Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon 2016

1st Oct 2016

In India I often traveled to different cities to run and explore the places around. Now that I have traveled around US for a while, I thought why not the same can be repeated in a foreign land. After having run couple of half marathons and 10k in Atlanta, I decided to venture out of Georgia. Initial aim to identify run in states neighboring Georgia, later look for distant places. 

Cherokee’s Harvest Half Marathon falling on 1st Oct, well suited me giving me some time for preparation and also will mark it last marathon before my wedding. These days my weekends where mostly occupied by Cricket matches, giving my weekend long run a hit. I decided to run couple of long runs over the weekdays though. After losing out of the league, I started to focus on my runs. In fact, couple of matches I stood out and practiced my long runs. 

One more thing that excited me about this run was my hiking group was in Bryson City, which was around 20 miles from Cherokee. I decided to join them for the hike on Sunday for a nice and easy hike. 

I started from Atlanta early as 5 am, it’s around 2 hour drive to Cherokee. I reached the start point at 7.15 am, parked my car. I realized it’s colder than what I thought it would be. It was a small crowd for run but looked great to start from the middle of the mountain. 

It was freezing at the start, my nose and hands were pretty cold. Route was marked pretty well and there were volunteers guided all through the run. As usual, I maintained my normal pace wanting to complete just around 2 hours mark. Half the way, I caught on a fellow runner who was pretty much limping and running, I spoke to him. Said he pulled is calf and not able to run much, he was pretty much fast runner with 1 hr 40 mins finishes. We spoke for the next few kms and I continued. I finished with the decent time of 2 hr 8 mins.

 208.     PRASHANT PATIL     31 M  Atlanta GA   1327 2:08:36  9:49 2:08:27    0:09

 Happy Running !!

Hotlanta Marathon 23rd August 2015

Running always paved me a way to overcome myself, I tend to think myself as strong and jovial but life always not a bed of roses, you keep finding thrones on your way to the cozy bed. This is were running comes to rescue me and it always did. It Lets me keep off from my despair for a while. Sleepless nights, not so substantial days and add to your misery too. I tend to find time for running though, but sometime its lazy me who over power my will for running. Most of the time I am able to beat my laziness and plunge onto the road for some good run. At the end its just the satisfying feeling, realization of something gone good, sweat reminds me of something good.

After my 10k race at Peachtree Road race, I was looking for a bigger run. Read about Hotlanta Half Marathon, pretty unsure about staying back here for a while, could not register for it earlier but time I got to know I will be around here, first thing I did was to stop by Big Peach running club to register paying bit extra then the initial registration price. Marathon was on 23rd August 2015 and I did the registration on 10th August. With couple of weeks to power up my run and mileage, I continued what I was doing. Kept running over the evenings, did a long run same weekend. These days I was finding my running rhythm, longer runs where comfortable and could increase my mileage over time. Unknown source of power and music guided me over the time. 

My fitness was also steady due to the Cricket I was playing on weekends for the Atlanta Cricket League. This kind of helped me be better my quick runs and heat. On the D-day, 23rd August, I got up early, listening to my playlist and was ready to hit the road. I was talking to a running in MARTA Train and got to know about the expected rain half way through the race starts. Well, Peachtree Road Race was also a similar event which ended up running all the way in rain, and I was pretty disappointed to run in rain again, although I enjoy rain but this time I wanted to give my best. 

My run started pretty good, kept my pace and initial 10k I completed in 58 mins, but soon the rain started pouring making it hard to keep my pace, water streams were all across and day almost looked like a night with street lights on for some time. I kept whatever pace I could maintain and ran to complete the Marathon in 2hr 13 mins, best so far after the debacle run in November last year in India. I was happy. Also happy because I felt I was the only Indian running here J couldn’t see any more Indian faces around. I took some pics and also created a video to say hi to Hriday, Avni, Aru and my Appi. It was great run and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Below are some pics and my race results.

Race result:

518

Prashant Patil

927

30

M

30-34

2:13:30

2:15:04

10:11/M

Joy of seeing the Finish line

Keep running !!

Breaking the mind's shackle - Back to marathon !!

Peachtree Road Race 4th Of July Independence Day, Atlanta, Ga.

