Infosys Summer Run 10k 2013

With running becoming popular in Bangalore, most people are now serious about running. Running communities have come up which trains new runners. Few running organizations have already been there for some time now and organize runs, also providing each runner with individual consultation. Runners for life is one such group which has membership norms and is most active in the city. Also few groups are created among runners where you don’t need any membership, you can be part of their running over the weekends, Nike free run is one such group.  With this growing interest in running, people in IT turning out make themselves fit, so as people in Infosys.

Infosys running community organizes 5k and 10k run every six months called Infosys September Run and Infosys Summer Run in September and April respectively. I was part of ISR held in September 2012 and finished 10k with timing of 1 hour 3 mins. Event was good except that I had to skip my work for some time and later had extend the work at night. Summer time it’s called Infosys Summer Run which was held yesterday 24^th April. I had registered for it only couple of day before the run since I was not sure. But things took it course day before when I had to attend a telepresense call at Cisco Belandur office, that is around 18 kms from electronic city office. Well, it was a day of events, I went to attend the meeting in the morning, after the meeting I met my Cisco office colleagues and left to Infosys by 3 pm expecting to have ample time before the run that will start at 5 pm. I went to my room got my running gears and shoes, was back on my office desk by 4 pm. Completed a small work I was doing and then left to the starting point of the run. All through the way I was giving a second thought for the run as I was bit exhausted travelling almost 40kms on bike in Bangaluru traffic. I thought about Chennai marathon which was even worse than this, so made my mind on running comfortably and finishing the race. This time around running crowd was good in numbers. We were supposed to run 2.5 kms loop four times for 10k run. Marathon started at 5.30 pm, as always I started slowly, picked up bit of speed in loop 2 and the next two loops, I was aiming to finish within an hour. Except the stomach stitch in my last loop, run was pretty well. Finished it in 59 mins 11 secs, according to my watch timings, will wait for the official timing to come out. It was a descent run, I need to work on increasing my pace, which would cut down some more minutes. No pictures taken, no certificate yet :)

Happy Running !!

I run, now I cycle too

[21-April-2013]

I had thoughts of buying a cycle for some time now, but I was not sure on maintaining it. This thought kept me more puzzled whether to buy cycle or not. These days especially starting with this year, I have been cycling around, with couple of duathlons and major adventure event in February Enduro3 in which I cycled around 75kms. It was simple decision to make and buy the cycle. With budget around 11k to 12k I felt this would not put big hole in my pocket. After some research and inquiry, I had brought down my options to Hercules and LA-Sovereign. Hercules is well established cycle brand in India and very popular brand and this was safe bet, but somehow I had my reservations on this, not sure why but I wanted to go for other brands and thought of taking my chances. Extending budget beyond 15k or close to 20k was not an option for me. Well, I thought good cycle with better price tag would always perform well, how about making an average cycle to outperform and meet all your expectations. Cyclists owning Trek, Marida, etc please don’t curse me for this.

I browsed for LA-Sovereign and found the features and price fit my needs. LA-Sovereign wave was priced at 11,190 rupees. A descent bike, good color , Thai-India collaborative brand. Last Saturday I went to check the bike at RR Cycles at Madivala. I asked for LA-Sovereign wave alloy and found the cycle very good looking. I checked the reviews with the shop owners which he said is descent one, feature which stand out in this bike is the front disc, wheel rim size which 27.5 in this cycle for 12k range. Later I googled to check the reviews in the net, to my surprise there were no reviews available for this bike except it was mentioned in some blogs, 27.5er or commonly called 650B bikes are intermediate of 26er and 29er bikes and had a good review. Now let me try this one. I spoke to few of my friends who own cycles, they too were not heard of this brand much. So now it was just a matter of gut feeling to go with this bike. Next day I visited the cycle shop, with few more tests and comprehensions, finally I decided to take chances and bet on LA-Sovereign wave 650b. Cycle came along with side stand, dealer fitted me water bottle cage and bell. I bought the lock, in all paid 11,400 /- rupees. They offered two months of service on the bike. I rode the bike back to my room that was around 15kms. It was a good ride but I had few hiccups during the gear change and also wheels were wobbling. No presumption yet, I will put up a good review, after good long ride in 2-3 months from now. For now, I welcome new member to my family LA-Sovereign Wave 650b.

Few pics here

At RR Cycles, Madivala

With LA-Sovereign Wave 650b

Balachandra with bike

LA-Sovereign Wave 650b

Happy Cycling !!

Boston Marathon Blasts- Lets keep the human spirits high!!

As soon as I read the post on facebook from my friend, who mentioned blasts occurred at Boston Marathon and he luckily missed running due to some registration problem, I was shocked. I have never heard of such incident where athletes, spectators were targeted in the terror attack except the 1972 Summer Olympics incident in Munich. I began to read the articles in the newspaper which explained most of the events. Series of two blasts occurred at the finish line after around 4 hours into the race, 3 are dead and almost 100 people got injured. It was a shocker. I was not able to comprehend the attack, as the matter of fact 99 percent of the people running in the marathon are general public who put in lot of efforts over the years just to prove to themselves that they can do it, they can run and complete the race. It was sheer attack on the humanity beyond any doubts.

