Day 2 & 3 of 10 x 10

Day 2 - Had an early start at work and had to run at night. Started the run at 10:10 pm, after a long but happy day at work. Squeezed the run, before end of day :)

Thanks to Rajesh for the motivation - he offered to run along, at that hour.

Details here - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42939719

Day 3 - Started the run at 6:15 am, with little sleep and not much recovery from the night run. Crawled to the 10k mark !!

Details - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42939724

Chennai Runners 10 x 10

Inspired by my running group , I decided to sign up for the 10 x 10.

What is 10 x 10 ? Running 10 km on consecutive days for 10 days.

I’ve never had a running streak longer than 5 days and the 10 x 10 will test me. But will give it a good shot. Watch this space for the updates J

My 10 x 10 - Between 1 Aug 2010 - 10 Aug 2010

Day 1

Saturday night 9:00 pm – engrossed in the colors on display at pecha kucha. Met many friends and as usual, didn’t have a watch on the time L .

9:30 pm – Rushed home for a call with friends in US / UK. 3 of us, in chennai / oxford / cinncinati went over an event plan, that was just a month away. It was 10:45 pm . I was now pinging my dear friend in poland and I was in queue ;)

And then I remember waking up at 1 am , lights on , lying on the desk!!! These days , all I need is some space and I go zzzz . Yes, I don’t just have to ‘make-up’ for the poland miss, I realised I forgot to have dinner!!! It was apple and a few slices of bread. Now I truly fu@#$% up the morning run

With that thought I hit the bed and slept like a log, missing the alarms and woke up at 6:15 am . Tiger and gang would’ve started off at 5:15 am and now I have to run alone . I checked the garmin and it was dead. Decided to juice it up for 30 mins.

At 7:30, with the garmin back alive, I started my 1^st of the 10 x 10.

A very slow 10k through mandaveli , Boat club and Anna University. I was initially planning atleast a 15km but lacked energy.

Run Stats : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42625834

Running alone is never fun and today was no exception.

If you are looking to run in Chennai, in the mornings over the next 10 days, feel free to buzz me. I need you more than you need me ;)

Chennai Half Marathon

Yet another marathon , where the 'want' and 'execution' were poles apart. I wanted to do a sub 2 hour 21 km run. But never practised for it. An occasional 10 km sunday run and a 5km run on some days during the week happened. Before the run morning, the longest run i did was 12 km.

And naturally the result - 2:38 for 21 km .

However, the regular frisbee / cricket and the runs ensured i was NOT depleted at the finish line. But surely, i need to improve strength in the legs. The positives from the run - 5:1 run-walk technique and the identification of areas to improve.

Also, this run was my first fund-raiser run for Deepam - Run for a Cause. The big target is to go under 4:30 for the 42 km at Mumbai in Jan 2010 and also to hit $10,000 , through run for a cause.

Need all your wishes and support to hit both goals!

P.S Thanks to the energy bunny Shankar Lal for the pics!

Auroville Run

The run experience at Auroville was just simply ... Beautiful. The experience itself is very much a reflection of the spirit of the place - The beautiful trail through the forest , very scenic , the waiting in anticipation of whats next on the trail , the woods and the unpaved roads , local drummers upping the tempo of the run ( me syncing my run to the beat!! ), these volunteers who would go miles to ensure a great experience , the cyclists accompanying the runners all over the course , volunteers cheering runners at exactly the right moments - it was all magical ! It is Auroville..

The Beautiful trail through the woods

The Carbo loading at the pasta party - we stuffed ourselves with so much food. Thanks to the dinner, i could last the distance.

I had a fantastic run - though i couldn't crack sub 2 hours for my 21.1 km. Gut given the tough last 2 months , with a terrible IT band that put me off sports for 3 weeks and a bout of fever/ cold that lasted right into the marathon day - am happy with the time i took 2:19 or a little less. I managed to do 15 km in 1:29 and had a smooth run till then. I was sapped of energy to come up with a strong finish. 

Thanks to this podcast ( on Energy , by Vinod Khosla ) i managed the first 1 hour easily - i had some doubts going into the run. I hadn't run for 10 days , thanks to the fever. So, the podcast really helped me take my mind off the negative thoughts. I learnt a great deal, listening to it, in the first place. After the 1st hour, it was familiar territory - a bit of tiredness , heavy breathing , heavy legs : Just hung on till the finish :) . Am falling in love with that 'phase' of the run!!

The target is to now crack sub 2 by end of 2009. This run gave me a lot of confidence and hopefully, should stick to the routine and crack the goal.

P.S - Thanks to the organisers for a beautiful run. I borrowed these pics from Balu / Venkat and others. Thanks !

