshay) drove in Partha’s car and after parking at the UB city parking lot reached Kanteerva stadium by 730am. After a quick group photo, we got inside just in time to see the top elite runners enter the stadium and make a dash to the finish line. Winning time of 28:13 by Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga was slower than last year’s winning time of 27:51 set by Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadesse. The open 10K runners were let onto the track at about 8:05am. The race started on the dot at 8:10 under fairly cool conditions thanks to the showers of the previous night. I consciously started off quite fast to avoid getting stuck with the crowds. I reached the 2Km mark in just under 9:30 and the 5Km mark in about 24 minutes. Having got off to a good start and a steady rhythm I stayed focused on the run. Of course, with a lot of familiar runners on the course there was a fair bit of waving and calling out of names. But I did not chat for long with anyone. While my pace dropped a bit in the second half I was very confident of a sub 50 finish by the time I got to the 6K mark. I slowed down at water stops only a couple of times. The period between the 6K and 9K marks was the toughest. One got second wind while running through the familiar Cubbon Park territory and made a dash into Kanteerva stadium with the Garmin showing 48:39. Surprisingly, for a race that was well organised , the digital clock at the finish line was not working. My brother Chandru finished in 1:06 - he had to slow down in the last 4K due to a stomach cramp. Partha finished in 58 minutes.

Soon after finishing and exchanging Congratulations and timings with a few RFL runners I went inside the VIP invitee lounge looking for my daughter Ritika. We had nice breakfast there and were also fortunate enough to bump into Maurice Green, Milind Soman and Deepika Padukone – the last one being the brand ambassador for the event.

Rahul and Akshay finished the Majja run comfortably in under 40 minutes – the only sour note of the morning was that it took us nearly an hour to locate each other as the place got overcrowded and chaotic once the colourful and noisy Majja run participants started streaming in droves. Nevertheless, it was nice to see so many Bangaloreans pounding the streets on a Sunday morning. Running as a sport in Bangalore has certainly come a long way in the last few years.

Comfortable 11th at Bellandur on 28th June

A bunch of us completed the Full Marathon at the RFL Bellandur run today. Besides myself the other runners who did 42Km+ were Rishikesh, Amrita, Prasad and Deepak. My 11th FM in as many months(and 22nd overall) turned out to be an easy comfortable run - without pushing hard and without undue stress I ended up doing 43Km in 4 hrs 43! Unlike the previous two marathons the run upto this one was not very hectic - I still was not very confident of a good run - my apprehension this time was due to a cold that lingered on for over two weeks and also a niggle in my left hamstring and calf post the Sunfeast world 10K on 31st May.

Eight of us started running at 530am. There was some trenches dug up in the route and the RFL markings were still not in place - thanks to Jugy and Sunil who also started running early we were able to take the alternate path without any trouble. Ran mostly with Rishi in the 1st loop; Uday joined us as we were returning to the start point. Just about 1Km from the start point we started seeing a stream of RFL runners. We completed the 1st loop at an easy average pace of 6:20 and did 21Km in about 2:20. Each loop was 5.3Km out and back with about 2Km consisting of a trail and the remaining tar road going through a sparsely populated area with open fields all around. Its not a flat course - there were a couple of gradual longish gradients. It was great to see several familiar RFL runners and many new ones too! Ran most of the 4rth loop with Partha - he joined the run for that loop and ran at a good pace. Trying to keep up with him the 4th loop ended up being faster than what it would otherwise have been. I did not realise when my Garmin hit the 42.2K mark and I continued running towards the start point. Ended up with 43Km - very satisfied with the effort- though my previous FM in December 2008 took 4:29. During the run I hardly thought about my niggles. The two factors that made it all very easy were the constant company of some wonderful runners and the fantastic weather. Only after 930am, in the 2nd half of the fourth loop did the sun come out. The support of the RFL staff was also very helpful.

Random musings

Skipping TCS World 10K 

It has been over 3 months since the last post - the last one was the SCMM 2015 report. Normally at this time the post would have been a preview of the new running season's first big event, namely,TCS world 10K 2015  on 17th May 2015. However, after running the event every year (one of three events in which I had a streak going)since its inception  in 2008, in its earlier avatar as Sunfeast World 10K, I am giving it a miss this year.  It was not an easy decision - I went through the same dilemma last year.  Short distance (5K,10K) racing has never been my forte and despite a complete break of 7 weeks  when my niggles in the left leg continued even at slow paces I decided to skip the TCS 10K. I am not feeling too bad about it. 

