Whats the right distance?

All right, lets admit. Twitter has almost killed writing anything more than 140 characters. The blog that i used to tend to quite often, until couple of years ago has fallen somewhat silent. But what if i wish to say something in more than 140 characters or pithy sentences on facebook? Hence the revival of this blog with this post!

Extend the metaphor, what is the right distance to go? Right size for anything? Rightsize is actually a verb now, and it depends on what ones appetite is and more importantly how much one can endure. When i picked up running in the US, the right distance for me was a 5k. Later in Hyderabad i redefined it to 21.1 km. I am fairly clear that i do not wish to move up to the 42.2 km league - not that it is not possible, but at this stage i feel it is not worth the effort. The same question applied when i moved cities last year. How long does one persevere in overcoming the inevitable initial teething pains?

An idea that is quite liberating and thereby helping one stay the course, is to define the distance or time frame upfront - set expectations with oneself and dont give up so easily. This could apply to a diet, a running regimen, job, a career etc.The following was a tweet few days ago as i was pondering this:

The funny problem with the mindset of a long distance runner is that when you face trouble, you run deeper into it.

  Nice way to end a blog post, by quoting a tweet!

Pench Trip - Croquet, Riverbed Running (4 of 4)

Sunday was our final day at Junglethlon, and that morning after breakfast we played a game of croquet. I had never played this Victorian game before but found it very interesting. Pradeep planted some hoops and sticks on the ground at various places and gave us a wooden mallet and four balls. Each player had to strike the ball through the hoops, hitting others’ balls to get ahead. It felt like a combination of golf (the putting) and billiards (hitting others’ balls).

After croquet, the final event of Junglethlon was river bed running. We trekked a bit to get to the river and then ran some 6 to 8 kms. Parts of the river were very scenic. I found a few trees in the dry riverbed that had massive bulbous roots, trunks and even branches making them look like they were made of potatoes!

Finally the time to disperse had come, and after the last meal together, the team left for Nagpur. On the way Pradeep showed us one of the schools that he supports and explained about the Pench Rakshak program. The work they do at the grassroots level in community support and education is amazing! We reached Nagpur railway station just in time, and said our goodbyes capping off a wonderful trip.

The Second Half Marathon

Hyderabad had its 2009 edition of Half & Full Marathon events today. And it was the occasion for me to complete my second half marathon. A decision to go for it was taken just two weeks back, in the euphoria after the Freedom Ride on Aug 15th. It was much like cramming for an exam overnight, and the preparation was not fully adequate. In terms of long runs, I could do one 10k run and another 9k. I was not sure of the 'how' but blindly went for it.

A big bummer was that i took the 'carb loading' thing too seriously. I must have overate yesterday and when I got up this morning, realized the tummy was not feeling right . Things could have gone worse, but i managed the run at a sedate pace and refrained from eating much (contrary to what is advised). The foot injury sustained in a charged-up Karate class was not helping much either. Overall I managed to still shave eleven minutes from my previous HM and clocked 2:27:38. I hope to improve this with better prep next time around.

I must thank the Hyderabad Runners group for the encouragement and guidance without which i could not have imagined running these kinds of distances. In my later teenage years i had sustained major shin injuries and any kind of running was fully out of question. The group led by the highly motivated Rajesh Vetcha, Satish Mandalika, Devyani Halder, VV Prasad, Vasu (vnug), Anirudh Pandey, Divya and many more, is a great example of excellence combined with humility.

The event itself is becoming more and more popular. This year there were several people from Kenya (where else, of course!), USA, South Africa etc. Several old men were running briskly easily beating people forty years younger to them! Many ladies and girls were also doing very well. Overall the run was well organized with lots of volunteers . Special mention to Riyaz, Srikanth who biked down from Habsiguda to Hitex, Sumanth who biked from Yousufguda, Deepthi who travelling from Fatehnagar and stayed at a hostel overnight, many more from my workplace. Let's hope this run gets a much bigger crowd next year.

Back in the Running

After a bout of sickness and a  subsequent recovery due to travel (both vacation and business), I hit the treadmill this weekend with a couple of 5ks. Two days ago I did a tentative 3k to get the legs loosened up a bit.

The biggest lesson i have now learnt about running is to NOT over-stretch oneself. Last month i thought i was doing well with the simple Hal Higdon training schedule and completed four weeks of it. Well, almost. Then a  long run with the Hyderabad Runners group happened and when I was supposed to run 5 miles, i got inspired (perhaps overconfident) and ran 11.2 kms (7 miles) with a big part of it on a hard surface. This naturally weakened the body more than what was 'scheduled' and some careless eating proved to be the tipping point. Some more business travel in the following days did not actually help in the recovery. So here i am having lost two to three weeks of the schedule but perhaps a bit wiser!

Nike Human Race

Nike has organised a world wide 10k race today touting this as the largest such race ever. Those not in the chosen 25 cities can run on their own, and need to sync their runs using the Nike plus ipod kit. Nike is raising $50 per runner and donating $5 to charity, wonder what the cost breakup is. Some experienced runners found this run amusing, but the sheer scale of this and the technology driven nature makes this unique.

I chose Indira Park in Hyderabad for my run - approximately six and half laps. I am still recovering from my comparitively long runs and somehow managed to complete it. It felt good and the fact that lakhs of people world over are running meant something. It was also a proper 10k i ran with some restraint and carrying a water bottle throughout. So i do not feel as terrible as last week.

Recovery and Run

The Sunday run took its toll on me as i ran without any water or an eat! The weather was not very cool either. Even after i got home, breakfast and refill were not on my mind. So the next four days I spent recovering from sore muscles and finally this morning went to Indira Park for a 6 km run. I am deliberately keeping my pace slow (it is anyway fairly slow) to avoid injury.

