Can we say - I exist - Aham Aasmi - is egocentric? Or it is a fact?
Because I exist, the world exists
If I cease to exist, the world ceases to exist.
The world is a window of consciousness in a journey called life...
All that exists within that window- material,events,relationships
Since I chose to be in a business, I need a customer
there is a road, because I chose to run...
since I chose to breathe, there is oxygen...
Before the window closes - permanently.
Everything around me has a purpose to me
I cant change my past, I cant predict my future,
So I exist, here and now ...
I can create my life, this I can surely do
that is a road called my life! and I will run!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Tendai monks... ( revisited)
My brother gave a quick run down on what endurance is. Should people really endure pain to reach the 'higher pleasures' - beyond material and carnal aspects of life! Well, worth thinking about, if not exploring.
These monks - over a period of 10 years will have to run 50+ k's for 100 consecutive days every year, wearing sandals or mostly on bare feet, on unmarked routes, with no apparent help, in tough weather and inconsistent terrains and pray in about 250 temples. At one point, they have to go without food for 7 days, and should not swallow their spit! Further more during the last year, they run about 84 km everyday for 100 days! The entire regimen is time bound.
They are trained to rest parts of their body, and a 10 min rest for the monk is more than 5 hours of rest. This article is public. Only 46 monks have survived the 1000 day ordeal. Very niche species indeed...
People like me are at the other end of the spectrum. We are consumed by the chores of daily life, and do little that shall take us to the 'next level'. Except when we put our feet on the street, especially sneak runs.
We dont have planned regimens like the Tendai monks, which take them away from materialism. But within the limits of this material world, we try to attain some salvation through hobbies like running. The effort slowly becomes a reason for existence ( ref Runaholic...).
Finding a reason to run itself shows the endurance of this passion - which also looks for like minded people. Here too, we dont have a choice of the place, weather and time we run; we do it because we want to do. So it is still materialistic, in a sense, is it not?
For the tendai monks and the likes, running becomes a daily chore, whereas it is a passion for the otherwise mundane like us.
So endurance to achieve something is inevitable - be it the tendai monks or mere mortals like us!
These monks - over a period of 10 years will have to run 50+ k's for 100 consecutive days every year, wearing sandals or mostly on bare feet, on unmarked routes, with no apparent help, in tough weather and inconsistent terrains and pray in about 250 temples. At one point, they have to go without food for 7 days, and should not swallow their spit! Further more during the last year, they run about 84 km everyday for 100 days! The entire regimen is time bound.
They are trained to rest parts of their body, and a 10 min rest for the monk is more than 5 hours of rest. This article is public. Only 46 monks have survived the 1000 day ordeal. Very niche species indeed...
People like me are at the other end of the spectrum. We are consumed by the chores of daily life, and do little that shall take us to the 'next level'. Except when we put our feet on the street, especially sneak runs.
We dont have planned regimens like the Tendai monks, which take them away from materialism. But within the limits of this material world, we try to attain some salvation through hobbies like running. The effort slowly becomes a reason for existence ( ref Runaholic...).
Finding a reason to run itself shows the endurance of this passion - which also looks for like minded people. Here too, we dont have a choice of the place, weather and time we run; we do it because we want to do. So it is still materialistic, in a sense, is it not?
For the tendai monks and the likes, running becomes a daily chore, whereas it is a passion for the otherwise mundane like us.
So endurance to achieve something is inevitable - be it the tendai monks or mere mortals like us!
Runaholic!!!
Late August, I realized that running has become an addiction to me. Declared state of addiction, that too.
It is in my bones...'mileage', the 'k's', 'stretches', 'LSD" have all become part of my routine vocabulary. That is the behavioral part.
The most important thing is the core inner feeling. Rich daddy says ' the amount of days that you spend without working, is the measure of your richness'. The more you are away from your love, the more you want to get back at it. It did not last 2 days for me... sleepless nights, restless mind and could not tolerate. I burn guilt through hot deep sighs. Unbearable it has become.
The twins kept beckoning...my feet. My eyes roll, mind races, heart beats and lungs suck in air faster, faster, faster...I pulsate and pulpitate.
And, I do the act - feet into the shoes, laces tied. Running dress on! Sports band on! Feel much better.
