Finished my first HM @ Hyderabad

I had, in my books, a fantastic run in the Hyderabad Half Marathon. I finished 21.1 Kms in 2.40 minutes 27 seconds. Strictly, by the timings, and my earlier training sessions, I could have been disappointed - but am not. In fact, am on top of the world!

The run started on time at 5.45 AM. There were around 700 runners doing both the half as well as the full marathon. The warm up was interesting - we danced! Well, I just shuffled my feet around! but the energy juices and the endorphins started flowing quite early.

The route was a hilly one - there were several ups and downs. From KBR park in Jubilee Hills, we passed cyber towers, went into Hitex, then into Hitech city, and ended the race inside Gachibowli stadium.

I ran strongly in my books. In fact, in my Suunto Footpod, I finished 21.1 Km in 2hours and 21 minutes. But obviously, it was wrongly calibrated. I started flagging off and losing speed in the last 30 minutes. Even by the markers, I had finished 17 Kms in 2 hours. The last 4 kms - I slowed down. And, since I belong to the school of runners who do not walk, I did not walk for even a second.

Collected my certificate, and finishers medal. This is one of the best days in my life!

Teju and my father-in-law were there in the stadium to receive me while finishing. Took some snaps - will post them later.

Full kudos to the Hyderabad 10k Foundation for organizing the race very well. Water was available in plenty and routes were marked clearly. Dispersion of medals and certificates was also quite efficient. One area for improvement would be that in a couple of roads, the cops did not do their job in blocking traffic - it was a bit unnerving running on those. Nevertheless - great race

3 more days to go for my first half marathon

..here it is. Its now real. I am feeling quite well prepared for Hyderabad. Guess, the only precaution I need to take is to not run too fast in the first half of the race. My fear is that , if its a flat terrain, then I might be tempted to do so - given that most of my training has been on the slightly hilly terrain of Raheja Vihar

A Significant Week

This week is an important milestone in this journey so far.

On Monday, I was in Delhi for a client meeting. In the evening, after checking into the hotel, I put on my running shoes and went to the gym. I had missed my long run the previous day, and intended to compensate for that. Till date, my longest run was 15 Km on a flat track.

I ran on the treadmill for 2 hours non-stop and covered 18 kilometers. This was an incredibly important event for me - as I felt confident that I would now be able to definitely complete the Hyderabad half-marathon

..and yesterday, was again my long run day. I decided that I needed to do the 21 kms to feel fully prepared (most beginner programs do not recommend this though). I looped Raheja Vihar - which is a tough course in my opinion. The loop has a circumference of 1.7 Kms out of which 230 Metres is a fairly steep uphill. This implies that in a 21 km run, I would end up doing close to 3 Km of uphills.

I did it - I ran the entire half -marathon distance in 2 hours 34 minutes. While I was a bit dissapointed in not finishing within 2.30, I did not let that linger. I actually feel quite decently prepared now. And, I shall start the taper for the 30th August race sometime next week.

Am Running my First Half Marathon on August 30th

The day of reckoning now on this running trip has arrived faster than I thought. I was earlier contemplating on running @ Delhi in November for my first half-marathon. But, then, I am currently mileaging around 50 Km / week quite easily. Also, over the last 10 weeks, I have been running atleast 40 km per week. My post run recoveries have been good. And, I really wanted to know where I stood in the real world of running.

All these factors, prompted me to register for the Hyderabad Half Marathon on August 30th. Teju is accompanying me and has promised to take some good snaps of me finishing my first half marathon.

So far, the half marathon was just an abstract, distant concept. Now, its real. I am going to be running it in another 17 days!

A batch-mate of mine from B-school, Hemant (HAS, as we called him) will be running along with me.

I am really excited about this.

Break on through....to the other side!

Ok..10th August is the day I broke through the 2 hours of continuous running barrier...albeit on the treadmill.

I was in Delhi on a client meeting on this day. I was feeling a bit guilty since I had missed my long run the previous day. I had lost focus, wasted my time on the internet and in a retail mall, and did not run on Sunday.

On Monday, after my meetings, I checked into the hotel in the evening, and straight-away hit the gym. Not being too familiar with Delhi, I did not want to run on the roads.

Well..the big story is that I did 18 kms in 2 hours at an average pace of 9 km / hour. Now, I am beginning to feel confident that I shall finish the half-marathon in 2 hours 25 minutes.

The Curious Case of the Dog's....

Today was my long run day..I did 13.2 Km in 90 minutes at a 8.8 Km / Hour pace. It was a satisfactory run, as in the first 7 kilometers, I went around the Raheja Vihar loop 4 times, and was quite comfortable doing the up-hill stretches

While I was running today, I realized the extraordinary number of pet dogs that were there in Raheja Vihar. I am not one for pet dogs. In fact, I believe that the obesity levels of the pet dog is directly and linearly related to the obesity levels of the master! However, I do not have any problems with others having a different world-view regarding dogs, so long as they take care of their dog's poop.

In tony town Raheja Vihar, the upwardly mobile, upper-middle class shamelessly get their fat, overfed dogs to crap all over outside. It freaks me out as a runner; It freaks me out even more when I think of the poor civic sense of these so called 'civilized folks'

Confirmations Received for Mumbai and Singapore HMs

I have received the confirmations and race ID for both the Singapore and Mumbai half marathons! The registering experience for the Singapore run was cleaner and smoother as a transaction than the Mumbai one.

A Look at the Last 8 Months

Well..the weight loss has been almost linear. I had been thinking that there would be a balancing loop process at work here. But so far, that does not seem to be the case.

Nov'08 - 100 KGs

Dec'08 - 98 KGs

Jan'09 - 95 KGs

Feb'09 - 92.5 KGs

Mar'09 - 92.5 KGs

Apr'09 - 90 KGs

May'09 - 88.5 KGs

Jun' 09 - 85.5 KGs

Jul '09 - 84 KGs

..the diminishing returns will soon set in. My target weight is around 77. Actually, I have stopped thinking in terms of KGs. I should ideally target a fat percentage of around 15%. Currently, am at 24%. Started at 34% last November