Last few months it’s been a roller coaster ride of things happening in my life. Trying to find some sort of peace and calmness along the way I am moving in. Missed to run Mumbai Marathon, which could have well be my 4^th consecutive run in SCMM, also TCS 10k run which could have been my 5^th consecutive year in a row. Albeit my running was going on, was looking up for some event where I could final break the shackle of not running a marathon in recent times.

Moved to US in May, my first trip to US. I did settle there in a week’s time. Now what, I started running whenever I could find time, whenever things where getting hard on me. These days I was not maintaining any routine but run whenever I can. I did search for marathons in Atlanta, could find one on 4^th July, Peachtree Road Race 10k. Thought this could well be my chance to run abroad and run a marathon after a long time. But to my dismay, registrations were full and I could gather some information like I may get a running number during expo. Meantime I was running now and then, really not sure about getting a running number or not on the day of expo.

Looking for Running number !!

With Jeff Galloway 

Hoping to get running number I went to expo on 2^nd July, enquired if I can get a running number or number transfer or for sale. I got some information of sale next day at the expo, was happy to hear that. I met Jeff Galloway, running legend, trainer. I was happy to meet, had been reading his articles on running and training for long. Took some pictures, he was kind enough to look for a running number for me with his friends, but there was no luck though.

I returned to expo next day and went directly to AJC booth, where running number were sold. I asked the lady if any free numbers are available. After checking, she got back to me with good news, some free numbers were available. That means I get a number for the race and its free. I thanked the lady and was back preparing myself mentally for the race next day.

With Bib Finally

Again with Jeff with Bib

All Check, All Set

 I had light dinner, arranged the stuff for the D-day. Slept hoping for a good run. I woke at right time, got ready. I was hearing to the my favorite playlist in the morning. Moment I was out, it was raining. I caught train which had thousands of runners, could barely find place to stand in train. Got down at Buckhead and then a long walk till the start point, I saw huge number of people all walking down to start line. I was in line up J and was looking to join the crowd. Did some basic stretch and I was all set to run my first marathon this year outside India, in a crowd where I could hardly see any Indian faces.

Rain intensified right at the start line, I wished couple of people whom I was having a chat, a good run and there I started. Initially slow to adjust myself to the run, but through the miles I was feeling confident, happy and run was going good. High fives, cheers all the way was good. I finished the race all smiling and happy in a 1hr 3min with 10mins wasting to secure my mobile getting wet due to rain. Only this time I carried it not to miss to take picture of my run and the event :)

Few photos of the race below..

Post-race, award ceremony was cancelled since it rained heavily and crowd of 60,000 plus people was beyond anybody’s control. I left the race and went to after race party arranged by Jeff Galloway, hoping to meet him again.  Party was cool with nice snacks and beer. I had both and left to room with some really nice memories of the race and race as a whole.

Happy running !!

Mumbai Marathon 2014 – Full Marathon Fantasy !!

Mumbai Marathon 2014 – Full Marathon Fantasy !!                                                              19th Jan 2014

Thought of running full marathon was always back of my mind, but actually registering and running the marathon was always been a dream. Can I put myself through the training? Will I complete the run? What if I am not able to get myself ready for the run? There were hundreds of questions in my mind. Just to tell you, these thoughts popped up after I registered for the Mumbai Marathon 2014. Decision to register for the full marathon category was very quick, I was registering for Mumbai run for the 3rd time in the row, after two half marathons at Mumbai, I really wanted to run my first full marathon in Mumbai but nowhere else. Mumbai marathon gives you the best running experience, be it a crowd, facility while you run or the race finish at Church Gate. 

So I registered the run in June 2013 and started my preparation, I had Hyderabad Marathon & Bangalore Marathon on cards for preparation for the big day in Mumbai. I had always had problem to improve my timings but all that I hoped was finish somewhere around 5 hours, which was a decent target seeing I had roughly around 6 months of preparation. Nevertheless I had certain job in hand which sometime used to take long hours hitting up my regular routine to gym and run. Regular and weekend runs were on and all well. I completed Hyderabad Half Marathon with decent 2 hours 33 mins my personal best on this course now. Next I ran Bangalore Half Marathon in December, which was by far the worst run I had. The flat cement surface of NICE road had effect on my right foot, I was badly hurt and was not able to even walk for couple of days, this was the major setback for the Mumbai run, any miss in my training runs would definitely have effect on the marathon day. I was without practice for two weeks. I was now having nightmare of my first ever full marathon. Anup, my running buddy was running half marathon, his second HM, we reached Mumbai on 18th January and went to my friends place in Khandivali East, Abhinav Mahajan always there for me in Mumbai, this is second year I am visiting him and he such a friend and mentor. Day of the collection of bib, we went around Mumbai, Marine drive and coffee at Coffee House. I just promised myself to run beyond 21kms and quit whenever I would feel to do so. 