ECR 8

East Coast Run 8

Date : 19 October 2008

Start / End Point : Mayajaal

Distance : 0 to 5 km , 10 km , 15 km, 20 km, 30 km and 35 km

ECR 8 was by far the best organised run from Chennai Runners - We had an event director in Vidyuth who led the show and a bunch of us played the support role ! We had a few 'firsts' with this event - First time we had a sponsor ( in Apollo DKV Insurance ) , First time we had the ambulance support ( from Chettinad Hospitals ), First time we had water / Gatorade support points ( thanks to Pepsi / Gatorade for joining in as the 'Hydration Partner' ) every 2.5 km all the way ( 0 to 35 km route ) and the first time we were on air spreading the running movement in Chennai ( Thanks to the 'Chennai Live' radio station ).  

Despite the very heavy overnight rains, over 50 runners turned up for the run. They were supported by about 15 sooper enthusiastic volunteers! Their energy and encouragement helped a lot of runners stretch beyond the limits.                                                                                             

Here are the 35 km runners, at the start point                                                                                                           

The runners at the start point at 4:45 am

Some of the finishers at the finish line. Enjoying the 'runners high'

Thanks Nithya, Shyam and me at the 15 km point. Nithya ran the 20k along with us ( she went from running nothing at all  to 20 km run , in all of 4 months )

Thats me at the 5 km point..

Personally, i had a good run - the longest since the chennai half marathon. I had only run 5k runs since the chennai half but the weather helped my 20 km run. It was a 'fun' run for me - i started last, after all the groups left and i stopped at all the water points ( every 2.5k ) to chat up with the volunteers. From the 10 km point, i ran along with Nithya and Shyam and exchanged a lot of stories ! We managed to finish the 20km run in 2 hours and 44 minutes. 

After the 'catching up'  with all the runners at the finish line and an 'ok' breakfast at the On-Shore resort at Mayajaal, it was time to head home. Another ECR run down and the run gets better with every edition. All this experience will help us at Chennai Runners to organise our own ' Namma Chennai Marathon' ... very sooon.

East Coast Run 8

Am running this one.. Are you ???

Chennai Runners presents ECR8, in association with APOLLO DKV.

Register Now at www.chennairunners.com (Last date for registration is October 15, 2008) 

ECR 8 Details.. 

Date: October 19, 2008 (Sunday) 

Start Time: 5:15 am 

Start point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound 

End point: On Shore resort inside the Mayajaal compound

Assembly time: 4:30 am

Events: 5K, 10K, 15K, 20K, 25K, 30K, 35K 

Entry Fee: Rs.250/-

Hydration Partner : Pepsi ( Aquafina / Gatorade )

This event is organized by runners. Runners will be taken care of well. Well stocked water points along the route. Breakfast @ On shore Resort inside the Mayajaal Compound for Runners and volunteers

Chennai Marathon 2008

Some months ago, i watched a short clip of the 1982 Boston marathon - Alberto Salazar won that closely fought race. What stayed with me was a line from the commentary - " Salazar runs longer than anyone else at the 'red line' - the point of pain. He continues to run at the red line longer than his fellow runners "

That line was a big motivation for me when i started training 3 months ago . I wanted to run for a good amount of time at the 'red line'. That was the goal, since, i had always given up at the red line.

I can see some improvements - I ran for 2 hours continuously on 2 sundays in the last 1 month (Before this, the longest i've done is 1:35 , for a non-stop run ). My breathing which was shallow, has improved as well. And importantly, i've become more regular at the runs and i run atleast 4 days a week - whether it is at 5 am / 8 am / 1 pm / 8 pm or 1 am ( Yes, i've run at all these times in the last 2 months ).

So, with all of this behind me, i ran the chennai half marathon last sunday - I finished the 21 km in a disappointing 2 hours and 38 mins. Disappointing, since i was targeting an under 2 hour run.

The heat was not the excuse since i was all ready for the big day – I even ran from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm , one of the Sundays. I trained for the hot conditions. But, i just couldn't change into 'overdrive' mode because of a mild fever i was carrying.

The first 40 mins of the run was smooth for me and I ran at 10+ kmph. Around the 40 min mark, I started to walk... That was the hardest part of the race – the mind playing games and suggesting that I quit the race ( I always had the ‘fever’ excuse ). I decided to walk for a while and shut those thoughts out. It was hard when a fellow runner ( ofcourse, he was being nice :) ) , asked me not to ‘give up’ and run… just the other week, I ran a 2 hour continuous run…

I just decided to finish the race and 2 hour target had to wait for another day. 

I kept walking for another 10 mins and i had a chocolate bar. I decided to walk the ‘shade’ part of the course and run in the sunny parts. Soon, I started running and ran the next 4 km. From then on, running in the sunny parts and walking the in the shades, I managed to complete the run in 2:38. 

