For long time in my life (Close to 17 years), i never knew that i can even run a km without huffing and puffing (Not to forgot the Curses i have given to my P.ED teacher in school). Everything in life has been tagged and kept in box for the first time. Yes it all starterd to happen from August 14th 2009, a chilly night when myself and my friend, fellow roadie Vinod were driving back to home taking a fag! Suddenly he asked whether can we quit smoking?
Questions that followed:
1. Shall we quit smoking? 2. Do you think this is not possible? 3. If yes, we will have one good and proper drag...
Yes we quit smoking from that moment and since then lot of greater things started to happen in our life. Main thing for me is to reduce weight because i was weighing a heavy truck load of 105 +kgs!!! I am a lazy a** who did not even properly seen sun rise in my life time. And my wife was and is my first motivator to get me up to Gym. Because i had experienced Gym for close to 2 and half months spanned across 3 years over my life time. So thinking about the greatest track record for me to carry on with Gym, joined the Gym along with Vinod. This happened i think some where in Febraury 2010 not sure or even before that. Things started to pick up gradually, i was struggling to even run on 6km pace in tread mill for so long time. Started to do overdose and got tired. And one day instructor told me to run 30 minutes non stop on tread mill. I said to myself, did he really know what he is talking about
With these sort of things, Raghav another fellow roadie came up with the idea of MAJJA RUN in Sunfeast run - 2010. This is 5.7km run. I thought this will be fun but still i did not have confidence to start. One fine day we started after long hesitation because Raghav has done this run the previous year and i do not have so much confidence. With another SAP colleague Sahana we started running. Still the first km run which is stepping stone (Actually it was stopping from stone to stone!)in my running career is fresh in my memory. Both of them have gone on for the run and i was as usual waiting to catching my breath. Believe me i was not even able to run barely 600m. First day run stopped at that point.
Then after few days of continuous running i came to a stage where i can run 2km in 16 minutes non stop. Wooooo i was on the moon. It all happened that way. Then came to know about Amol via Satish and joined them in the regular campus runs. And yes these folks are really serious about what they do in the real sense. They had given lot of tips and had lot of patience to hear my blabbering and answer patiently. Slowly i started to run good but not to a level where i can continously run 5km. Then i have thought and our aim had changed from MAJJA RUN to a serious 10KM RUN. We had started doing good practice runs with Roadies and i was feeling confident. I was really happy one day when i have done my first 6km run non stop in the old airport road. I had literally called up everyone to inform this! Yes it was quite an achievement in my own way. Because non stop running at that point made me believe that i can run 10km. Wuf, it was like that... Running is an unique sport where you can keep pushing yourself and this is more of a mindset sport.
Now what next after completing 6km without any problem? Ran a 8km and 10km twice before running Sunfeast Marathon. Met Arun, Hari and lot of other folks who ran their heart out. My team mate Venkat AKA Pappu also is supporting me to go for the Kill ( Kill here is to complete 10km run under 1 hour - I got killed). Yes my friend Raghav ran in 1h 4m and i completed in 1h 10m. Amol and Arun ran some where near 45 minutes and Satish ran in 55 minutes!!! Yes that is the starting point of my running career. All these details are presented very minutely in this blog just to let you know that anything is possible for anybody. If we are serious and enjoy the training regime, we can always succeed. And to my surprise i have lost almost close to 20kgs in the last 8 months.
After that 10km run, i have several 10km run under 1 hour i.e. 58 and 59 minutes. Completed 2 official half marathons. One here in India clocking 2h25m and then one in Germany clocking my PB of 2h22m. After this we are coming to the core part of my blog - The experience of myself as a runner and human being in one of the toughest runs around in India - Bangalore UltraMarathon 2010. With 2 30+ km runs and few 20+ km runs in my training, i was fairly confident to pull off 37.5km run in this ultra marathon run. But this is not about training as well. But as i have always said, mindset plays more role in long distance running than your physique or physical fitness.
The preparation for this run began long back. Running good and had runners in company always will keep your confidence in higher scale. But Raghav and Venkat were not able to do this Ultra but i hope there are lot of races and rides for them in store. Yes i am into bit of cycling as well! Fine that left us 5 people, Satish in 50km, Arun,Karthik and Hari in 25km and myself in 37.5km. We (Myself, Venkat (our Official cheerer:-)), Hari, Karthik and Arun) started by 4'o clock to the Venue after myself having literally a sleepless night. Normally i have this tendency to lose sleep before races! We were leisurely searching the venue in Hesserghatta. We knew we were near the venue but no we were not able to see the venue and it is the time when we start losing our hope in gadgets and technologies! GPS application shows that we were near the venue but with the proximity of 10000m. That is the device, approximated our location to 10km within the target location. My swift was crying to the core as i was standing on the accelerator to reach the venue. Finally after long wait, we came to the venue by 6:20AM where as my race was supposed to start by 6AM.
I am telling you it was tough to wear socks sitting in a car! Then got all the support items, got Garmin from Venkat (here after referred as Pappu) and went into the starting line and organisers had told the run had started. Without even stretching i had started to run. It was pretty much cool and first 3km went on good, getting to know and meet some of the familiar runners who are completing their first laps. (These guys had started to run by 5 for their 75km and 100km run). Wow i just wanted to check, what is the time taken for my 3km. It had shown 4s and distance as 3m thanks to Pappu's ultra familiarity with Garmin! The device is in Auto Pause mode. Then tried out to fix it and lost hope. Continued to run and completed the first lap of 6.25km fairly judging the route. It was 12.5km loop in and out.