Then the first steps and I go! Deep inside me, a child screams, tumbles, leaps in joy... now I EXIST! I found a purpose to live for one more DAY!!!
I breathe better, think better, am happier when I run or plan to. It is the pillar of my everyday existence now. Else, like a lost child, I dont know what to do... I dont know, how I became like this. But now, I have become a RUNAHOLIC!!!
It is in my bones...'mileage', the 'k's', 'stretches', 'LSD" have all become part of my routine vocabulary. That is the behavioral part.
The most important thing is the core inner feeling. Rich daddy says ' the amount of days that you spend without working, is the measure of your richness'. The more you are away from your love, the more you want to get back at it. It did not last 2 days for me... sleepless nights, restless mind and could not tolerate. I burn guilt through hot deep sighs. Unbearable it has become.
The twins kept beckoning...my feet. My eyes roll, mind races, heart beats and lungs suck in air faster, faster, faster...I pulsate and pulpitate.
And, I do the act - feet into the shoes, laces tied. Running dress on! Sports band on! Feel much better.
Then the first steps and I go! Deep inside me, a child screams, tumbles, leaps in joy... now I EXIST! I found a purpose to live for one more DAY!!!
I breathe better, think better, am happier when I run or plan to. It is the pillar of my everyday existence now. Else, like a lost child, I dont know what to do... I dont know, how I became like this. But now, I have become a RUNAHOLIC!!!
Monday, September 20, 2010
My first half marathon - part 4- the final 10k and the finish
( continued from part 3)
'Oh! Oh! the route was familiar, I had run this before' I thought. The 12th km was the easiest one. My bro held the backpack for a while.
Suddenly, I dont know from where, a wave of exhaustion swept me. The backpack suddenly became heavier, and heavier and heavier... my shoulder slumped, pace dropped to near-walk speed. Everybody was overtaking me - runners who found new energy and eager youngsters.
I took a walk break - a rather long one. Rajesh, Akila and KK had moved about half a km ahead of me. 'Will do this slow, but sure'- I said to myself. It become a walk and jog routine - till I reached the Adyar bridge and then it became a walk ( 16k). My team were snapping away photographs - but too drained to catch up. I was exhausted, but not out. If only I could handover my backpack, I thought.
As they say - when you are in trouble, dont give up hope. My hope was answered. An angel appeared - we call him SLMP or Shankar. One of the better runners in our group, Shankar was more keen to create a photo-document of this largest ever CR gathering till date. So he was happy-snapping at everybody and hence running lot slower. At the 16k mark, he reached me; and reached out to me and made an offer that I could not refuse. Time: 2:17.
'Handover the backpack' and ' run this like a 5k, and finish strongly' he said. So happy I was, I relieved the backpack off me, and then said a small thanks and ran. I caught up with my brother and Akila. KK had some cramps at 17k, and Rajesh was also slightly tired. But Akila was going strong.
Water points were depleted of water - only wasted 500 ml bottles lying around. The stalls had wound up; there was lot of jay walkers. Everybody seemed to think that the race was over.
Around the 19k mark, Rajesh did a small reverse run to trace KK, who had fallen behind; Akila was off like an arrow out of the bow - fast. She found a faster companion who accompanied her till the finish.
Rajesh and I had given up on time, and intent to finish; did a run-walk-run , counting the number of poles as we ran along the Beach road; the distance seemed to grow, and the last mile the longest. Students, cops, by-standers were cheering. The sun was behind the clouds, but humidity was not that kind enough. Exhaustion poured in, but the finish was now in sight.
About 25m from the finish line, my calf muscles pulled, and I started limping. Rajesh pushed me along, and there, there - I crossed the finish line along side Rajesh. My first HALF Marathon. In 2:54...!!!
We all were exhausted. The better runners had a good finish, and had a happy-snappy photograph session. I joined them for couple of photographs.
Everybody had medals, so I pushed my way into the crowd, argued, fought with the organizers and finally got one. The political drama was going on in the stage - everybody praising the other, how great the high and mighty are...
What the heck - I had my first half marathon under the belt, and a medal too!!!
PS - this marathon series is dedicated to two special people - My brother Rajesh and Shankar Lal Patel , without who the finish line would have been there for sometime more to be conquered!!!