Rahul Varghese wrote a very nice article "Wake up call from Beijing" exhorting Indians to take up more running. See it here. I like his missionary zeal which was on display ten days ago at the Hyd Marathon.

My first run with "Hyderabad Runners"

Today i had an opportunity to run with the Hyd Runners group at KBR park. We did the inner loop (4km) first and then the outer loop (6km). The much more experienced runners (several had multiple marathons under their belt) were gracious enough to let me run along with them though i am still a rookie. Rajesh egged me on and pulled me through the inner loop of 4kms. They then took off for the outer loop and i followed, miserable most of the time but determined to finish. The outer loop was almost 6 kms and had several steep ups and downs (some were just steps with no trail). I was surprised to see a very beautiful lake hidden inside the park, from one of the peaks in the outer trail. Was happy to eventually finish in 1 hour 09 minutes.

Hyderabad Runners organise a great Marathon

The Hyderabad Runners group, led by the resourceful Rajesh Vetcha, organised a marathon run last week, in association with the Hyderabad 10k foundation. I got to do a bit of '"squirrel's service" (ఉడుత భక్తి) as a volunteer in the UOH leg of the race (a squirrel had deposited grains of sand when Lord Rama was building a bridge over the sea to Lanka).

The event pulled together about 600 runners from all over the world and included the Grey Hound contingent from AP Police too. A very well organized run that drew appreciation from one and all. Hoping for more such events in Hyd and I look forward to run in them in addition to cheering from the sidelines.

Nike+ Goals

Some more on the Nike+ coolaid I have been drinking of late. Here's my Nike+ goal that is helping me get into those running shoes more often.

Nike Plus Rocks!

I have been using Nike plus for about a month now and feel compelled to write this. Nike plus is an excellent example of a social network engineered by Nike and Apple together. The gadget itself is a combination of a Nike+ sensor and an ipod nano accessory. Of course you also need a ipod nano and a Nike+ capable running shoe that has a built in socket to hold the sensor.

Once you are set up, the sheer joy of integrating your music/podcasts with running is beyond words. Each time the ipod syncs, the run data goes to the nikeplus.com website where one can track the runs, goals, challenges, resolutions, trophies, route maps etc. The route map feature is great - noticed though that Hyderabad did not have as many maps as Bangalore and went about creating a few myself. All the running related activity has been superbly organised, letting one focus on getting motivated and staying the course. I am now close to completing my target of running 40kms this month and hope to set more targets in the coming months to eventually accomplish my goal of completing a half marathon.

The Running Bug

Things kind of cooled down after the recent 10k I completed. However couple of days back I was in Mumbai and saw a banner for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. That planted a seed in my mind which kept growing and this morning I was flush with excitement at the prospect of going to Mumbai again on Jan 20 (about 6 weeks from now) to run my first half marathon. After checking a few websites about training schedules, I figured that I need at least 10-12 weeks of training before the attempt. That cooled down the enthu but then I saw several other cities hosting running events in India. I am now looking forward to the Chennai Marathon whose date is yet to be announced.

Hyderabad 10k - What a Run!

Last week I wrote about the then planned Hyderabad 10k sponsored by Radha Realty. Well the run is done and what an event has it been! About twenty five thousand people turned up and it was like carnival time. All along the route one could see several bands play live music of all kings: Jazz, Rock, Metal, Telugu Film Music, Hindi Film Music to name a few. A few people sky dived from 6000 ft in air, dodged the thousands of colourful balloons let loose to land at the venue. After the run, there were a series of onstage shows blasting more Hindi Film Music. There were movie stars, sports celebs and politicians all hogging the limelight, but the true winners were the thousands of young men and women who woke up early in the day for the cause.

On the sidelines, the event also highlighted the many paradoxes that characterise India. While it attracted the young and upwardly mobile crowd in huge numbers, there were also several street boys busy collecting empty water bottles and left over food from the grounds. The Hussain Sagar lake venue was picturesque but also reeking of foul smell at several places, clearly lot of cleanup is still left. And at one part of the route, one could see a barber go about his regular business on the pavement blissfully unaware of the hungama around.

All in all, the event is gathering more and more critical mass and is setting the trend for future such events. Champion Chips were used for the first time. To me personally the fact that I finished a 10k for the first time was a big accomplishment. The event broke a myth I held, that completing a 10k requires one to be majorly fit. Fitness does impact the time taken, but finishing the 10k is something I now believe many people can aim for. I held a similar myth about 5k runs three years ago but that soon changed after I attempted my first one. I now hope to complete a 10k in under an hour, determined not to let go of this momentum. The goal after that is the half marathon version in next year's run.

10K Run in Hyderabad

Hyderabad gears up to host a 10k Run about a week from now. This is the fourth time this annual event is being held and this year the expectation is that it will have about twenty thousand participants, an all time high. A half marathon is also being included, hopefully we will have the first marathon ever as well at Hyderabad next year.

Now those familiar with how this goes in the US or other Western countries, all kinds of runs 5k, 10k, 22k, 44k, 50k and even 100k are common events. The processes to organise the runs, canvass participants, publish results (check this site) are highly streamlined. Hyderabad 10k aims to do exactly the same for Hyderabad; though the whole affair seems to be taking a lot of time, effort and money, eventually this should reduce. One of the leading organizers Padmaja Reddy when asked if she is running the 10k remarked I run the rest of the year so that Hyderabad can run on this day. Among the other organisers, Pullela Gopichand is an amazing individual - he is one of the greatest Badminton players India ever had but is so down to earth.

Though I did run a 5k in the summer of last year at a not so bad speed, this 10k will be a challenge being my first. Looking forward to finish it at the least!