D-Day arrived, got up by 3 am and was ready by 3.45 am. Left to catch the first local to Church gate. I was happy to see people in the train who are ready to fight their fear, all in their running attire. I was building my confidence and convincing myself, I will be able to run completely. At the start line, I just prayed then started the run. At a very normal pace, started off my run, unbelievably I was feeling very good about the first few kilometres into the run, confident, no pain and most of all I was enjoying my run. My timer showed 2 hours 30 mins at 21.1kms mark, still feeling good about my run and pace. I saw elite runner making their way, so good to see them crossing you. At 25kms, now I was feeling bit tired and started walks and run. At this point I wanted someone who can run at my pace. At 29kms mark, I started matching pace with one guy who seemed to run at my pace, asked him if I can run with him. We started to talk about the run, started making small intervals of run and walk. This helped a lot to keep the pace and we also made sure we are running. We ran the last 10 kms together and finished together. Running together helped us both, finally I was relieved, happy and very ecstatic. At the start line I was just thinking of having a decent run beyond 21kms but here I am finishing my maiden full marathon, it felt so great.

My friend also finished the half marathon in around 2hr 20 mins, his best so far. We were pretty happy about our achievements and were ready to head back to Bangalore. My few pics and timings below.

 

My running moment

Run Summary

 Keep Running !!

Bangalore Ajmera Thump Marathon - My Half Marathon Misery !!

8th December 2013

With same group of running buddies we had run for Mysore Celebration Run, Amit, Samatha & Anup were looking forward for a good run in Bangalore. Amit & Samatha, the running couple were running 10k marathon, Anup & I where chasing our half Marathon run, we had new member this time, Ananth, brother of Amit running his 5k. Route for the run was NICE corridor, stretch of 10&1/2 km to and fro. 

We arrived at the venue just before the start of the run, got ready for the run with little bit of stretches. I was little bit of sceptic this time seeing the route, this stretch was concrete road and I was wearing soft training shoe from Puma, I was afraid of spraining either my knee or ankle. Started off good, I was keeping my pace with Anup, first half of the run was slow and steady, I believe we took around 1hr 4 mins at 10kms mark. It was all started at the second half, I was feeling bit of pain in my right foot, just below the foot, asked Anup to continue with his pace and I will follow up. Started with walk and run strategy, few times I kept pace with fellow runners. It was really getting hard on my foot, decided to have a long walk and see if I can further able to continue with run. This proved to be effective, after a long walk of about 100 meters or so, I started to run, marking a distance from sight and run to the point, walk a bit and continue again. Soon, I could see the finish line, gathered all my energy to finish last marathon of this year with push-ups that I been doing in all marathon this year, went with the push-ups with cheers of the crowd. I finished with timing of 2 hr 27 mins in my watch. Not bad with the pain, but not so good. Every time I feel, a little extra could have improved my timings. Anup finished good; Amit & Samatha did pretty well with their second 10k together. Amit got his personal best. Soon he will be running his next 10k in Midnight Marathon. Samatha din her best for second 10k, While Anup did a good sub 2hr 30mins for his second half marathon.

This marathon took a toll on my foot, I was limping after the marathon, it continued for next two days. I was initially worried of having a fracture in my foot but soon realised this was because of the shoe I wore & surface I ran. Shoe didn't provide the arch support, so my foot was stretched too much. With some googling and info from Runner's World, I could relate the pain I was facing. I did icing and foot massage twice a day for couple of days, pain reduced considerably. No pain after three days, but keeping a watch on my foot for some more time, hoping no serious injury. I will be resuming my run with Infosys 5k run on 19th December, hope to come back strong with no pain. 

Soon will upload my race results and pics.

Keep running !! 

Infosys Run - November !!