'Oh! Oh! the route was familiar, I had run this before' I thought. The 12th km was the easiest one. My bro held the backpack for a while.
Suddenly, I dont know from where, a wave of exhaustion swept me. The backpack suddenly became heavier, and heavier and heavier... my shoulder slumped, pace dropped to near-walk speed. Everybody was overtaking me - runners who found new energy and eager youngsters.
I took a walk break - a rather long one. Rajesh, Akila and KK had moved about half a km ahead of me. 'Will do this slow, but sure'- I said to myself. It become a walk and jog routine - till I reached the Adyar bridge and then it became a walk ( 16k). My team were snapping away photographs - but too drained to catch up. I was exhausted, but not out. If only I could handover my backpack, I thought.
As they say - when you are in trouble, dont give up hope. My hope was answered. An angel appeared - we call him SLMP or Shankar. One of the better runners in our group, Shankar was more keen to create a photo-document of this largest ever CR gathering till date. So he was happy-snapping at everybody and hence running lot slower. At the 16k mark, he reached me; and reached out to me and made an offer that I could not refuse. Time: 2:17.
'Handover the backpack' and ' run this like a 5k, and finish strongly' he said. So happy I was, I relieved the backpack off me, and then said a small thanks and ran. I caught up with my brother and Akila. KK had some cramps at 17k, and Rajesh was also slightly tired. But Akila was going strong.
Water points were depleted of water - only wasted 500 ml bottles lying around. The stalls had wound up; there was lot of jay walkers. Everybody seemed to think that the race was over.
Around the 19k mark, Rajesh did a small reverse run to trace KK, who had fallen behind; Akila was off like an arrow out of the bow - fast. She found a faster companion who accompanied her till the finish.
Rajesh and I had given up on time, and intent to finish; did a run-walk-run , counting the number of poles as we ran along the Beach road; the distance seemed to grow, and the last mile the longest. Students, cops, by-standers were cheering. The sun was behind the clouds, but humidity was not that kind enough. Exhaustion poured in, but the finish was now in sight.
About 25m from the finish line, my calf muscles pulled, and I started limping. Rajesh pushed me along, and there, there - I crossed the finish line along side Rajesh. My first HALF Marathon. In 2:54...!!!
We all were exhausted. The better runners had a good finish, and had a happy-snappy photograph session. I joined them for couple of photographs.
Everybody had medals, so I pushed my way into the crowd, argued, fought with the organizers and finally got one. The political drama was going on in the stage - everybody praising the other, how great the high and mighty are...
What the heck - I had my first half marathon under the belt, and a medal too!!!
PS - this marathon series is dedicated to two special people - My brother Rajesh and Shankar Lal Patel , without who the finish line would have been there for sometime more to be conquered!!!
My first half marathon - part 3 ; the race - first 10k...
(continued from part 2)
The bugle blew. The CR elites started in the front; there were other groups including few social advocacy groups for better life, against discrimation etc., There were people of all types - old and young, men and women.
We brought the rear of the pack. Rajesh, Akila, VT, KK and myself were running together - for the first time. The comfort for me was that I was with better runners; The ambulance and the cop vans followed. We felt like some royal road party being escorted; Some students and passers-by cheered us to run faster.
Personally I had a bag with couple of bananas, gatorade sachets, and about 6 caps that were stuffed during the start by some over-eager distributors of one of the sponsors. I was wearing goggles and cap when I started the run.
The other groups picked up speed, but as we thought - we ran at a slow pace. Post Santhome church ( around 2.5k), the escorts decided to ahead, as we were oscillating at near-walk pace and jogging ( about 8 min/h)
All this time, there was a promise of rain as clouds covered the eastern skies. With such positive promise, around the 4th km, we tried to accelarate a bit. We were doing 7.2 km/h. Into the 5th km, we had reached the Adyar park; the back-pack started weighing me down. With no visible solution around, I took my cap and goggles off, and started running.
Once in a while, along the Adyar bridge and the service lane leading to the Besant Nagar Avenue, Akila + Rajesh would over take me, and I would play catch up in turns. VT had dropped off, and KK had gone ahead.
Here we saw the return party - some barefooted champs, a shirtless Westerner, some people who have to win to earn the prize money for the return trip coming back. It was then 7k for us and 14k for them... then we saw the first bunch of CR's - Anand, Senthil et al.
