Category Archives: Running

My First Marathon Experience

Running, ,

6:45 am. Just 15 minutes to go for the start of something I had been waiting for almost a year now – The Wipro Chennai Marathon. As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts(read here), I had registered for a 10 km run, and my only goal was to complete the run without stopping/walking. The bonus would be a timing of under 1 Hour 20 minutes, which I had clocked a few times during the practice runs.

Bad beginning

Murphy’s law was at work for the 90 minutes prior to start of the event. First, my shoes and socks got completely wet on my way to the Railway Station. Second, my scooter skidded and as result, my leg sprained and my arm got a deep cut after hitting some sharp substance. And then, the special train which was supposed to arrive at 6 am, never came and we had to take the regular train. And finally, we reached the starting line at 6:45 am to see a huge line of about 7000 people getting ready to run.

The Run Begins

7:00am. The excitement was palpable, and the blaring music added to the anticipation.The huge crowd slowly started moving past the “Start” line. The runners had the option to run from wherever they wanted, based on their anticipated finishing time. Slower runners gave way to the faster runners thereby helping the fast runners avoid the need to jostle with the crowd, which would have reduced their speed. Since everyone had a timing chip(possibly RFID), the slow start did not matter.

I started running along with the crowd that anticipated to finish the race in about 1 Hr 20 minutes, and the crowd was heavy in this group. The first 3 kilometers were a struggle to run without hitting anyone. Some runners suddenly crossed my path causing some annoyance. I had my music player on and I tried to tune out everything else, without much success. By this time, I could see the half marathoners running past us in the opposite direction towards the finish line. These half marathoners had started about 1 hr 45 minutes earlier than us, while the full marathoners started 2 hours earlier.

Most of the 5th km was over the Adyar flyover, and the elevation was something I did not expect.

 Paint Orange

The view from the flyover was amazing but most of the runners were slowing down and many started to walk. Some runners fainted or gott hurt. Thankfully, the medical team was nearby. Just when I started feeling the desire to stop and walk, I saw a group of blade runners walk up the bridge with single minded dedication. I also see differently abled people in their wheelchairs pushing hard to complete the race. The inspiration continued throughout the run. ( More on that is here).

As I reach the Andhra Mahila Sabha where we take a U turn and head back, I looked at the watch and I felt disappointed – it said 45 minutes over. I felt let down because I used to complete 5 km in 40 minutes, and here I had taken 5 minutes more. Thankfully, I was wrong because the distance I covered in 45 minutes was actually 6 km, and not 5 km as I had initially thought.

After climbing the flyover again on the way back, I was ready for the final stretch of the race.

The Finish

During the last 3 km, I shifted gears and started to accelerate. I started playing some peppy songs and started counting the number of people I had overtaken. The legs started to ache, but the realization that there were only a few kilometers left was comforting. And then, I got the sight of Madhya Kailas temple, from where the finish line was less than 1 km. I started to sprint and a few minutes later, I saw the finish line and there was wild cheering from the spectators on both side of the road. I saw the time at the finish line – 1Hr 18 minutes and I ran fast  enough to ensure that the I go past the finish line before 1 Hr 19 minutes. I immediately got garlanded with the medal and was given the directions to the breakfast counter.

While I was happy that I completed the race below 1 Hour 20 minutes, I also knew that that 1 Hr 18 minutes did not tally with my ipod timer which showed 1 Hr 16 odd minutes. When I met one of my fellow runners, he gave a pleasant news that he got an sms about his timing. Since I did not carry my mobile phone, I had to wait till I met my wife in the ground to get my mobile phone. I eagerly took it from her and looked at the timing – It said “ 1 Hour 16 Minutes 15 Seconds”. That was a good timing, considering this was my first marathon.

While it was tough when running, the 10k seemed easy after it was complete. But this is only the beginning. What next? A Full Marathon in December 2014? You bet!!

PS: Oh, I forgot..The wet shoes did not make any difference, nor did the gash in the elbow.

6 Dollops of Inspiration from “The Wipro Chennai Marathon 2013”

Running, ,

Like most of us, I have tons of excuses not to run, or get out of the bed and do some exercise – Oh, it might rain when I run and I don’t want to get drenched. Oh, I feel like I might get a sore throat. Oh, I don’t have a mobile app to track my run. Oh, my T-shirt/shoe is not a branded one – And you know when one realizes that these things are trivial and petty? When one runs, or witnesses a Marathon.

I ran my first marathon yesterday, and every time I felt the urge to stop, take it easy and walk to the finish line, the sight of some of my fellow runners injected a burst of energy in me which no energy drink can do. Here are a few of them that will stay in my mind forever. I experienced a few of them myself, and a few others were beautifully captured by Runsters. (Read till the end, the best is reserved for the last).

1. Age – How does it matter?

Runsters- kid1

Don’t know much distance this kid walked, but hey,does it really matter? 🙂

Runsters - Young2

Enjoying their run!!

Runsters- Age

What can I say?

2. Unable to walk – So what?

Runsters - Young

 

Runsters - Aged

 3. Being confined to their wheelchairs does not diminish their passion for a Marathon

Runsters 1

 

Runsters- Wheelchair

 4. Blade runners 

Runsters - Blade runners 2

They may have been unfortunate to have lost their legs, but fortunate not to have lost their determination!!