21th November 2013

These days I am mostly off-blogging, this is just framed by me, this is blogging inside your mind and not putting it actually on to site. Work has taken away bit of toll, not being able to put down some of my experiences in the recent past. Few things still to come over are my cycling series posts and few runs. This November I ran Infosys 10k called Infosys November Run, previously held in September by the slightly different name Infosys September Run. This time I got it all wrong, missed to notice the event date after registering for the run, I assumed it to be on 28th November while the actual event date was 21st November, that's my bad. With few weekend runs I was bit confident on finishing it good. 

This time crowd was fantastic, more in numbers then last year's September run. I started not so good, with little bit of heavy stomach and dizzy feeling, but soon after crossing half mark, I was confident and ran comfortably for the rest of the run. I finished in 59 mins, finish was good. Next on my list was Bangalore Marathon by Ajmera Thump.

Till then keep running, care for environment around you.

Cheers.

Mysore Marathon 2013 - Good event and run !!

Running Kaveri Trail Marathon wasn't in my cart until the last moment. Earlier I had decided to run Mysore Marathon and registered for the event. Not having ample practice during the week and missing some weekend runs, I planned to take these marathons as my substitute to long runs. Although ideally not recommended, but having not able to make out time for the run, this was my last resort. I was running KTM on 15th September and Mysore run was on 29th September and Wipro run on 22nd. My run at KTM was good except the last few kms where I struggled with cramp and could not push my self. I finished it in 2hr 34mins, although not a good timing but finished on high spirits. I couldn't register for Spirit of Wipro run, which I had planned to run 10k, but ended up cheering up my friends few of whom where running 10k.

Think I already mentioned about my few friends who are now taking up running. I could influence them to register for Mysore Marathon, few actually did. Anup, Amit and Samatha, had registered for the event in 21k, 10k and 5k respectively. So these days I am having good company of my friends at Marathon. That's something to cheer about. So on 28th we planned to go by car. We reached Mysore on 28th September evening, after witnessing the wonderful palace in lights we collected bibs at the event store. We booked a hotel near to the start of the race and called off the day after light dinner.

Up and ready by 5.30 am, we started up to the race start venue. On the way, I was suggesting Amit, Samatha to run at the pace they are comfortable with and importantly enjoy the race as it comes.I was really pumped up to have my buddies along with me on the run, its just those moments when you run together or cross your friend on the other side of the run, to cheer and a high five, pumps up energy. And to see someone at the finish line whom you know adds on more to it. 

Into the race, first half of the run was really wonderful, climate was perfect, I was easily pacing with Anup. Route was perfect with both road and off road running, few kilometre run was beside the lake which added to its beauty. At 16kms mark, Sun started show up. My weak point of not having enough run under the sun was clearly seen, I was getting tired now and getting exhausted after 200-300 meters of run. I started pushing myself to finish off in sub 2hr 10mins or may be plus 5 mins more. But what kept me away from reaching that goal, my practice runs, it was clearly visible to me now, last couple of run I was not finishing well. Last 3-4 kms were taking toll on me and I wasn't finishing the race strongly. Something I need to note for my next race. I finished race around 2hr 23 mins as my watch showed at the finish. To repeat my finishing stunt, I did 5 pushups at the finish line and could locate Amit standing at the finish line cheering for my finish. Soon I was joined by Samatha, who had run 10k instead of registered 5k with Amit. I said wow, that was good to start off.

After finish

Credits - Flashbuzz

Credits - Flashbuzz

Credits - Don't know !

My race results ..

Result

Happy Running.
Cheers..

Kaveri Trail Marathon 2013 - Doesn't meet the hype !!!

First thing, I was just able to register for this event through my friend and got the confirmation week before the marathon day and could hardly manage to run couple of practice runs. With almost no practice, I was facing the half marathon running challenge. Only confidence I could put together was from the Hyderabad Marathon, which I had run on 25th August finishing it with descent time.

My friends Anup and Shireesh had registered for 10k run which was on 14th August and Half Marathon which I was running was on next day. So we couldn't plan out well about our stay and also some visiting the places around.

I left to Shrirangapatna on 14th by train, which landed me to my destination by 1.30 pm. Out in Shrirangapatna station, I was feeling it was kind of set for 'Chennai Express' movie, I could just feel that's not the real train station, it was pleasant and kind of picture perfect for the shoot. I took a rick and went to bib collection venue which was a resort on the Mysore-Bangaluru highway called Young Islands. I collected the bib and now what ? I called couple of my friends in Mysore then spoke to Anup about their run, by now they were on their way back to Bangaluru. I thought staying in Mysore would take a toll to commute early in the morning for the run, I decided to stay around race start which was Ranganatittu Bird Sanctuary. I got a decent room in a resort and settled there for the rest of the day.