Slowly, around the 8k mark, we found ourselves sticking at 7 min/h speed; then a clutch of Chennai runner elites and other runners waved us on our way back. By this time, the backpack was becoming heavier and heavier and I slowed down to 7.5 min/h mark.
The water points were excellently operated; too sad to see that runners, including me, could only could take few sips out of the 500 ml bottle and throw it off - lest it should become a baggage.
We could see some early morning walkers and sleepy-eyed bystanders looking like ' what the hell is going on'. The roads were free, and the overzealous cops kept the jaywalkers off with exhortations and stick-waving. The sky had opened up, and humidity was increasing.
Rajesh and Akila started moving ahead; I ran at a slower pace. Few people had started walking, and I was passing them. That was a good motivation.
Around the 11k mark (along the Elliott's beach), I saw another clutch of chennai runners - lot of cheering from them at the round about point; I could also catch up with Rajesh and Akila. There was a 200 m walk break. Till this point, things had gone well. The weather, the organization, running conditions, and my internal self were going fine.
10 k - 1.12 min at 7.2 min/h; Was feeling slightly exhausted, but Ok; Half of half done, half to go...should be easy, or so I thought. As they say, surprises are always round the corner...
( to be continued)
The bugle blew. The CR elites started in the front; there were other groups including few social advocacy groups for better life, against discrimation etc., There were people of all types - old and young, men and women.
We brought the rear of the pack. Rajesh, Akila, VT, KK and myself were running together - for the first time. The comfort for me was that I was with better runners; The ambulance and the cop vans followed. We felt like some royal road party being escorted; Some students and passers-by cheered us to run faster.
Personally I had a bag with couple of bananas, gatorade sachets, and about 6 caps that were stuffed during the start by some over-eager distributors of one of the sponsors. I was wearing goggles and cap when I started the run.
The other groups picked up speed, but as we thought - we ran at a slow pace. Post Santhome church ( around 2.5k), the escorts decided to ahead, as we were oscillating at near-walk pace and jogging ( about 8 min/h)
All this time, there was a promise of rain as clouds covered the eastern skies. With such positive promise, around the 4th km, we tried to accelarate a bit. We were doing 7.2 km/h. Into the 5th km, we had reached the Adyar park; the back-pack started weighing me down. With no visible solution around, I took my cap and goggles off, and started running.
Once in a while, along the Adyar bridge and the service lane leading to the Besant Nagar Avenue, Akila + Rajesh would over take me, and I would play catch up in turns. VT had dropped off, and KK had gone ahead.
Here we saw the return party - some barefooted champs, a shirtless Westerner, some people who have to win to earn the prize money for the return trip coming back. It was then 7k for us and 14k for them... then we saw the first bunch of CR's - Anand, Senthil et al.
Slowly, around the 8k mark, we found ourselves sticking at 7 min/h speed; then a clutch of Chennai runner elites and other runners waved us on our way back. By this time, the backpack was becoming heavier and heavier and I slowed down to 7.5 min/h mark.
The water points were excellently operated; too sad to see that runners, including me, could only could take few sips out of the 500 ml bottle and throw it off - lest it should become a baggage.
We could see some early morning walkers and sleepy-eyed bystanders looking like ' what the hell is going on'. The roads were free, and the overzealous cops kept the jaywalkers off with exhortations and stick-waving. The sky had opened up, and humidity was increasing.
Rajesh and Akila started moving ahead; I ran at a slower pace. Few people had started walking, and I was passing them. That was a good motivation.
Around the 11k mark (along the Elliott's beach), I saw another clutch of chennai runners - lot of cheering from them at the round about point; I could also catch up with Rajesh and Akila. There was a 200 m walk break. Till this point, things had gone well. The weather, the organization, running conditions, and my internal self were going fine.
10 k - 1.12 min at 7.2 min/h; Was feeling slightly exhausted, but Ok; Half of half done, half to go...should be easy, or so I thought. As they say, surprises are always round the corner...
( to be continued)
Monday, August 30, 2010
My First HM- part 2, the road to the race...
Day before: August 28th, 2010
That Saturday, had to mentally be prepared after the shuttle-travels of the week. Also had errands to run. Little sleep, as reached only late Friday night.
