Me and Sushma had set the goal of 1000 kms of running for both of us in 2016. As beginners into running, this is quite a challenge as we both are into several other fitness events.
Beginning was very hard. I decided to start baby steps of 2 kms non-stop. It took me good 20 mins on the first day. I thought its a very difficult job. I tried to continue on a daily basis till I feel comfortable. On the 2nd day also, I ran non-stop and my timing was 30s better :-). But, the third day was horrible. My legs pained badly, I almost started limping. And at office, I dragged my feet. I doubted a hairline fracture and started (re)searching in google. Found that the muscle spasms, ligament tear and hairline fracture anything was possible. But, my gut feeling was lazy fella, run tomorrow. I ran again, surprisingly, when I run I did not feel the pain. Same thing continued on 4th day. On 5th day, my body gave up, saying your will power has taken control of legs. And legs stopped troubling.
Over the year, I have run 22 half marathons and my timing has improved to 2hrs 15mins. And I strongly feel, it can go below 2hrs, but I need to practice well.
Huge Thanks to my co-runners and we fondly call ourselves Kalyan Nagar Tortoises. With these guys I have run in every possible time of the day. We wake up at 3:00 AM and start running. We have done mid night marathons, afternoon marathons. The topics we discuss during these runs, makes it a fun run.
My salute to all my co-runners:
Raj
Sushma
Satya
Satish
Sindhu
Naresh
Gavin
Atul
To welcome the new Year, Sushma and I started off the year with a 10kms run on 1st Jan 2016 on the banks of Tungabhadra river.
The plan was to run as many 10K's and Half Marathons AS possible. At the same time, we had decided to reduce participating in the organized events, and instead lets self-organize them (to save money :-)).
Sushma has been a consistent runner. She gets up at 5:30 AM and runs for 6 kms every day. Her consistency amuses me. Sushma did 10 Half Marathons in 2016. Some of her favorite runs are KTM near Mysore, Ajmera Thump on NICE road.
Whereas I have been more of a endurance runner. Running more long distances.
My Stats for the year:
Whereas I have been more of a endurance runner. Running more long distances.
My Stats for the year:
Number of Half Marathons in 2016
|
22
|
Number of 10K runs in 2016
|
34
|
Number of self-organized runs
|
52
|
Participated in organized runs
|
6
|
Among all the runs, the one I love the most is the 5 kms I ran with my Daughter Ananya.
My Baby steps towards learning to RUN:
We were beginners 1.5yrs ago and specially me, I always felt running was wasting precious human energy :-). I hardly knew anything about running. Until on 30th July 2015, that was turning point for me, when me, Sunil Kumar and Prasad Sadashiva discussed about the triathlons and decided to participate in Thonnur Triathlon. And for triathlons, running was mandatory :-), so I had to start running. I decided to run starting 31st July 2015. And that's the beginning of running.
Beginning was very hard. I decided to start baby steps of 2 kms non-stop. It took me good 20 mins on the first day. I thought its a very difficult job. I tried to continue on a daily basis till I feel comfortable. On the 2nd day also, I ran non-stop and my timing was 30s better :-). But, the third day was horrible. My legs pained badly, I almost started limping. And at office, I dragged my feet. I doubted a hairline fracture and started (re)searching in google. Found that the muscle spasms, ligament tear and hairline fracture anything was possible. But, my gut feeling was lazy fella, run tomorrow. I ran again, surprisingly, when I run I did not feel the pain. Same thing continued on 4th day. On 5th day, my body gave up, saying your will power has taken control of legs. And legs stopped troubling.
After 15 days of 2kms running, I felt confident and increased the bar to 3kms for next week. And to 4kms following week. And by 1 month, I was running 5kms without any hassle. After 3 weeks of 5kms running, it was graduation day to 10k inaugural run. It was Kaveri Trail Marathon. I decided to run 10k non-stop, and I made a plan to run first 5k without rushing and then slowly increase pace towards the 2nd half. I did exactly that, but the water stations were calling me, come here and take rest for 10 mins :-), but the mind was set to 10k. In the last 1 km, there were organizers trying to pump up the runners. They were shouting, come on, come on... last km finish on a high. I was so tired, was hardly able to run last 1km, since it was my first 10k. I gathered all the left out energy and crashed at the finish line in 70 mins.
After my successful 10k run, my confidence went high and I decided to non-stop Half Marathon (21.1k). Too much :-). But, my gut feeling was, it is possible. My friend Vasu, once narrated that he did a 18kms non-stop run as a challenge to a friend. That inspired me that its possible to run non-stop, which I never knew.
The event was Bengaluru Marathon (Shriram Properties had organized). In the early morning darkness, I was finding it hard to get a parking place for my car, and almost all the roads to the event place were blocked. In this melee, a huge lorry hit my car. I never knew a lorry was so close by, until my car was thrown aside. At this moment, I had a choice, to go behind the lorry and fight for my car damages or forget it and head towards the running zone. Right, I took the 2nd one :-). Its certainly a financial loss to me, but I did not want to stop my first Half Marathon run. I had been mentally preparing for this event for more than 2 months and on the day I did not want to miss out.
