Sooper fun - Sooper Run - Bangalore Midnight Marathon

Sooper is the only word for this run. I decided to run the half marathon [21.097 km] this time [my first one at that]. After finishing 2 marathons [ the 42.195 km ones in Bangalore and Mumbai] in intense pain and agony, my goal here at the bangalore midnight run was to "enjoy" the run and finish the half marathon in 2 hours and 10 mins without any injury or pain.

Weeks before this run, we [chennai runners] trained hard for this one. Usually, i run atleast 3 times a week, for 3 months leading up to the marathon. But this time, i was in the worst fitness state when i started practising in feb/march. I soon realised that if i ever want to get better at running long distance, i need to start on Yoga. Yoga lessons clearly helped and the benefits are so obvious - from the days of heavy breathing at 30 minute mark, i was able to comfortably run for 1:30 at the midnight run.

Running - alone is never fun. The run is always fun, with a gang. Training runs with Chennai Runners have been a lot of fun. The bonding that happens over an intense activity is very difficult to explain. Meeting up at crazy hours and running in pain - this gives a "high" that is understood easily by the "clan"!

I was looking forward to the run at Bangalore since many of my pals were running along. Its an "energising" thing when you recoganise a pal running along - we push each other and help each other to exceed limits. The running course at Bangalore wasn't exactly runner friendly , what with some steep and gradual gradients. It was 5.5 km lap, run 4 times for the half marathon.

Lap 1 was a comfortable one. Did it in 26 mins. It was a comfortable run and i mentally noted down the stretches where i can run hard and where i need to slow down, in the next few laps [ though should've been donw before the race]. Lap 2, i was running along with Balaji [ first timer and was pushing himself to run quick]. Saw a few pals running in the opposite direction and shouted the "go get it's" and kept running.

Completed lap 2 comfortably by the 59 min mark. Lap 3 was the slowest. I was running hard on the flats and down hill section but was reduced to a very slow jog on the uphills. Sometimes near the steepest gradient, i walked a wee bit to the top and started running. Completed lap 3 by 1 hour and 38 mins.

I was not in any pain and i was really enjoying the run, like never before. I was in the zone and wanted to finish the race strong and hard. 200 mts into the run, Abhi told me that another of the chennai runners - Sandy was just ahead. This gave me the motivation to run hard in the last lap. Switched music in my IPOD to Joe Satriani's. I always ran fast and hard to his tunes. Just the perfect song for the fast last lap - Ran the flats hard, paced the uphills and soon had Sandy in sight. I was picking up speed and went past Sandy, about a km from the finish. One of my wishes has been to sprint to the finish line in the half/full marathon - I just did that in this run. Sprinted to the finish line ! Did a 2:15 half marathon. There is some joy in finishing a long run in a painfree way and strong and hard - the high after... is truly HIGH.

Finished behind the target time by 5 mins, but the course was a bit on the tougher side for a better finish. But the end was a happy one - never was in any pain, sprinted to the finish, had some juice left to run more and importantly, lot of pals were around to celebrate. Each of them had a terrific run themselves. Boston had a fantastic run, so did Bajji and Abhinav. Shumit, Hari, Mahesh, Dayal, Vignesh, Aja, Ravi, Collins and Sriram formed a part of one real happy midnight's dream.

P.S. 3 weeks ago, after my runs in Coimbatore and Blore, ran in Chennai after a 3-4 week absence, on a sunday. Finished last! [ One of the fellow runners jokingly remarked that i need to be fast]. For some reason, i took this seriously. At the next run, i didnt want to lose to him. We did a 10k run and i was leading him till 9.8 km but lost out in the last 200 mts. A week before the big run, on a sunday morning, again, led him for most part but he took over. But at the Bangalore run, i didnt want to lose. Probably, losing a lot of times had me crave the little victories. And this time, i did finish ahead. A full 15 min ahead of him. [ If you are reading, no offense meant to you. A very good friend, you have become].

Running with a group, truly is .. FUN and still, you run your own race...