It was a great feeling, running the ‘home’ marathon – knew lots of people who were running this one and the encouragements and simply, running with a ‘known face’ kept me going. Towards the end, I ran with Rekha – Shes a mom of 2 and used hit 81 kgs on the scales 3 years ago. Currently, she is possibly one of the fittest women one would meet . Despite the hot conditions, she was pushing herself and we finished the run together.

About the run,

Positives

• Great participation - it was a nice feeling to see so many runners on the road
• Closed roads - the roads were closed for vehicle traffic for over 3 hours

Negatives

• Organisers didn't have a clue on conducting this race - From the BIB distribution, water points, route planning, volunteer involvement and many many more
• Poor crowd participation ( except for a few sections ) - Run the Mumbai run, to experience the crowd participation
• It was sad to see the water bottles / polythene covers strewn all over the roads and 'kid' ragpickers going after those - afterall, a lot of us were running to raise money for those kids..

It was clear that the Chennai Marathon has miles to go, before it can hold a world-class , runner-friendly marathon. NOBODY cared about the runners - they are the focus of the running events. The focus was on ' getting the attention' than ' doing the job '.

P.S Thanks to Karthik at chennairunners for the photos.

ECR Cycling

After an absence of almost 4 months, i rode my bike - thanks to the ECR Cycling event organised by Chennai Runners and TI cycles. The participation and the ride was just simply awesome!

We had over 40 people cycling and many of them had never attempted the planned distance - 30 km !

I was very happy to see some pals cycle all the way to the finish. Having never cycled this distance before , they were apprehensive at the start. The finish line was one joyous scene - everyone on the finisher's "high" and lively !! The excitement, positive energy and the "high" was visible on every single finisher ( all of them cycled the entire distance ).-Archu / Amie - the 2 sports who had never done endurance sport before ! Both completed the distance easily !


Personally, i had a great ride. I started off pretty well and led the group for about 10 km, before i was overtaken by guys riding in TREK's ( Some day, i will get a TREK too ). At the 15 km turnaorund point ( crocodile bank ), TI had had a pit stop with refreshments. I had much needed energy bars and water and decided to chase the TREK's to Mahabalipuram.



A stead head wind kept coming at us right through till Mahabalipuram. I loved cycling the stretch between Crocodile bank and mahabs - we did 28-29 kmph . At the mahabs turnaround point, we had done 27 km in little over an hour.

The ride back was made easy by the tail wind. With speeds around 26-27 kmph, we were cruising until a puncture stopped a friend's ride. We lost 20 mins , before the backup vehicle picked him up. Then on, it was a smooth ride to the finish line.

A big thanks to all my pals who waited patiently at the finish line !

Ride stats :

Total Distance - 55 km
Route - ECR from Toll Booth to Mahabalipuram and back
Avg Speed - 25 kmph
Top Speed - 29.5 kmph

ECR Run # 3

ChennaiRunners had the big run for the quarter on September 16th.

No of Runners : 36
Total Distance : 26 km approx
Route : Toll booth on the ECR to Mamalla Beach Resort at Mahabalipuram

We called this event 40 x 30 - 40 people attempting 30 km run and we almost met the target. Runners met at 3:45 am at Dimensions Gym in Alwarpet and car pooled to the start point ( Toll Booth).

We had 2 cars that worked as mobile water points - they stopped every 5 km for the runners to get hydrated. Thanks to volunteers Savitri madam ( she is 50+ and her energy is amazing. She wants to finish a marathon very soon ), Ravikrishnan, Srivats, Jayant, Ramesh's driver and Bhargav's pal. They egged the runners on and supported us all the way to the finish line.

Weather aided out efforts - We never saw the sun till we reached the finish line. The finish point ( Mamalla Resort ) had ample space for us to walk around and some of us even took a dip in the sea. The weightlessness in the sea after the 26 km of pounding the leg received is just heavenly.

After a sumptuous meal and a fanatastic time with the runners, we left back to the start point. The runs always bring out great camaraderie at the finish line. It is almost as if the runners want to break free and make up for the "lonely" running moments...

Some photos

Ravi and Sundar at a water point. Savitri and Srivats , the enthusiastic volunteers.
Ram speeding away on the ECR ...
Shiva - 0 to 30 km in 3 months!!


Relaxing at the Mamalla

Sumptuous breakfast at Mamalla !!!

Hope to target 50 X 30 for the next run.

Chennai Runners on India Today

India Today has a piece on Chennai Runners in its edition dated 17th September 07. The "Simply Chennai" section has this piece. It was 2 weeks ago, when the runners met with the India Today Photographer and the correspondent at Anna university grounds. After a number repeated routines to get the right picture ( and spending an hour in the process and having fun.. ), the memory card in the photohrapher's high tech camera gave up!! and we did the same routine again a few days later.

Here are the scanned pages - Thanks to Ram for these!

Hope more of you join us for the early morning runs - 256 is current group size. Check www.chennairunners.com