I woke up with the race day bugaboo. Got ready and was there at the pick point by 5.30 am. I was dropping my bag at the baggage counter, a guy came to me and told we met in Mumbai. I could then realise he was Debu, friend of Radhe [my Pune friend]. I stayed at his place in Mumbai last year, when I was running my first half marathon. Oh, its such a good feeling to meet someone on your run at some unknown place. We exchanged some talk and its now race start time. Race start point was just after the entrance to Ranganatittu Bird Sanctuary. Weather was good, place was very green and route seemed less challenging though organisers claimed it to be toughest among the marathons in India. With no presumptions, I started the race, first half of the race was pretty much smooth with distance 10k covered around 1hr 2mins I guess. But soon sun was out and could feel the difference, I had hardly practised my runs under sun and this was bit draining me out. Till 16th Km, I was about time of 1.40 hr but could not maintain the pace and bad cramp pulled me to the walking lane. I pushed myself to the finish line and gathered my strength to do five push ups !! That's this years race ending fun.

Below my pic and my race results.

Overall Rank	Bib	Category / Gender	Category Rank	Gender Rank	Split@10.55	Net Time
395	3200	OPEN / Male	327	372	01:10:09	02:35:38

Although the race was not that tough but a little more practice was enough for me to complete the run around the 2hr mark. Hoping to reach that magic figure soon. As far as race is concerned, it the most scenic route for the marathon to run and enjoy. My next in the cart is Mysore Marathon on 29th September 2013. Hope to see you at Mysore, lets start Dasara together and Running !! 

Save Envrionment !!

Keep Running !!

Hyderabad Marathon 2013 - As hard as it gets !!

Yeah, did it again. Hyderabad Marathon 2013 done with a bang. Happy about how the run went through, finished with a time of 2hr 34mins, I would have cracked sub 2hr 30mins but that's not the whole point to me. Thoroughly enjoyed the route, the atmosphere and my push ups at the finish line. 

After finish

Finisher Certificate

Some moments captured by Velocscope.

Cheers !!

TCS World 10k.. yet again !!

Having been part of this run for the last 2 years, this is my 3 year in a row at TCS World 10k run. Always amazed with enthusiasm, fervour and electrifying atmosphere when I run at Bangalore’s world 10k. With increase in the number of participants every year TCS10K is growing bigger and better. Like Mumbai Marathon, I feel Bangalore 10k is not a marathon but a running festival where everyone participates and celebrate their run. Men and women of all ages, people with special abilities bring on their best foot forward and set an amazing example of human spirit. Running is all about that, isn't it :)

Two of my friends Anup [7606] and Irfan [2683] were running TCS10k for the second time and Shrikant [5462] was new entrant to running. Due to rains in Bangalore day before, Sunday seemed to be perfect day for running. Run started sharply at 7.22 am inside the Kanteerava Stadium. Due to the large number of participants my initial run was bit slow. After around 2 kms into race, I got caught with stomach stitch, which slowed my pace again for some time. At 5 kms into the race, I was feeling good and increased my pace and could finally finish in 1 hour 33 sec net timing, although I was aiming to finish few mins before. That was okay to me, I enjoyed the race thoroughly, did small steps at DJ, ran with elderly person for some time, overall it was good run. After the run, I waited for my friends, who finished within a small difference of time each. Anup finished in 1.04 hrs, Irfan in 1.10 hrs and Shrikant in 1.17 hrs. All doing their best from the previous run. Happy to see them making it through smiling. It was great fun to run and even more wonderful sharing the running experience with others. We got our medals and small dose of snacks. Got the pictures clicked and enjoyed the moment. 

Few picks are below

Irfan, Shrikant, Anup and Me [L-R]

Shrikant, Karan, Me, Irfan, Puneeth, Anup

One more click

Shrikant, Me and Irfan

Happy Running !!!!

P.S: Certificate, timing details and marathon photos to follow.

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 !!

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 !!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 !!

Hyderabad Marathon 2012

I was clear about running my 2nd Half Marathon but the question to myself was where will be next. Delhi Marathon was around mid of September and Hyderabad Marathon in August. 

