‘Running’ Update – KTM, Ultra & Shoes

Kaveri Trail Marathon (KTM) – 19^th Oct 2008

 

It turned out to be a fantastic Sunday morning. The trail was a scenic one: water canal on one side, lush fields and rows of trees on the other and lazing cattle and bullock carts all along the trail. The faint smell of cattle dung somehow reminded me of my village. In short it was a welcome pastoral setting.

 

Though the timing of 2Hr 30 Min for the half marathon (21K) is a personal worst, it was a good start to the season. I felt strong until the 14 km mark, till it became quite sunny. Though not physically tired, I felt lazy from thereon and would’ve walked quite a bit till the finish line. So KTM served a timely reminder for the challenges ahead (the Bangalore Ultra & the Mumbai marathon) and gave impetus to my preparations.

 

As for the event, it was well organized, right from the time of registrations to our return to Bangalore post the run. There was a continuous flow of information and the arrangements at the race day made us feel at home.

 

On a very different note and I hope I’m not just imagining that bullocks in Karnataka have fine-looking horns, better that any where else I’ve seen (in my limited wanderings) in the country. This was first observed by my folks in Hampi and so was my observation at the trail too. A common sight is ghungroos (wonder what the English equivalent is) adorning the ends of a perfect set of horns. It makes for a pretty picture and good music.

 

Bangalore Ultra – 16^th Nov 2008

 

Another good Sunday. After the initial commotion in the morning (I missed the runners’ bus and took a cab to the venue) the rest of day was incident free. It was refreshing to see vast open spaces and the route was picturesque, awesome actually. There was grass, trees and a winding trail and an overcast sky made it a pleasant weather to run. I finished the 25K in 2Hr 55 Min which is marginally better than my performance in the KTM.

 

The event, as expected, was impeccably organized. Another amazing aspect of the event was the endurance on display. A sizeable number participated in the 50 K and there were takers for 75K and 100 K. In fact there was one gentleman who was attempting 200K and he was up on his feet since 6:00 pm from the last evening (15^th Nov). Truly inspirational and I pray he succeeded in the quest. Next on the agenda is the Mumbai marathon and since it’s my first full marathon the aim is to just complete it.

 

Found the quotes from the KTM and the Ultra certificates quite interesting. Here they are:

 

“We came to Srirangapatna, where Tipu lay

And ran our heart out this October Day!”

 

“The Ultra, they said, would be tough on you.

I ran the distance. Now I know I am too!”

 

On Running Shoes

 

Of late I have become quite suspicious of picking up an injury since I’m training on road, my least preferred surface. Also the enormity of the task (full marathon) is dawning on me and I want to make the ordeal as comfortable, if that’s possible. The truth has finally hit home with the receipt of the confirmation for the Mumbai marathon last week. Also my research on running shoes has me believe that I should change my shoes every 400-500 miles. The dedicated runners would complete this distance in 6 months but since I’m only a pretender, I probably have covered the distance in 18 months (since I bought my current pair of shoes). For these reasons, a new pair of running shoes is a priority now.  

 

However I hadn’t anticipated that choosing a pair of shoes is such complicated business. Some of factors to consider are one’s gait, type of feet, distance and type of race.  Therefore the first step for me is to get a gait analysis done, all the more important since I have flat feet. Hardly any thought went into buying my last pair in May 2007; the only guiding factors were my shoe string budget and reasonable comfort. The shoes are still serving me well which goes on to show that either I don’t run enough or that they were the ‘soul mate’ for my feet. After being the beast of a clumsy burden, they will now move on to less taxing roles such as being a part of my casual wear.  

 

However the most difficult hurdle will be the actual purchase, given the prohibitive cost. So I plan to invite my brother for moral support when I go out shoe-shopping; I trust his steadfastness at buying expensive shoes. J  

Counting the Kilometers…

 

The marathon season begins. It’s time to shake the rust off my feet and put my heart into training. Of the three events I’ve registered for: the Kaveri Trail Marathon in Oct, the Bangalore Ultra in Nov and the Mumbai Marathon in Jan ’09, I’m most nervous about the Mumbai marathon since it’s a first full length marathon (42.6 km) for me. While completing a sub 3.5 hour marathon is amongst my ‘things to do before 30,’ this will be a first step and I’ll just be happy to complete it. And hopefully stay on my feet after thatJ.  The first two events are a more familiar 21 km & 26 km.

 

Let me confirm here that I’m not a seasoned runner. I have been running sporadically over the years and my training calendar is embarrassingly sparse; the maximum distance I’ve ever touched in practice is 18 km. I have participated in three formal half marathons (Mumbai ’06, Bangalore Midnight ’07 and Delhi ’07) and I had banked upon the euphoria of the race day to see me through the remaining 3 km of the race. My timings were quite respectable but nothing to write home about. And here’s a confession that since February I’ve been averaging only two runs per week, the silver lining (and the irony) is that the situation is better than in the past. The usual run up to events otherwise had been thus: registering at the last moment, starting training a month before the event, managing up to 10 practice runs before the event, and perseverance and my ‘sense of humor’ getting me through.  

@ Delhi Half Marathon

 

 

The fact is that I don’t run as much as I want to or I should. My laziness gets the better of me I guess. But when I do run I enjoy it tremendously, it’s refreshing.  I normally get a little too caught up in my thoughts and running gives me a break from this. Over the years I’ve realized a couple of things. I like running alone, at my own pace and that’s its best to listen to the body. Therefore I exert within reasonable limits of my endurance and though I keep an eye on the timer I’m not governed by it. This has held me in good stead and I’ve never been injured while running. The only thing I’m very particular about is completing a run. May be I could do better by participating more frequently in the activities of my running group, which I must say is a very well organized group, their shared passion for running comes through in all their activities. For one there’ll be some consistency in my training and I could use some professional help too. But I’ve decided to train on my own till the Mumbai marathon with some help from the literature on the internet. This coupled with some runs organized by the group; I hope to hit a decent rhythm at the time of events.

Luckily for me, the weather at Bangalore is conducive to training and the place where I run is close to my house. In short, there can be no excuse. One thing I’m grateful for over the years is the access I’ve had to open spaces at each of my locations, my favorite being the JNU, New Delhi. The campus had a beautiful stadium, miles of undisturbed roads and lots of greenery. That’s where I was first tempted to run.

 

On a different note, the running culture is catching up and it’s good to see increased no of events and oversubscription to these events. Hopefully the organizers will capitalize on their learning from earlier editions to ensure hassle free and quality events. The events that I’ve registered for this time are reputed to be amongst the better organized running events in the country. This wasn’t the criteria for arriving at my schedule but from what I’ve heard about the ‘Ultra’ and ‘Kaveri Trail’ and what I’ve experienced in Mumbai I think it holds true. Mumbai marathon is one of the few events in India which has a consistent calendar, the 3^rd Sunday of January and the course is quite picturesque too. Also in a significant first for an Indian event, it opened registrations 6-7 months before the event.

 

Another event I hope to be part of in future, an event that caught my fancy was ‘The Great Tibetan Marathon’ in Ladakh but at the time of the event I wasn’t prepared enough for a regular half-marathon, leave alone a high-altitude marathon. Besides, the costs and the time required for acclimatization were prohibitive. But here’s to a future where I am well-prepared for this event and can also afford it without battling an eyelid. That’ll be something.