A Run in the Dark and a spiritual conversation....

           Running in Goa has been an evolution as it has been testing my inner strengths and weaknesses, particularly because the runs have been more or less alone. One such run is what I describe here. I got up in the morning and got ready to run by 0530 hrs. I finished my warming up dynamic stretches and was ready to go by 0545 hrs. I had decided to do an 8-10 K run at a fast pace (tempo run). As I got ready to start, I noticed the darkness as the lights suddenly went out and it was pitch dark and I could hear some dogs barking in the background. The first involuntary reaction was fear with all kinds of scary thoughts in the mind. I observed those thoughts and smiled at my mind, and started my run. Soon I was on the beach which is about 1.25 km away from my house.

                 On the beach, it was pitch black darkness and the sound of the waves with the white froth of the wave break visible was giving solace to the mind that there was something discernible in the darkness. As I decided to turn right on the beach towards Colva, I heard ferocious barking of many dogs and immediately turned left which was relatively silent and started running towards Varca. As I started running, I could see a distant light and soon, as that was getting obscured by fog; it was me and darkness on the beach with the vast sea on my right. I felt as if I was running towards eternity and this would be the way I would end by just vanishing into the darkness as I run into it. What a thought!  What a way to die, it would be any runner’s dream, I guess! This thought was disturbed suddenly by the barking of a dog. It was quite distant, but my mind was obsessed and I was scared of these dogs coming charging at me. And being all alone on the beach is also another vulnerability which these excited guys can take advantage of, which normally should never happen, but fear is always there in the mind. I was desperately trying to overcome these fears and get out of it, and that is why I always try and get out in the dark to face these fears and overcome them. Incidentally, when I speak to my lady friends, I realise that they are tormented by an additional fear more realistic than mine, of dangerous human beings of the other sex, and that keeps them away from coming out alone in the dark. Really sad state of affairs, dogs and animals are much better than human beings, they only attack when feel threatened, human beings attack for sadistic reasons. I wonder why a woman has to be scared of another human being, when all of us have always been told by all our near and dear to spread love, peace and harmony. Why is there so much strife and hatred filled in our minds? Is it because of the inputs we keep receiving in terms of media, newspapers etc.?  How many times do we appreciate all that we are blessed with, have gratitude for everything and enjoy the present moment?  “Compassion for all” should be the key mantra in our minds whenever we are faced with adversity, isn’t it?  I try to tune my mind for the dogs that bark at me and I fail many times especially when they come charging at me ferociously, I wonder what must be going through a woman’s mind when she is alone and a man charges at her. A dog is smaller in size and can be easily overpowered by any human, but for a woman being stalked by a man, it is the opposite, as if I were to face a lion on the beach or an animal much more powerful than me and with absolutely injurious intentions. This is really tough for anyone to face. All these thoughts and more were playing in my mind during the run. I was all alone on the beach for the entire run duration and it was as if I was in a different world.

As I continued my journey unfettered by the barking noise of the dog, it stopped and again I was in the throes of nature and enjoyed the solitude for about half an hour and was unable to see where I had reached, when I was again disturbed by loud ferocious barking of many dogs ahead. I decided to stay away from trouble and immediately turned back and started my return leg. As I proceeded ahead, I had my first chase of three dogs that came barking and charged at me. I ran faster and faster and tried to ignore them, but my mind was stuck with fear that I was going to get bitten by them. Soon, I realised that they were no longer behind me. I presume that they were guarding their territory from strangers and a running stranger must be a serious threat for them.  As I moved ahead, again there were two small dogs, just outgrown puppies I guess,  who were not barking but started pacing with me. Instinctively, I slowed down and started walking and they just went away resuming their play together. I started running again and soon I reached my starting point and the light was just beginning to show up and I saw an old man who comes daily for walking on the beach. I asked him the time and it was 0640 hrs and it was time for my “morning smiling friend” to show up at a nearby beach entrance. So I started jogging towards that direction to meet her and continue a long walk with her where we discuss varied topics on photography, which is her passion, books, yoga, meditation, philosophy of life etc. I love to have such conversations early in the morning as the mind is fresh and the thoughts are pure and unpolluted by the events of the day. There were a number of starfish on the beach and she clicked some close-up snaps of them. It was a lovely morning on the beach with the tide being low and heavy fog all over. 

                We discussed about life and she said that the most important part of life is to live “attentively” as in if we pay attention every moment to everything within us and around us, we actually live in the present, and life is all about living in the present. I had just read about Hatha Yoga in a book and re-stated the facts given about the eight steps in yoga namely Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.  I find it similar to Vippasana where there are three steps viz. Sheel, Samadhi and Pragnya.  Sheel and Yama are same, Samadhi in Vippasana is equivalent to the next seven steps of Yoga where the mind is controlled and a person becomes the master of the mind, and Samadhi of yoga is the stage of Pragnya in Vippasana where a person gains wisdom by self-realization/ experience. Basically all these arts of meditation and exercise teach us to live life attentively in the present and overcome the fears and worries of the past or the future.  We also spoke about this child prodigy who expired this January at a young age of 16 years and had written a book which was published on the day she died , and that too in the Jaipur Litfest called “The Little Epiphanies”. She had written about all the glorious moments of her life and her dreams before she died. She knew that she was dying and I believe had asked to live a little longer from God as she wanted to do so much more. Sad but real , but  children are so pure and un-polluted by the ways of the world, so in a way, they are much closer to God. There is so much to learn from children, yes, it is the adults who have to learn from children and not vice-versa. 