Replanning this season's events 

Having done 3 weeks of 40-50 Kms mileage(albeit all moderate or slow paced runs) I am re-looking at the goals for this season. I will definitely run SCMM 2016 on 17th January the registrations for which open on 21st July. Most likely I will run either 50 or 75Km (most likely 50) at the Bangalore Ultra on 7th November though after last year my resolve to keep this streak going has reduced a bit. I was considering  running the Spice coast marathon in Cochin on 15th November in which case I would have skipped the ultra. Now I am veering towards doing the full at the Bangalore marathon on 18th October.  Which ever race I do I would like target a sub 3:50 and then if things go well target a sub 3:40 at SCMM 2016.  Of course, this is assuming that things continue to improve specially after I re-start interval and tempo training in June after a break of  15 months!!

Less events/slow finishes

Since achieving a FM PB of 3:37:20 at SCMM in January 2013 I have struggled to finish close to 3:45. My timings subsequently are :

•  3:46:20 at Hyderabad in August 2013
•  3: 46:23 at SCMM in January 2014
•  3:50:57 at Boston in April 2014
•  3:57:14 at SCMM in January 2015

Have been bothered with issues in the left leg since December 2013 resulting in reduced participation in events.  Earlier in 2011-2013 I had reduced my particiation n marathons in order to focus on gettign a BQ. In the 2014-15 season I did not race hard in any event and did just 2 long distance events  - 50Km  at the ultra and SCMM.  This means my goal of completing 17 more mrathon/ultras to hit my goal of 60 marathons/ultras by the time I turn 60 in August 2018 is unlikely to happen!

Injury Woes

The worst part is not being able to figure out exactly what the injury is.  Since February 2015, I have consulted two new sports physios(apart from Doc Gladson) and have started doing a bunch of additional stretches and strengthening exercises suggested by them. Both these physios  surmised that my issue is mainly due to poor posture and running form and prescribed exercises to improve the same. Two other items I have added to my repotoire are sitting in the Indian/Hindu squat position for 2-3 minutes and standing for extended periods of time (instead of sitting). To help correct running form I have added a fourth easy weekly barefoot run. Over the last 5 weeks I have increased the barefoot run from 2Km to 6Km(40 minutes).  Hopefully a combination of all this will help me get back to peak running form this season!!

2009 Year End musings..

This post is about the usual year end activity : looking back at what was probably one of the best years running wise and also looking ahead to the plans for 2010.

Highs of 2009

1. Completion of the 12th full marathon in 12 months – the day was made special with the company of so many fellow runners specially from the BHUKMP and Red Dragon gang. The achievement of the goal that I set in May 2008 gave immense satisfaction – the T-shirt and plaque given by fellow runners made it truly memorable!

2. Cracking the sub 4 hr marathon at the Suntrust National marathon in Washington DC in March 2009

3. PB timings in 50K, HM and 10K distances at the Bangalore Ultra, Bangalore Midnight marathon and Sunfeast World 10K respectively

4. Being able to clock 2000Km of running during the year - up from 1800Km in 2008

5. Numerous new running mates specially in the BHUKMP group

Lows of 2009

1. Not being able to hit my PB in 5K distance at the 2nd Urban Stampede
2. Missing out on the 2nd Hyderabad marathon due to sickness - my first ever DNS

2010 Goals

1. Run at least 5 Full marathons/Ultras

• Mumbai Marathon  - 17th Jan 2010
• Auroville Marathon  - 14th Feb 2010
• Hyderabad Marathon - August 2010
• Athens Marathon - 31st October 2010
• Bangalore Ultra - 14th November 2010 

2. Sub 4:05 finish at Mumbai marathon 2010 in 2 weeks from now
3. Sub 4 Hr at Hyderabad marathon 2010
4. 75K at Bangalore Ultra? - it is tempting to go beyond 50K
5. Invest in a better cycle and do a few trail rides with Tandem Trails

I intend to start the year with a 12K-15K  run on January 1 - I have been   running on January 1 pretty much every year since 2003.  A good run on the 1st day of the year is a fantastic way to start the year.  And I intend to follow this up with a 32K - 35K  run on January 3rd - the last long run before the Mumbai marathon on 17th Jan .

Here is wishing everyone a Great Year ahead personally, professionally and of course running wise!!!

To run or not to run Nike+ Human Race on 24rth October?