The run started and I planned to do the first 10k at lesser pace to keep my energy for the 2nd half. After I crossed 10k, I started pacing up. And the water stations again were calling me baaa...baaa...sit down, take rest....and my will power had taken over control of my body and was hell bent on running non-stop. At 15 kms, I started feeling the pain of non-stop running. With every ounce of water dried up, and had lost so much salt in the form of sweat. But, I still was determined to complete on a high. At 19 kms, again, it was getting tougher, but it was matter of just another 2 kms, and I always could drink 5 litres of water, after I complete. So, I firmed up my mind and completed the run non-stop in 2hrs 40 mins. I know, its slow. But trust me, this is the beginning. I will learn more and run faster and better.
After the non-stop 21k, I attempted Bangalore Ultra 50k run. And I planned to run non-stop 25, 15 and 10 to complete 50. And my confidence burst here after the first 25kms, I hardly could run. But, for the sake of completing, I decided to walk and complete. I came last in the 50k run. Here is when I decided to start consolidating my half marathons before I graduate further. And hence the target of 21 Half Marathons in an year. I will continue this for one more year to strengthen myself.
After the non-stop 21k, I attempted Bangalore Ultra 50k run. And I planned to run non-stop 25, 15 and 10 to complete 50. And my confidence burst here after the first 25kms, I hardly could run. But, for the sake of completing, I decided to walk and complete. I came last in the 50k run. Here is when I decided to start consolidating my half marathons before I graduate further. And hence the target of 21 Half Marathons in an year. I will continue this for one more year to strengthen myself.
Over the year, I have run 22 half marathons and my timing has improved to 2hrs 15mins. And I strongly feel, it can go below 2hrs, but I need to practice well.
Huge Thanks to my co-runners and we fondly call ourselves Kalyan Nagar Tortoises. With these guys I have run in every possible time of the day. We wake up at 3:00 AM and start running. We have done mid night marathons, afternoon marathons. The topics we discuss during these runs, makes it a fun run.
My salute to all my co-runners:
Raj
Sushma
Satya
Satish
Sindhu
Naresh
Gavin
Atul
Here are the Half Marathons covered over the year:
Months
|
Total Distance
|
# of Half Marathons in month
|
Date
|
Time
|
With Whom?
| |
Jan'16
|
109
|
3
|
9/1/2016
|
21
|
3:00:00
|
GKVK with Raj, Sathya, Gavin, Naresh, Sindhu
|
24/01/2016
|
21
|
2:35:00
|
Hampi
| |||
30/01/2016
|
21
|
2:55:00
|
GKVK with Sathya, Sindhu and Gavin
| |||
Feb'2016
|
100.8
|
3
|
6/2/2016
|
21
|
2:50:00
|
GKVK with Raj, Sindhu, Satya
|
16/02/2016
|
21
|
3:00:00
|
GKVK with Raj, Satya, Gavin
| |||
21/02/2016
|
21
|
2:45:00
|
Sena Vihar with Raj, Sindhu
| |||
Mar'2016
|
102
|
3
|
23/03/2016
|
21
|
2:58:00
|
Sena Vihar with Raj, Sathya
|
26/03/2016
|
22
|
2:29:00
|
Sena Vihar with Raj
| |||
30/03/2016
|
21
|
2:43:00
|
Sena Vihar
| |||
Apr'2016
|
107
|
0
| ||||
May'2016
|
124.5
|
3
|
1/1/2016
|
21
|
2:15:38
|
HM PB
|
15/05/2016
|
22
|
2:55:00
|
Hampi, solo run
| |||
29/05/2016
|
21
|
2:45:00
|
GKVK run with Raj, Sushma, Atul, Satya
| |||
Jun'2016
|
82.2
|
1
|
4/6/2016
|
21
|
2:33:00
|
With Atul
|
Jul'2016
|
12
|
0
| ||||
Aug'2016
|
51
|
0
| ||||
Sep'2016
|
102.9
|
1
|
24/09/2016
|
21
|
2:37:00
|
GKVK with Raj, Satish, Gavin
|
Oct'2016
|
73.5
|
3
|
10/10/2016
|
21
|
3:05:00
|
Hampi with Sushma
|
16/10/2016
|
21
|
2:14:59
|
HM at Bengaluru Marathon...PB
| |||
30/10/2016
|
21
|
2:58:00
|
Davanagere with Sushma
| |||
Nov'2016
|
45.7
|
2
|
5/11/2016
|
21
|
2:55:00
|
With Satish and Raj in GKVK
|
22/11/2016
|
21
|
2:45:00
|
With Satish around Sena Vihar
| |||
Dec'2016
|
89.4
|
3
|
4/12/2016
|
21
|
2:55:00
|
Awesome Cubbon Park Run
|
8/12/2016
|
21
|
2:40:00
|
With Super fast Satish around Sena Vihar
| |||
14/12/2016
|
23
|
3:00:16
|
Miles for Millets with Satish and Sushma
|
Regards,
Swamy.
Swamy.