Runsters - Blade runners 3

The happy smile says it all!!

Runsters - Blade runners

39-year-old Kargil War Hero – Devender Pal Singh lost one of his legs in 1999. Here is a report from The Hindu ” He(Devedra Pal Singh) helped another physically challenged person, 18-year-old Gokul, get across the finish line. Singh said “He reminds me of what I was 20 years ago. I want him to win. Today, when I held his hand as he finished his race, he said it was like his father holding him. I cannot get a better gift than this.”(Read full story here).

5. The barefooted and bare-chested Gandhian Runner – Vishwanathan Jayaraman

Runsters - Viswanathan

He runs 42km every other day. He spins his own cloth. Meet the Gandhian marathon man – http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/7U6Fy70zokk88UmNFsVfqN/Beliefs–The-barefoot-runner.html)

6. The girl

I could not find a better title for this section. Read on.

runsters - Girl

This picture  appeared in Facebook and I was curious to know what happened to this bare foot runner. Here is what happened, in the words of Mr. Gratian Mathew Govias who posted the following in Facebook“ You guys should know the whole story. Here goes. ….. I was riding the patrol duty and noticed this kid running at an amazing pace. Alarm bells went off when she skipped hydrating at 2 water points, so I kind of decided to watch her closely. So I started with encouraging her……found her running in a daze. Before the next water point, I kept repeatedly telling her to drink water and electral. Initially she said no but at the water point she took 2 cups and drank. After the turn around half way mark she looked at me and said, Sir yenuku fever iruku(Translation : “ Sir, I have fever”) and I realised that the kid was already delirious. So stayed with her and ensured that she hydrated well at every point and also from my water bottle. As she kept coming closer to the finish, she kept getting stronger. Then I gave her targets of runners ahead to catch. She ran strong, brilliantly and towards the end she (2km to go) she said thank you, so I told her the best thanks would be for me to see her catch a runner I pointed to about 200 meters ahead and she said, Sir, unuk kaga (Translation: “ Sir, I will do it for you” )and off she went. Result I think she came 2nd in the woman’s category. Didnt see her finish but what a run and with fever, totally humbled and in awe of her performance. I don’t know her name nor from where she had the guts and strength to run like she did. Amazing.”

And guess what? This girl, L. Ambika, is the second runner-up in the women’s Half Marathon.

Woman second runner up

There are more stories like these, but the bottomline? I will no more offer lame excuses to avoid running!!! How about you?

My First 10K Running

Running, ,

Finally…. I completed 1o Kms of running today!! Non-Stop during the weekly Sunday run!! My previous best till a week back was 6 kms at a stretch. Then on Thursday last week(22 August), I hit a new high.. 8 km. Three days later, here I am, scaling another peak of 10 km. Exhilarating!!! Never dreamed that I could run 10 kms.

Till December last year, I had no intention of running. I was content with the occasional visit to the Gym. But at some point, I realised that my weight was not reducing and I was not feeling physically fit. And I also asked myself – what is the point of having nice biceps if I am not fit and I am accumulating fat in my body? That is when I decided to abandon the smelly gyms in favour of the fresh air of the outdoors. Fortunately for me, the beach was nearby.

The Marina beach in Chennai is 4 km long, and has some interesting buildings on one side(the other side being the sea – Bay of Bengal). Since I run in the mornings, I get to see the sun rising slowly on the horizon. The breeze is also quite cool during that part of the day and provides an added incentive to run on the beach.

In December 2012, I read about the Wipro Chennai Marathon which took place inside the scenic IIT Madras campus(Incidentally, I spent a year inside the campus as a Masters student). Around the same time, I also started seeing the tagged pictures of one of my friends from the Wipro Marathon and Auroville Marathon. That gave the inspiration to start running.

In January 2013, I decided to do a 10k in the Wipro Chennai Marathon 2013 and started preparing. I had 11 months time to prepare and set myself  a very easy target – run 1 extra km per month.

The first month was difficult. I couldn’t complete even 1 km without really panting and knees hurting. Gradually it became easier to run longer distances but I was lagging behind my self-imposed targets. By end of June 2013, I was still at 4 km per session as against the target of 6 km. One of my friends suggested that I join the Chennai Runners group of which she was part of, but I did not like road running and also running in a group. I liked the solitude when running.

Then came the announcement of the Wipro Chennai Marathon 2013 in July and this time, I decided that I need some additional motivation. I joined Chennai Runners’ Alwarpet running group, and I indeed got that additional motivation and more importantly, valuable guidance to run long distances. Earlier, I used to run daily, but with little improvement. But now, with just 3 days per week of running, I am able to run more. Within 2 months of joining Chennai Runners, I have scaled the 10 k peak.

But this is only one side of the story. Even though I covered the distance, the time I took for completing 10k was 1 Hour and 25 Minutes, which is extremely slow for regular runners. Most seasoned runners would have completed 20 km in this time.

But hey, I am running my own race and not others’. Why bother? Since this is my own race, my next aim is to reduce the time taken to run the 10 k from 1 Hour 25 Minutes to less than 60 minutes. And I have 3 more months to do that before the Marathon.

Chennai Marathon, here I come!!

Chennai marathon(Image credit : Chennai Runners)

PS:  While on the subject of Marathon, here is an inspiring TED talk on a the impact of Marathon in the war torn country, Lebanon.