The Nike 10K Human race is not an ideal one for long distance runners training for the Bangalore ultra on November 15th. Plus the race is on a Saturday afternoon and at Clark’s Exotica located quite far from the city. Therefore, it is not surprising that many RFL runners have decided to give it a miss. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead and register for it mainly because the NGO partner for the race is Dream A Dream and also a few others from my apartment community were interested in participating. The thinking was if I did a 10K in around 48 minutes , the same time as I took in Sunfeast 10K 2009, then it could serve as a good tempo run. Also I had planned my long runs in such a way that I could take it easy the weekend of 24th/25th October . The intent was to do a 4 hour/35K+ run on October 18th with a bunch of BHUKMP runners after gorging on Diwali sweets and savories on 17th. And follow this up with a 30K run on 31st October. Unfortunately, due to a massive stomach upset I could neither hog nor do my long run this weekend. For the 2nd time in less than 8 weeks I fell sick(does exercise increase or decrease immunity – a topic that needs to be researched further!). Due to this I am now in two minds about participating in this race. I am thinking maybe I will skip the 10K race and get in the 4hour/35K+ run instead. Will need to decide latest by Thursday. The irony is that I felt well enough by Sunday night to do a solo 21K/2:01 run this morning!.

Urban Stampede 2009

The 2nd edition of Urban Stampede organised by Runners For Life at Olde Bangalore resort on 22nd August 2009 was a huge success! With 139 teams from 56 companies and 10 non-corporate teams this was by far the largest ever RFL event. Three teams from Mformation participated in the event - 2 in the mens/open categaory and 1 all women team. I was part of Mformation team B. Though I was feeling perfectly fine when I left work on Friday 21st August evening I got hit with severe cold and sore throat later that evening. I did not sleep well at all that night. I left home around 520am and after picking up a couple of colleagues reached Olde Bangalore resort just before 630am. The place was buzzing with activity with runners everywhere. With overnight rains the weather was very pleasant. I volunteered to run 4rth in my team instead of 2nd. My goal this year was to better my last year's timing of 24:34 and if possible try and run below 24 minutes. However, with the cold and body ache picking up even before my turn to run came I knew this was going to be very tough. The run started punctually at 7am with the first set of runners taking off to huge cheering from their fellow runners. I walked around for some time chatting with lots of runners including a few that I did not recognize by name. Waiting for your turn to come in a relay specially when you ar enot feeling well can be quite challenging. By the time I started my run just before 8:40am the first three teams in the open category had completed the race. These were two teams from Toyota Motors and a team from Hindustan Unilever. Deepak Mhasvade ,a great RFL runner,finished his 5K in 22:09 to lead HUL to 3rd place.

I took off very fast and covered the first half Km quickly but had to slow down considerably soon thereafter. Even then I managed to get to the turn around point just after 12 minutes. However, I started to tire quite quickly and managed only a 25:33 finish - almost a minute slower than last year. I was quite disappointed with my timing - it was also one of those few runs that I did not enjoy too much. Considering that I am in much better running form now compared to last year and also managed a sub-49 minutes in Sunfeast 10K I can only blame the flu for the sub par run! Also, I guess I am more cut out for long distance running wherein I am able to sustain a certain average pace for a longer period of time rather than a fast pace for a short period of time. Overall most of the Mformation runners did well specially a few of them who were doing their first ever 5K. The Mfomation women's team finished second. The overall rank and timings of the 3 mformation teams:

• Mformation Team B: Ashish- 26:18; Ravi- 37:14;Sridhar- 36:39;Bhasker-25:33; 2:05:44 finishing 60th in the open category


• Mformation Team A: Sharan-41:44;Sanjay- 38:53;Dwarka- 33:43;Gaurav- 33:43; 2:28:40 finishing 81st in the open category


• Mformation Team C: Kalai- 36:32;Navya - 35:52;Ranu-45:22; Shilpa-41:14 2:39 finishing 2nd in the women's category

Click here for complete results and here for the pictures of the event.