Already, the chatter on the 'google groups' channel was going on. Logistics, car pooling, assembly points, bib numbers, decisions to run et al.. flooded the channel. And more...
Also during the first half, was debating whether to run or not - as we had our Mom's cataract operation scheduled at 10:30 am on race day.
Errands were run in the first half and post lunch - THE ACTUAL DECISION TO RUN WAS MADE. I took my registration form printed out in a Internet Cafe.
On the way, called and pushed my half-hearted brother to run for company. He is my initiator into running ( Ref - Baptised in Bangalore !!! my first 10k ...). So together we went to pick up the bib.
It was Presidency college ( or not sure). The crowd was less, but chaotic. At the entrance, T-shirts were on sale. Little further, a set of girls and boys were standing and looked busy. My brother got his registration done- Rs 100.
For me, on inquiry, we were sent to another set of girls, one of who took a glance at the form, and then gave another to full - it was self declaration of my medical history.
Met Anand ( who would turn out to be the fastest Chennai runner in this marathon), Senthil, KP Suresh and friends and Vilva at various stages.
Step 1: Height and Weight - my height was higher, and weight was same. The doc made a wrong entry( he added 10kg by mistake) and with a laughter, corrected it when I pointed out. Looked like the doc- testers were from some med college, wet behind the ears.
Step 2: Another group with Steth's asked questions about my experience about running - like ' how long have you been running?'. Next second, a stamp saying FIT was put on the med-sheet. I understood that was a ECG/ Cardio test!!!
Once outside, bought a Marg T-shirt for 100 bucks. The blokes did not have the desired color for my size. Anyways, the cotton outfit would be reduced to my kid's size after a wash. So we moved on.
That night, got a facebook entry from Sudha with the laundry list of gadgets for prep. Chennai runners T-shirt, a matching blue shorts, and my newer of the two pairs of my running shoes- Red !! Went by my wife's suggestion, as it would look good and bright !!! So, I went by that list -except for the headband, but added vaseline and gatorade, into my backpack.
And logistically, I was to pickup Sudha at 430, Akila and VT at 5:00, and bro at 5:05 on the race day morning. Wondered if I should put a ' TRANSPORTER' sticker to my car - waggy would have liked it.
That night, I dreamed of finishing-the tape at the finishing point, with lot of people cheering and the waves from the east, agreeing to the people's wish. This dream came at least 4 times, if I can recall. And so I went to sleep.
Raceday awaited on the other side.
Race day: August 29, 2010 - Morning :
Was up by 345. The alarm was tuned to 400, but somehow was widely awake earlier. Butterflies in the dawn: Location- my stomach. After the ablutions, was preparing the backpack when all of my passengers called / texted me. I was out by 420 - outside the sky was dark, no moon and the air was filled with humidity.
Sudha was geared up, and seemed fresh and fit. Akila and VT, her husband walked right out of the bed, and after 10 minutes of wait, we proceeded to pick up Rajesh- my bro. Rajesh was sitting in front of his portigo, and dressed to run. I know his mental makeup- and I could tell he was going to finish easy.
About couple of us wanted coffee, and we discussed about some restaurants. We went across the war memorial, the last year's starting point, and finally parked our car in Island Grounds. Once out of the car, we checked the eastern sky. A couple of drops fell, confirming that the sky would have some cloud cover at least till the start.
Sudha complained of a minor niggle in her leg. I said ' pain is mental' and she challenged me.
Met with some official friends, and Chennai runners - who were all pepped up and prepared. We missed out on the parking lot group photos. On the way to the start point, we found about 100 soldiers, with their rifles across their shoulders running for practice. We waved at them. The coffee was quickly forgotten.
Once the starting point was visible, we were asked to show our bibs by over-eager cops, and asked if we were running 7k or 21k. Anyways, the checks were only superficial, as VT and Akila, without bibs passed at least 3 of the check points.
We could hear the loud speaker blaring in Tamil - exhorting the runners to give up (!!!) if it is not possible to finish; then came a barrage of drum-beats from our own and famous 'Chennai Sivamani'.
Meanwhile the Chennai runners did their three cheers - such a enthusiastic bunch are we, that we were a small blue sea in the midst of myriads colors. Could see some Caucasians and Far-Easterners; Akila, VT, Rajesh, KK and I planned to run together. Sudha decided to run with Soundarya and her husband.