Boston Marathon has a long standing history of being one of the elite marathon events in the world having completed 116 running years and one of the six World Marathon Majors. People take pride to be part of Boston Marathon and being able to complete it. Running in its 117th year, what happened today is beyond the words to describe. 

Marathon draws people from every ethnicity, age, culture, physicality is a forum to celebrate brotherhood, togetherness and human spirits. Participants pull in lots of efforts, hours of preparation physically and mentally to be able to participate in the race. They struggle to overcome there weakness during the course of their runs. They form an intangible bond with the fellow runners all through the run and spectators become part of their motivation. What they achieve at the end is the sense of accomplishment, beyond the words could reach. Its a human triumph over their weakness.

I am deeply saddened today. I give my condolences to the deceased, keep their souls rest in peace. My heart goes out for all the ones who are injured, I wish for the speedy recovery, wish them to be back on their feet for the next practice session. Running is not over yet, you people have done it, you can do it again.

Final word, lets not get bogged down by the heinous terrorist act, lets show them the human spirits are high beyond the reach of anyone.

Lets get warmed up, lets have a run !!!

To all, Happy Running !!!

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Dedicated to all Boston Marathon Runners

I ran 5 kms in the evening and dedicated my run to all the Boston Marathon runners specially to the one deceased and injured. Lets keep the running spirits high, lets keep the marathon spirits high and finally lets keep OUR human spirits high !!

Happy Running !!

Mumbai Marathon 2013

Mumbai Marathon 2012 was a wonderful experience  for me. I loved everything about it, running, cheerful crowd, course, fellow runners and the whole scintillating atmosphere that formed a perfect marathon. Organizers and authorities did a good job to maintain the crowd and traffic. With these factors, I had no other thoughts running in my mind when I registered again for Mumbai Marathon 2013.

Registration for Mumbai marathon starts as early in June every year due to huge number of participation it usually starts early. This year Mumbai marathon was celebrating its 10^th year and it was my 2^nd year in succession.

I had already started my training for Hyderabad Marathon and also had a thought of running Chennai Marathon this year. So, nothing much did I thought initially about my run in Mumbai. With a good finish time at Chennai Marathon in December boosted my confidence to perform better. I was aiming at finish time around 2 hrs with couple of minutes here and there. 

This time in Mumbai, it was Abhinav who helped me with the stay. Abhinav was a good friend of mine and my previous company colleague. We were in touch even after he left job to pursue MBA in Delhi. He got job in Mumbai and was staying there after his degree. He stayed at Kandivali East.

I travelled to Mumbai on 19^th morning by flight, thanks to SpiceJet for cutting down their fare to 2013 Rs. On landing Mumbai, I went to Abhinav’s room by taxi. It was after long time we were meeting, we had our chat having aloo paranthas prepared by cook. Abhinav  told he will come with me for collecting the bib number and other running stuff. After collecting the goodies, we roamed around the Marine Drive, had our lunch and returned back to the room. I arranged things necessary for the morning and fell asleep. I got up early, got ready and left by 4 am to Kandivali Station to catch local to Bandra. Already there were bunch of people travelling by that local. Friendly smile at 4 am in the morning local, feels good. All knew we were on that local for a cause, to prove ourselves something we had trained so hard.

Race began by 5.40 am. I started with normal pace and this time I wanted to maintain single pace for first 10 kms. I took around 1 hour to complete the 10 kms mark, till this mark I had not taken any break. I was feeling good and thought I could add few more kilometers. I continued in the same pace for next 4-5 kilometers. I remember once the hill running began, bit of pain started in my right knee. I slowed my pace and started slow run, now with another 4 kilometers to cover my watch timer showed 1 hour 45 mins. Now sensing sub 2 hour completion was bit unrealistic with the pain, I thought to finish the race at comfortable pace without hurting myself. I felt 2.15 hours was achievable but knee pain was making me feel that too was far. With my slowest pace, I completed my run in 2.22 hours as shown in my watch. After the race I collected the medal and snacks and went back to the room.

Finisher Certificate

Timing Details.

Marathon Photos.

I called up Keta, my good friend. We worked together in Pune. After her marriage she is now staying in Mumbai with her husband Aditya. We planned to meet around 4 pm after that I would catch my bus to Bangaluru.

As planned, I met Keta and Aditya at a CCD with Abhinav, I was meeting her after around 2 years. We had chat almost for an hour. I thanked Abhinav, it was nice meeting him. I said bye to Keta and Aditya and took bus from Borivalli to Bangalore.

Mumbai and my friends again treated me very well. Hope to be here again next year.