Contours International Adidas Women's day run

I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout for this run last Sunday organised by Contours International in support of Intenrational Women's day. There seemed to be over 500 runners participating in either 5K or 10K at Ulsoor Lake. Probably the convenience of the central location was one contributing factor. The run conducted by Runners for Life required 10K participants to do 3 loops around the Ulsoor lake starting and finishing in the Home Guards ground. I rode to the venue in the Red Dragon - we reached there just in the nick of time. The run started a few minutes after 630am before my Garmin could link up with the satellite. It was nice to run around the Ulsoor Lake after a long time specially with traffic blocked on one line. A few years ago RFL used to conduct its long runs quite regularly at this venue and I have actually done 11 laps around the lap ie 39K  in preparation for a marathon. This run reminded me of those early days of RFL runs.  I ran at a easy pace. My Garmin started working towards the end of Loop 1 after about 2.5Km. I ran a bit with Rishi and quite a lot with Srinivas. En route in the 3rd loop I saw my cousin Raji walking and also ger daughter Indu jogging. I completed the 10 K in approximately 53 minutes without sweating at all - this is 4-5 minutes slower than my performance in the 2009 Sunfeast 10K. Met with a lot of runners in the ground at the finish point and also my cousin and her daughter. It was great to see so many new faces there as well. Congrats to Ravi Shankar, Amrita, Neera and Pani for their podium finishes! Returned home after a hearty and boisterous breakfast at Konark. Overall it was a nice enjoyable morning. Click here for some photographs of the event.

Post run group photo

PB at the TCS Open 10K on June 5th

Thanks to a fast start, the excellent Bangalore weather,flatter course and support from numerous well-wishers I did my best ever 10Km run at the TCS Open 10K 4 weeks ago shaving over 2 minutes of my previous best time of 48:24 achieved at the Sunfeast 10K in 2009. Like last year Rahul and I (along with Ravi Venkatesam) took the bus to the Kanteerva stadium and reached there by 7:15 am or so just a few minutes after the men's World 10K was flagged off.  The intent was to get a position near the gate opening into the stadium so as to start the race early and break away from the crowds. I got to the gate around 7:25am - where I met many familiar friends - Neera, Sid, Praveen, Pani, Ashok  etc.  I could not empty my bladder before getting nto the gate. I normally like to do that few minutes before starting a race and I thought this might impact my pace - however it completely went off my mind once I started running.  The holding area became very crowded by about 7:45am. The women's world 10K started at 7:55am and soon after the gate to the stadium was opened. Like the last couple of years there was a lot of jostling and pushing to get to the start line. This is something that the organisers need to improve - the chance of someone getting hurt even before starting the race is quite high. Perhaps, they could plan for wave starts based on previous 10K finish times.

I started well covering the 1st Km in 4:21. While the pace dropped a bit subsequently I reached the half-way point at an average pace of 4:30 well within my target pace and I felt quite good. Around this time I went past Neera  - who was cheered and encouraged by numerous runners. I was completely focused on the race and did not chit-chat with anyone. I also had water only once during the entire race - it helped that the Bangalore weather was fantastic with temperature in the low to mid 20s. I read about the Kenyans complaining of high humidity in next day's newspaper - I did not feel the humidity at all. As I entered the Cubbon Park stretch I knew that a sub 47 was comfortably achievable.  I tried to push myself harder but had a minor stomach cramp in the last Km which constrained me. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to finish  with a gun time of 46:06 and chip time of 45:57. This gave me a 4rth position in my age category and 144th rank overall among 5000+ finishers. Pani and Sid finished 1st and 3rd respectively. ANS started a  See here for the split timings. Most runners improved their 10K timings this year including Chandru,Akshay and Rahul who all completed in very good timings.

Soon after finishing the race I collected the refreshments and my medal - this took me only a couple of minutes. However, later I found that thare was a very long queue for this and also a lot of chaos  - this is another area where the event needs to improve significantly!

With Rahul just after getting home

Make an Impact - Contribute to Dream A Dream!

I registered for the Sunfeast World 10K (open category) today through Bangalore Cares - a non-profit organisation that acts as a bridge between NGOs and the rest of society. Bangalore Cares is the official charity partner for the Sunfeaast World 10K 2009. I have signed up as a Care Participant in the Care Champion category. That is, I have committed to raise Rs 1 Lakh for my favourite cause, that is, Dream A Dream. I have been associated with Dream A Dream since 2006 - as a fund raiser and as a volunteer. I have worked with children in the IT program as well as a mentor. The passion and commitment of Dream A Dream employees and the impact they make on the lives of the under-privileged children is tremendous. Raising Rs. 1 Lakh in 5 weeks is a challenging task - however I am going to try my level best and with support from friends, ex-colleagues and family members around the globe I hope to get there. I am close to the half way mark of my target and request those who like the cause and can spare a small amount of money to contribute. Any amount - large or small- will be highly appreciated. Contributions can be made by check or online via Bangalore Cares(INR only) or GiveIndia(INR OR USD) or Paypal(USD only). See the RHS of this page for the relevant links.