Suddenly, as if somebody remembered, a 10 minute filler of effusive praises on the organisers and the sponsors happened;
Post this, a weird oath, which talked about the spirit of marathon and abiding of rules and regulations followed. That was a verbal signature of a declaration form.
The usual Chennai Marathon beginning - same delays! But the difference - I was behind the start line... I could not believe that this was real and happening... and was waiting for the starting whistle...
And the moment did come !!!
( To be continued)
That Saturday, had to mentally be prepared after the shuttle-travels of the week. Also had errands to run. Little sleep, as reached only late Friday night.
Already, the chatter on the 'google groups' channel was going on. Logistics, car pooling, assembly points, bib numbers, decisions to run et al.. flooded the channel. And more...
Also during the first half, was debating whether to run or not - as we had our Mom's cataract operation scheduled at 10:30 am on race day.
Errands were run in the first half and post lunch - THE ACTUAL DECISION TO RUN WAS MADE. I took my registration form printed out in a Internet Cafe.
On the way, called and pushed my half-hearted brother to run for company. He is my initiator into running ( Ref - Baptised in Bangalore !!! my first 10k ...). So together we went to pick up the bib.
It was Presidency college ( or not sure). The crowd was less, but chaotic. At the entrance, T-shirts were on sale. Little further, a set of girls and boys were standing and looked busy. My brother got his registration done- Rs 100.
For me, on inquiry, we were sent to another set of girls, one of who took a glance at the form, and then gave another to full - it was self declaration of my medical history.
Met Anand ( who would turn out to be the fastest Chennai runner in this marathon), Senthil, KP Suresh and friends and Vilva at various stages.
Step 1: Height and Weight - my height was higher, and weight was same. The doc made a wrong entry( he added 10kg by mistake) and with a laughter, corrected it when I pointed out. Looked like the doc- testers were from some med college, wet behind the ears.
Step 2: Another group with Steth's asked questions about my experience about running - like ' how long have you been running?'. Next second, a stamp saying FIT was put on the med-sheet. I understood that was a ECG/ Cardio test!!!
Once outside, bought a Marg T-shirt for 100 bucks. The blokes did not have the desired color for my size. Anyways, the cotton outfit would be reduced to my kid's size after a wash. So we moved on.
That night, got a facebook entry from Sudha with the laundry list of gadgets for prep. Chennai runners T-shirt, a matching blue shorts, and my newer of the two pairs of my running shoes- Red !! Went by my wife's suggestion, as it would look good and bright !!! So, I went by that list -except for the headband, but added vaseline and gatorade, into my backpack.
And logistically, I was to pickup Sudha at 430, Akila and VT at 5:00, and bro at 5:05 on the race day morning. Wondered if I should put a ' TRANSPORTER' sticker to my car - waggy would have liked it.
That night, I dreamed of finishing-the tape at the finishing point, with lot of people cheering and the waves from the east, agreeing to the people's wish. This dream came at least 4 times, if I can recall. And so I went to sleep.
Raceday awaited on the other side.
Race day: August 29, 2010 - Morning :
Was up by 345. The alarm was tuned to 400, but somehow was widely awake earlier. Butterflies in the dawn: Location- my stomach. After the ablutions, was preparing the backpack when all of my passengers called / texted me. I was out by 420 - outside the sky was dark, no moon and the air was filled with humidity.
Sudha was geared up, and seemed fresh and fit. Akila and VT, her husband walked right out of the bed, and after 10 minutes of wait, we proceeded to pick up Rajesh- my bro. Rajesh was sitting in front of his portigo, and dressed to run. I know his mental makeup- and I could tell he was going to finish easy.
About couple of us wanted coffee, and we discussed about some restaurants. We went across the war memorial, the last year's starting point, and finally parked our car in Island Grounds. Once out of the car, we checked the eastern sky. A couple of drops fell, confirming that the sky would have some cloud cover at least till the start.
Sudha complained of a minor niggle in her leg. I said ' pain is mental' and she challenged me.
Met with some official friends, and Chennai runners - who were all pepped up and prepared. We missed out on the parking lot group photos. On the way to the start point, we found about 100 soldiers, with their rifles across their shoulders running for practice. We waved at them. The coffee was quickly forgotten.
