Dream Running At DreamRunners (DRHM Chennai Marathon 2013)

     It was a fairy tale in the making, riding on the impulse wave again I registered for the Chennai marathon in 21 K category. Now this was serious business, half marathon , the training needed to improve and this time I had to hit the tarmac unlike the last one. The chosen training area was lalbagh, the proverbial "lung" of Bangalore. The outer circle is around 4.2 km and I included the peninsular gneiss in the path to get some hill training. The trail is not all tarmac and one had to negotiate soft, slushy ground especially after the rains. The absence of vehicular traffic and the surrounding trees lent an encouraging hand to the regime. I started off from the Thandi sadak avenue, past the gates , the lake and completing the loop through the peninsular gneiss. The trail around the lake offered some rewarding views of the resident fauna (Apart from the birds, I once spotted a snake slither across). A breakfast at MTR after the run completed the experience. I generally did weekend runs of double or triple loops and only on one occasion, I had done a five loop run. I knew that it was not sufficient but I was at least consistent. I did not have any targets in mind but was hoping that I would finish around the 2 hr mark.
   As the race day approached, I ate more and trained less (probably a misunderstanding of the taper concept), two days before the race I tried a 5K treadmill run and found myself out of breath. This discouraged me to a certain extent but I then the runner's philosophy kicked in and provided the necessary impetus.
    We boarded the lalbagh express on 06-JUL-2013 and headed for Chennai. This was my first visit to Chennai and I had pre conceived notions about the apparent "heat" and "humidity" of the city. However, as the train dragged itself into the Chennai Central Station , I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was cloudy and temperature fairly bearable even at mid-day. Our host and good friend , the "dude" Karthik welcomed us and provided us with an excellent lunch served appropriately on the plantain leaf.
   Loaded, we headed for the Leela (Besant Nagar),to have a glimpse of the event promotions.The festivities were on and the spirits had hit the crescendo, we were all set to go ....

A visit at the Elliot's beach was made to soak in some of the Chennai sea breeze, the team also took this opportunity to let down their hair ;)

The visit to the "Broken Bridge" allowed for some contemplation and Bollywood style Patel scope :).

After a nice dinner at Murugan Idly Shop, we headed back for some rest before the run. We could not manage to get into bed early and after tossing for a couple of hours we were up at 03:00 AM (07-JUL-2013) to be at the venue by 04:30 AM (the race was to start at 05:00 AM). It was an excellent atmosphere at the starting point, the warm-up routines were very helpful (in sync with music), the best thing was that it was drizzling, the Gods were merciful. It was the perfect setting for the dream run.
    The event was flagged off, and we were off into the darkness. As I watched the supportive crowd, a surge of energy went through my veins and I was into the rhythm. The cool breeze was a catalyst as I focused on the wide open road ahead of me. Few minutes into the run , I heard footsteps behind me and somehow I knew he was my pace keeper and for the rest of the run , I kept myself a few yards ahead of him.It is true that this was my first real attempt at something like a marathon, but the FGF (Feel Good Factor) was enormous. The smiling faces of the volunteers, the fading darkness and the wide open road provided a surreal touch and one could visualize oneself in a slide show with a back ground score of "Chariots Of Fire."  I met my club mates on the way and after brief exchanges of motivation, we were on our way. Somewhere around the 17km mark, I experienced the first signs of fatigue, there were not many runners behind me , I could the faint silhouette of a distant runner. In the dark it created a tunnel effect (maybe I was hallucinating).  As I went past the refill station, there was a spurt for a strong finish and I was on full throttle, 150 meter mark a couple of false alarm finish lines and I was through. Before I could recover, I found a medal slipped down my neck ... I was grateful. I was not sure about the timings, but I figured it would be around 01:45 mark , my first 21 K complete with decent performance, faster than my 10K speed !!! The final timing was 01:44:45 .... reason to be proud for a rookie like me :)
    Our runner's club had made their second run and we are all set for many , many more :)

The Beginnings (TCS 10 K 2013)

      I am no natural athlete and running for that matter was something quite mundane. I had always preferred my little excursions on my bicycle over other outdoor activities. The sound of the whirring wheels always fascinated me over the clip clop of the soles burning the tarmac.
    However,around the beginning of this year, I started getting worried about the red "OVERWEIGHT" flashing on the BMI calculators. Initially, the classic escapist that was me, avoided the calculators altogether for a couple of months, then in a sudden surge of high impulse I joined a Gym (Fitness One Jayanagar(Fitness One) ). In the past, I had enrolled for gym memberships, all of them ending up expired and unused. However, this time it was a little different, for one the gym was compact, which suited me. It was not congested and people stuck to their own business of staying fit.
     I started doing the treadmills, target 10km/hr for half an hour. Over time, I ramped it up to around 14.5 km/ hr. I pushed up the time limit to one hour on weekends and found that I was moderately fresh after the workout. Of course, the running was accompanied by some music, mostly racy tunes bordering on trance or club.
      This when I decided to run the much famed TCS 10 K Bangalore edition 2013(Tcs 10K). It so happened that some of the people at Software AG (my employer) decided to setup a runner's club and the first target was TCS 10 K. Thus, the treadmill runs became more frequent. However, there was no tarmac running which is not recommended for anyone trying to run their marathons.
        I was in Category C (the default group) and on race day (19-MAY-2013), I was there with my club members at the Kanteerva stadium by 7'o clock in the morning. The weather report indicated overcast conditions and it was going to be humid. The spirits were high aided by the peppy music, it was  a festival and the crowd was huge. The elite 10k run was almost over as we started our run, (I guess around 07:22 AM). Initially, it was more like a traffic jam and progress was very slow. Immediately, I realized that there was a considerable difference between running on a conveyor belt and running on tarmac, the latter proved harder and it was a struggle for the first few kilometers.Traversing through the mob was more zig zag with high probability of tripping on somebody's boots. When I looked at my watch it was already 8'clock and around 4 km remained, so a final dash was made without much success. I sprinted that last 100 metres to find the clock displaying 59:00 and as I crossed the finish line a wave of gloom descended on my face. I know that people talk about enjoying the race and all that, but you still expect something out of yourself. At the treadmill runs I was able to finish 10 K in around 47 minutes but this was poor, plain , simple and blunt. I wanted to leave for home immediately but somehow I dragged myself to the "Finisher" counter to collect the medal (which is given to anybody who completes the race).
    Around me, people were celebrating but I was still brooding under a shroud of gloom.Thus concluded my first ever run, on a note of pessimism .....
     However, there was something inside me that told me that I was killing the fun of running, and had actually misinterpreted the philosophy of running and that running was something more than just race to beat a clock. By evening my mood had improved and I wanted to get back to running the following morning. Over the course of the next few days, I realized that I had been obsessed with the outcome and had not enjoyed my run, plus I did not interleave my treadmill runs with some tarmac running. Therefore, an improved running plan evolved , which made me happier .....
     The 10 K results were published on their website and as a nice surprise I found that my net finish time was around 51:59 minutes (the 59:00 that I had seen was actually the gross time) as a double bonanza I found myself in the list of top 850 finishers and hence eligible for the Nike Finisher T Shirt. It was a sweet something that made me smile and something echoed inside me, I think it sounded like "Run" .....

   The first run is always special ..... :)

          Hell yeah !!! :)