I had been to Hyderabad trip in 2009 with my friends, now could only remember few few things though. On the other hand, I was bit non assertive on travelling to Delhi as it would consume lot of time to travel and money too. Obviously, I had only one option to run Hyderabad Marathon. I registered Hyderabad Half Marathon and started off my practice. Race was scheduled on 26th August 2012. 

I had already started off working on things which I had noticed in my last half marathon. Things like breathing control, increasing my knee strength and lots of running. Now plan was to reach Hyderabad on 25th August, collect the running number and goodies bag, run marathon on 26th August, take a day off on 27th August revisit some places of interest. I called up Deepak who stays in Hyderabad for a stay at his place. Deepak was my college mate and one my good friend. 

I planned to meet my other friend Rashmi who was also staying in Hyderabad. I called her up and came to know that she is planning to run the marathon. My photographer friend Harpreet was also taking part in the run. He was common friend to both me and Rashmi. So this time I had some familiar faces to run with.

On Saturday we planned to meet at Chatney's Restaurant for the lunch and later to collect the our bibs. After relishing lunch, we went to the venue to collect our running number, chip and other stuffs. Since I had already run a half marathon and it was their first, they posed few queries. I said to them, run with a aim to complete and enjoy, not to worry on the other part of it. We planned to meet next morning for the marathon.

Rashmi and Harpreet picked me on the way to the race start place Necklace Road. Race started at 5.15 am. This time I aimed to finish the race within 2 hr 30 mins. After running with my friends for sometime I picked up the pace. Few kilometres into the race, I could see uphill. Initially it was fine but uphill didn't seem to end there. Course was full of up-hills. At around 10 kms mark it started raining, I was enjoying my run in the rain at an expense of timing. Since it was uphill most of the time I was not able to increase my pace beyond certain level. I kept my running at a constant pace and completed the race. My watch showed time of 2 hr 50 mins. I was okay with my timing since the run had lots of hills. With the uphill gradient factor in it, whole race was considered to be around 23 kms. Race at Hyderabad was tough and rain made it bit tougher, traffic was poorly maintained and whole race was full of uphill running which off course tested the stamina and took will to complete it. Hyderabad Runners team did a good job at organization front, but yes they can still do better.

Soon Rashmi and Harpreet finished the race too. We took few pictures, talked about the race and left for the day.

Finisher Certificate

PRASHANT PATIL

Bib                  Number	3006
Rank:	827
Gender:	Male
Category :	OPEN
Category Rank:	705
Gender Rank:	774
Split@10.8:	01:20:50
Net Time:	02:46:37
Gross Time:	02:48:27

                                                                     Split timings

Next day I visited Birla Temple, Sarlarjung Museum, Golkonda Fort on a hot sunny day and left to Bangalore by night. This time for a change I was all well with no serious pains.

TravelnRun Hyderabad Marathon Photos

Happy Running !!!

TCS 10k Run 2012

Now that I have completed Mumbai Half Marathon, so what was next. I was running regularly and also doing my weekend long runs. During the next couple of months after Mumbai Marathon I participated in some events conducted by Decathlon Stores. One was Duathlon of 15 kms, its a 2 member team event where one would cycle and other should run and switching between cycling and running was allowed. I was able to convince one of my friend to cycle me as I thought of running. It was a good event and I remember it completing it in 1 hr 38 mins. Also there was 10 kms run which I completed in 1 hr 5 mins.

TCS 10k team announced the registration and event date for the 10 kms run. Event was scheduled on 27th May 2012. I was among the first few to register for the event. Its my second participation in this event after Majja run in 2011. This time I also wanted few of my interested friends to run along with me. I was successful to convince few of my friends to participate. Anup, Irfan, Shashi and Nikhil registered for the event. Since my Mumbai Marathon results where taken during registration I was put in line up section B and my friends where in line up section C. My running number was 1002.

Race was good but since it started late in the morning at 7 am, Sun started up to show up around 7:30 am which effected my running tempo. This was definitely not an excuse but my preparation lacked running under Sun. Although I wished to complete the race sub 1 hr time, missed it but 4 mins !!. Here is my race timing. I was bit disappointed but its all part of the game. I was happy to find my friends completing the race too. We all had good time after the race. Here is the race certificate. Couple of photographs of mine on the run. 

Timing Certificate

With 3 months to go I was attempting my 2nd Half Marathon in Hyderabad.
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