Once the starting point was visible, we were asked to show our bibs by over-eager cops, and asked if we were running 7k or 21k. Anyways, the checks were only superficial, as VT and Akila, without bibs passed at least 3 of the check points.
We could hear the loud speaker blaring in Tamil - exhorting the runners to give up (!!!) if it is not possible to finish; then came a barrage of drum-beats from our own and famous 'Chennai Sivamani'.
Meanwhile the Chennai runners did their three cheers - such a enthusiastic bunch are we, that we were a small blue sea in the midst of myriads colors. Could see some Caucasians and Far-Easterners; Akila, VT, Rajesh, KK and I planned to run together. Sudha decided to run with Soundarya and her husband.
Suddenly, as if somebody remembered, a 10 minute filler of effusive praises on the organisers and the sponsors happened;
Post this, a weird oath, which talked about the spirit of marathon and abiding of rules and regulations followed. That was a verbal signature of a declaration form.
The usual Chennai Marathon beginning - same delays! But the difference - I was behind the start line... I could not believe that this was real and happening... and was waiting for the starting whistle...
And the moment did come !!!
( To be continued)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
My first HM - part 1: The preparations...
I am going back to the day I declared that I will run a half. Around May 19th of this year. That was hot summer. I had targetted to finish around 3 hours 30 minutes.
I was told that running 16-18k would take me to the finish line. But I tend to disagree, as you would recognize from my version atleast.
Incidently, May 2010 also brought in a changed role, a national role, where I had to manage about couple of clients across South India. It meant more time at railway stations, bus depots and airports.
We were going strong with our Velachery chapter, and we had done our first 10k. May 23rd, I ran my first prepared 10k race ( even though I have run about 3x5k races, and one 10k before) in Sunfeast 10k Bangalore.
With confidence which came due to the strong finish in the Sunfeast, my training began.
In May and June, we had a simple routine. Monday - rest day; Tuesday - hills ( flyovers), Wednesday - easy runs, Thursday - Intervals and Sunday Long runs.
Week day trainings did become erratic in July and August, However, the focus on long runs was intense in July. From 10K, did a 13k couple of times. Then did couple of 16k's and a near-2-hour-18k in July. That told me that I should run the 21.1k in 2.30.
Then work stepped up pressure and travel time . During August, have travelled 9 times - including morning-evening shuttle flights. Love for running meant that I carried my running kit all over.
Early August, thanks to a push from our Chennai Runner elites, ran a checkered 10x10 challenge ( 10 km for 10 days). Also registered for Chennai Half Marathon and ECR Half Marathon during this period.
And the two weeks leading to Marathon - ZERO week day runs. That set the stage for the Chennai Marathon.
All the training, motivation and focus would be challenged on race day. Surprise was at store.
( To be continued)
I was told that running 16-18k would take me to the finish line. But I tend to disagree, as you would recognize from my version atleast.
Incidently, May 2010 also brought in a changed role, a national role, where I had to manage about couple of clients across South India. It meant more time at railway stations, bus depots and airports.
We were going strong with our Velachery chapter, and we had done our first 10k. May 23rd, I ran my first prepared 10k race ( even though I have run about 3x5k races, and one 10k before) in Sunfeast 10k Bangalore.
With confidence which came due to the strong finish in the Sunfeast, my training began.
In May and June, we had a simple routine. Monday - rest day; Tuesday - hills ( flyovers), Wednesday - easy runs, Thursday - Intervals and Sunday Long runs.
Week day trainings did become erratic in July and August, However, the focus on long runs was intense in July. From 10K, did a 13k couple of times. Then did couple of 16k's and a near-2-hour-18k in July. That told me that I should run the 21.1k in 2.30.
Then work stepped up pressure and travel time . During August, have travelled 9 times - including morning-evening shuttle flights. Love for running meant that I carried my running kit all over.
Early August, thanks to a push from our Chennai Runner elites, ran a checkered 10x10 challenge ( 10 km for 10 days). Also registered for Chennai Half Marathon and ECR Half Marathon during this period.
And the two weeks leading to Marathon - ZERO week day runs. That set the stage for the Chennai Marathon.
All the training, motivation and focus would be challenged on race day. Surprise was at store.
( To be continued)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)