And the RFL who had organised this Run, really know what they are into! Unlike our indian athletic federations. So they had 4 aid stations kept in 6.25km loop which were well stocked. Yes my timing chip was working fine with beep sound everytime i had crossed the mat. This is really important. Yes i started to return back to complete my first lap. By this time, One element of nature which had got the most curse on that day got out in Full swing - Yes our very own friend SUN... I have started to see people walking at that time itself. Then i started telling my self this is only a beginning. Don't panic. Maintain good pace and on the way i saw pappu and gave garmin to rectify and ran to complete 1st Lap. Finished the lap and came back for my second. Did not need much water and i was fairly comfortable. By this time i had met Satish and his brother Shyam and informed that i was late as well. Things were going fine. The route was one excellent route combining uphill, flat, steep, red sand, snake booth! (Courtesy - Hari), narrow trails etc.
We had started to run the second loop. By this time, SUN was out in full brute force. Everyone of them, senior runners started warning us, "HYDRATE WELL, This is going to be one Hot day". Yes it was true. Man it was too much and my target of running 25km without any walking breaks started to get away and away from me very quickly. Started to gulp lot of water and Oranges to keep myself in good state. My target was to complete 25kms in 3 hours. This is slowly slipping away. I started to see people panting, panicking and walking all around me. Finally i started my first walk break at 22km mark. It was a long one. And then literally started to talk within myself, you can do it or something of this sort. Suddenly i heard one guy running in full steam and falling right in front of me. Some of us went and saw and lifted him up to see some marking created on his face. So barring all these i have returned to complete my 25km loop at astounding and shocking 3h 40m. By the time i have seen Arun, Hari (Who himself had tripped thrice during the run) and Karthik going good. At this point, i told pappu its enough i don't need garmin here after.
Pappu was telling it is working fine. I only knew that timing is no more important in this race but the finishing is!!! Soon pappu came to his senses after seeing the lap times in the watch rocketing like anything. Started my long journey towards the last lap. Many people suffered a lot from Heat but no one looked like quitting it so was i. I was determined to push through the limits. At one water station i saw Satish sitting and feeling the heat. By this time i was losing more focus because Satish one of the senior Roadies who have done more races and cycling, himself had sat down. But talking to him and Ann in the Water station, i had managed to carry myself for the journey ahead. I was thinking is there really any strategy for me to complete this race. Then slowly i thought i will run until i feel my upper body is getting disconnected from lower one sort of feeling and after that i will start walking. Then once that feeling is gone, i start to run again. Is this the way the long runs are done? I had started to look back what might have gone wrong in my training?
Yes, i was training early in the morning. I am feeling the heat yes literally. May be some exposure or some runs in hot conditions might have helped. I was properly hydrated in the prior weeks and did not have alcohol for close to 8 days before the race. So now it is all about do this loop and go back to the finish line in one piece. Then i started seeing guys who ran 100km/75km/50km. Got inspired by them, i continued by walk/run. I knew this last 12.5km is going to definitely take close to 1h45m. This is the crucial part of the race, you sit down and you are gone. Nothing you can do. It is extreme of what you can do with your mind. Still i was not in a position of Breaking point! So decided to run along or walk and run along. Then came one part of ending. Yes now i have completed 31.25km and started to turn back. Saw a guy who had pushed me earlier during my second lap named Saurabh. He was terribly hurt with his shoes and took out the shoes and waiting and chilling.
Then we had decided we will push us along to the finish line. Yes then we had started to gulp water and keep us well hydrated and we would run like, "Saurabh we will run until the next Km marker and then walk few yards". He will tell after we reach that point like, "Buddy we ll run atleast until that water station". Similar discussions about running and life kept us getting ahead along until 2.5kms within our target. There it was a long walk to negotiate the upslope. By this time, Pappu and Arun came in search of my body:-) If found they can take away for final rituals. And yes they found me out. Usually a great publicity freak i was not even asking pappu for a photograph. After long negotiation, we had snaps and 35.5km marker. Then started to walk again because my aim was to complete the last lap running yes sprinting (Mere thought of it was making me too much, my wicked body was laughing at me). But with Arun and pappu in the end, I was literally down at 36.5km marker with a slight cramp. I regained my composure and started taking long steps to ease out as per Arun's advice (Who has completed 25km in 2h 40m, Karthick in 3h 20m and Hari in 3h 40m) and this had worked out. I and Arun spotted the water station which was kept at 500m away from finish line and i had started sprinting. Yes i came sprinting to finish the 37.5km run in bulky 5h40m.
But still i am proud for the fact that i lasted this much long from a mere 600m run kept me on the side of the road. Thanks to all my friends and my wife who were my prime motivators. This blog i did not think to write now, but after my Marathon completion. But i felt that i had to share this story to make our friends and fellow roadies aware that you all have greater potential in you! Its time to unleash them. Still this was my satisfying run, had no alcohol (Given track record of 4 hours of drinking on completion of 10km run, 6 hours of drinking on completion of first official HM, 5l of beer on completion of my first overseas HM) and did not bother about my timing. Because by now i know i can improve more to shave off that 40 minutes because in running through patience we can achieve more. So until my next blog may be on SCMM (Mumbai Marathon), people run hard and pedal hard. All the best for everyone!!!
- MJV
