Status update...

One day past race day and finally found that solitary cause for complaint that I was so keenly awaiting. Despite it being a nearly perfect race day, fell short of my goal of a sub 1 hour finish, and crossed the finish line at 1.02.33 hours :-(

But personal milestones aside, the race was an unqualified success. Because in the larger scheme of things, this run was about much more than individual finish times – it was about determination, dogged persistence, mutual inspiration, and an ultimate collective effort to cross the finish line.

I like to think that for each person in the group, that finish line denoted something much bigger than just completing 10 kilometers. For some people it was about shaking off years of lethargy and motivating themselves back to fitness, for others it was a symbol of a much bigger goal – to quit smoking, and for some of us it was a means of proving to ourselves that we were not just a one-race horse but on the way to becoming proper runners.

To provide some perspective, the whole idea started off as a mail thread among the 60kph Bangalore gang about a collective effort to quit smoking, and soon progressed to training for the Sunfeast 10K as a means of motivating people to stay off the habit. The initiative crossed geographic boundaries when a fellow-60kpher from Chennai and self from Hyd joined in :-)

Except for a few folks who had months/years of regular training under their belt, most of us were novices when it came to running or even fitness. But I don’t think any of us really let that little fact get in the way. We trained individually, but kept posting training updates, little motivational speeches, training and nutritional tips day after day on the mail thread. Soon it became a daily habit to switch on the PC first thing in the morning and check for new additions to the ‘status update’ thread…and the odd day when there weren’t any would invariably turn out to be a depressing day at work!

As race day neared, the excitement and nervousness increased. For almost all of us, this was the first time in our lives we’d trained this regularly, that we counted the miles this diligently and the race soon assumed proportions of a final exam. Thankfully, we continued to be in decent shape. There were a few injury scares, but apart from one highly unfortunate case of our fastest runner falling victim to a spell of overtraining, we made it to race day unscathed. Assembled at Bowring club at 7am and made it to Kanteerava. And then an hour later, 8 of us started what probably be the most memorable run of our lives.

Save for Ambar who’d got a timing chip and therefore had an earlier start, the rest of us started our run together. Wish I could describe what the run was like for the group, but I ran a solitary race in my quest for the sub one hour finish. It was actually a good run for me. I got into my rhythm almost immediately, some niggling aches I had earlier vanished pretty quickly, the course itself wasn’t bad given that the inclines were less steep than ones in my practice runs, and save for some humidity the weather was perfect. I guess the primary error I made was in not pacing myself properly. I didn’t check my timings often enough from the 5th to the 8th kilometer, and when I did check on the 9th my watch read 56:00:00 and it was too late to do anything about it. Towards the end I kept saving myself for a final hard sprint around the stadium which never materialized given that the finish was outside the stadium. Maybe I should’ve just tried to run the whole thing a little bit faster. Anyways, whatever be the cause, it didn’t happen and I’ll have to try again in my next 10K. Even if I do achieve it, it isn’t as great as saying that I made a sub 1 hour finish in my first 10K, but I can live with that.

But again, in the larger scheme of things, it was an unqualified success. Every one of us crossed the finish line, and 4 of the group made it an extra memorable event by sticking together through the whole course, motivating each other through the inclines when they felt like walking/stopping, and ultimately crossing the finish line holding hands.

The worst part of any race, though, is once you cross the finish line, when you’re suddenly demoted some someone special – a participant, a competitor, a runner – into just another member of a huge junta. In fact, the only crib I have about the race is the lack of organization at the finish line. From the over-aggressive co-ordinator who kept yelling at participants and volunteers alike, telling his helpers to “just push them in quickly”, to the sub-optimal use of space at the stadium to the people squashed like sardines at the certificate collection counters, it wasn’t a pretty sight. It’s a shame that something that was so well organized and conducted had to fall apart at the last minute, that we were made to feel more like a hindrance to the organizers just at those moments when we were feeling special about ourselves.

But that little issue aside, here are tributes to some of the individual efforts put in:

Ambar – Our most experienced runner with a full marathon under his belt, the one who started the whole initiative, in house expert on running issues and chief motivator when any of us felt down. Finished the race in a 1:01:40.

Subash – The most inspirational figure in the group. A guy who went from smoking 3 packs in one day (for 21 years) to smoking zero cigarettes the next day. His practice runs consisted entirely of running 100m rounds around his apartment block…he finally ran 100 rounds a few days before the race to complete 10K. And what’s more, we discovered in the latter days of the training that he was doing his running in jeans…in the Chennai humidity! Finished with a time of 1:26

Biju – The fastest runner, who posted speeds of up to 10.43 kph in the training runs. His timings kept motivating me to better my own. Unfortunately did a spell of interval training a little too enthusiastically and screwed his knee. It didn’t keep him out of the race though…he signed up a few days later as a race marshall, and was there to give us high-fives at the start and finish points. Also practically sponsored the celebration party from his earnings as a marshall.

Satish – The biggest guy in the group, and a fitness maniac. Was quite overweight until a little over a year ago when he took to gymming and subsequently lost some 12-15 kgs in record time. Does insane things like swim 100 laps of a 50 meter pool non-stop after work. The default sweep in all our rides, he was true to his image by doing the run slower than he could have, so he could encourage Subash and others to keep going at the tougher points.

Srinidhi – Our in house wiki expert. Was always on hand with a wikipedia copy/paste when a particularly difficult question was posed to the group, and showed the rest of us how to map our runs on wikimapia. On the rare occasions when Wikipedia failed him, provided guidance with his mantra of “Listen to your body”. Also ran repetitive rounds around a park for his training, and finished the race with Satish, Vishu and Subash.

Vishu – A biker turned cyclist (and now cyclist turned runner!), was one of the first few to sign up for the run. Apart from Satish, one of my original inspirations to get fit. Was part of the quartet to finish together.

Manju – Initially somewhat overweight, not too fit, and a smoker. One of those who started training in an effort to quit smoking. Soldiered through his runs, and was there at the race day despite a sports doctor’s diagnosis that his lungs were performing sub-optimally. Ran/walked the entire 10km and was triumphantly waving his certificate in our faces for several hours later.

Biren – The guy everyone wanted to see finish. Currently the most overweight person in the group, but makes dubious claims of having lost 3 kgs in training. Almost didn’t get his running number, but made it to Kanteerava at 7pm on May 30th (two hours after closing time) where he caught hold of an official and pleaded/argued/fought for 20 mins to get his number. On race day he overslept and nearly missed the race – we woke him at 7am after repeated calls – and he finally made it to the stadium a few mins before the race start. Also ran/walked the entire distance and keeps waving his certificate proudly at our faces, despite allegations that he took an unscheduled U-turn in the out and back part of the race.

And where do we go from here? Well, everyone who ran (and hopefully a few who didn’t) agrees that this was a great experience and feel they want to keep going, which I think is the single greatest takeaway. Personally I’ve set my sights on the Aug 30 Hyderabad half-marathon, and I’m almost sure to be joined by one or more people from the group. A common target for the group is the Bangalore Ultra-Marathon in November, where everybody is confident they can run at least 25km.

Now if that isn’t the start of a lifetime, I don’t know what is!