If I do manage to hit the target of Rs 1 Lakh ofcourse I will be extremely happy and satisfied. Plus as a bonus I am entitled to

• Official event kitting (T-shirt and cap)
• A personalised running number bib
• VIP marqee invite and parking pass on race day

Last year I missed my target completion of 50minutes by 39 seconds. I am in a much better shape this year - so unless something unforseen happens between now and then I hope to do better this year! Of course, I still have to run a marathon before that.

BSA Hercules Duathlon 2010

I am looking forward to doing my 1st Duathlon event two weeks from now on June 13th 2010. This will be the 2nd edition of the BSA Hercules Duathlon being organised by Runners For Life. I did not participate in the event last year. I felt a bit tired after the Sunfeast 10K 2009 at the end of last May and decided to conserve my energy to complete my 11th and 12th marathons in June and July as part of my 12 marathons in 12 months. Having recently invested in  a hybrid bicycle I hope to do fairly well in the duathlon. The winning time in the men's senior category last year was 1:31:11. My goal is to complete between 1:40 and 1:45.

While I have been cycling and running regularly, I have never  done both of them back to back on the same day. So the RFL duathlon practice today at EGL was a perfect opportunity for me to experience this. I managed to complete 5Km running+20Km cycling+5Km running in 1 hr 55 mins. The two runs were done in about the same time of 27 minutes - though of course the 2nd one was much tougher and I really had to push myself the 1st Km or so when the legs were  stiff. I should be able to shave 3-4 minutes off this time in the actual event. The 20Km cycling took me a little over an hour. While the route was not ideal for cycling with the speed bumps, potholes and warts I need to improve significantly. A2 and Ashwani of RFL observed that increasing the seat height on my cycle would result in considerable efficiency. Plus the route of the duathlon would be much better suited for cycling. So my aim is to do the cycling also in about 50 minutes.

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 .

5Km at the Bangalore Midnight Marathon on 10th Jan

The 2nd edition of the Bangalore Midnight Marathon finally happened on 10th/11th January. It was one of those rare Bangalore events in which I did not run long distance(HM/FM) as I had decided to do 5Km IT City runwith my 14 year old son Rahul. Rahul, to his credit, has run 5.3Km in the 1st edition of the Bangalore Midnight marathon in May 2007 and 5.7Km in the Sunfeast 10K in May 2008. We reached the holding area - the grounds of Ujjwal school in Whitefield, around 8:15PM thinking we were just in the nick of timefor the 8:30PM start. I was pleasantly surprised to see a reasonably good turnout - probably a couple of thousand people. However, the delay in starting the race was quite distessing. The compere made some brave attempts at keeping the crowd engaged while stalling for time in order for the VIPs to arrive. And then there were a couple of speeches which were not received very kindly by the runners.

Eventually around 9:20PM or so the crowds started to move towards the starting point close to the Hope Farm junction. There was fair amount of confusion regarding the start point and we had couple of false starts - running 250 m and then again 50 m before realising the race had not started. Finally, at about 9:31PM we took off. Rahul and I ran the whole race side by side chatting along the way. There were adequate water stops with volunteers. The route was out and back 2.5Km. When we were around the 1.5Km mark we started seeing runners coming back. I recognised several RFL runners and other firends during the run. It was good fun and Rahul and I finished in about 35 minutes 31 seconds which is absolutely great timing for a 14 year old! Rahul was told by some volunteers that he finished 6th among boys and his bib number was taken down. However, nothing really came of that. Leona came first among women in the 5Km run.

It was good to know on Monday that the RFL runners had a good time doing the HM, FM and the Relay with several of them finishing among the first three. Arvind and Nikhil seem to have done a wonderful job of pacing and helping several runners cross the finish line. Kudos to both of you and RFL!And it was even better to learn from Jugy that my absence was noticed by many runners!

Care Champion for Dream A Dream

Over the last few months I have been able to raise a little over Rs 1, 50,000/- for Dream A Dream - A Bangalore based NGO that I have been working with for 3 years. Now with the 2nd edition of Sunfeast World 10K just 7 weeks away I have signed up to be a care champion for Dream A Dream. Which means I am going to try and raise Rs 1,00,000/- between now and end of May. This will be challenging and I am looking forward to support of friends and family to get me over the finish line! Any contribution, big or small, will be highly appreciated. Contributions can be made via check or online - more deails in the sidebar.