                   Running in the dark and discovering your own mind and overcoming the “shadows of demons” is also a moment of epiphany especially when you get to see the marvels of nature unfold as the day begins each morning. After a long walk of discussion on all these points, time had really flown and it was already 08:10 Am and I was really late as I normally leave for office by this time. So I bade goodbye and ran back to my house and had a quick bath, breakfast and managed to reach office at sharp 0900 hrs. The day had begun beautifully with a lot of activity both physically as well as intellectually. I had achieved a tempo run (albeit with some unwanted breaks) as well as a stimulating conversation to mull over  and evolve in life. 

Dr Ramani marathon at Ponda- An awesome experience..

After a not so successful FM at SCMM 2015 with a weak finish and a timing of 4hr 28 min, this is the first event I decided to participate and it was very convenient as there was a group registration and the Bibs were also collected by a representative. So the only trouble I had to take was to reach there for the Marathon, which also was taken care by a co-resident staying close by and we had a car pool of five people going together for the race. So the day began early at 0400 wake up time and I left home at 0450 to a nearby friend’s place from where we were being picked up at 0510 hrs.  We were picked up on time and there was too much fog on the way, which is why the race was commencing at 0615 hrs. There were no direction boards, very few volunteers and we were searching the place for quite some time but soon enough we heard loud music and there we were in front of the Sports centre and we could see a number of cars parked there. We joined the gang of “Sussegado Runners” who were easy to identify as we were all wearing the recently acquired T-shirts/ singlets. After customary greetings and meetings, all started doing their warm up sessions and soon enough we were in the start line waiting for the count-down. I had decided to run at a pace which is befitting a race pace as per my capability and I wanted to assess my capability without stretching the body too much. In GRM , I had tried to keep pace with a fast runner and I succeeded and achieved my PB of 1hr 37.44 min but I realised that I had overstretched myself as I had jammed quads after the race for two days( DOMS). Now, I wanted to observe my race pace without overstretching myself, and I have been practicing shorter distances at a faster pace than my earlier 5:30 min/km pace. I have been doing a pace of 5:00 min/km for about 10-15 km in my practice runs and I found myself comfortable in maintaining this pace without overstretching myself. So with this pace for a HM, my timing should be 1hr 45 min. Of course during a race, adrenaline levels are high and the brain takes you faster than training pace so I estimated a time somewhere under 1:45 as my finish timing. Coincidentally my BIB number was 4545. Secrets of the universe, I was being told that 1hr 45 min is my timing target for this race. Anyways, shod of a Garmin or a watch (being a FreeRunner, I have not used gadgets for long now), I tried to evaluate my pace while running. The route was through the city for a while and soon enough we were into the interiors, plenty of uphills and downhills and through water bodies on both sides, quaint villages, bridges, temples, the scene was breathtaking and naturesque. I couldn't have asked for a better route as I love to run in such surroundings and Goa has been quite generous in giving me many such opportunities. I would rate Goa better than Pune with respect to the amount of greenery and natural surroundings here, especially as we enter into the interiors of villages, the untouched rustic landscape is awesome and something that I love.

As I surged ahead of the initial running crowd,  I soon found myself running alone with no one behind or ahead of me for a long distance and after about an hour of running, I overtook a young girl who seemed to be a local sports person. The running route was through quaint villages and water bodies and then old temples and the scenery on the way was breath taking. I was so mesmerized with the scenery and the environment, I never realized all the hills that I was crossing. I was enjoying watching the rustic scenes of village folk performing their morning functions, the cultural activities are very rich here, people were busy plucking flowers for the morning prayers and many had come out of their houses to look at us funnily dressed people running and drenched with sweat early in the morning. I wished and greeted many of them and got return replies from some of them. Later I overtook a runner who looked at me very surprised and told me that I have come the wrong way. I was angry first, then calmed down and told him that I have come as I have been guided by the volunteers and I don’t know any other way, as I am new to this part of Goa. He was surprised that there was no one behind him for long, so where did I suddenly appear from; I think he was concerned about me overtaking him. I just disregarded his remark and quietly went ahead and continued my run focusing on my form and pace. I learnt later that he is a 52 year old runner who always manages a podium finish. He had recently come first in the Tower Run held at Panjim and is a nice person whom I befriended easily after the finish of the race. I told myself to focus on my run and soon I was climbing a difficult hill and I managed to continue running at a constant pace. Again I was all alone and I was not aware of how much of distance is left, and soon enough I saw some volunteers who shouted that only 3 Km are left. So I decided to start pacing for a strong finish and moved ahead, but the last part of the race also had a up-slope and then had to cross a busy bus-stand and then go back to the sports complex and since I did not know the place very well, I missed my 200-300 m sprint here as there was a blind turn and I was into the road leading to the sports complex just 50-100 m away. I just sprinted the last 50-100 m and finished the race strong. I was satisfied but there was no one telling the timing. I asked the time from someone and it was about 0805. If the race had started at 0615, then I was below my mark of 1hr 45 min and I was very disappointed. However, after a few minutes, a running friend of mine finished and congratulated me and he said that his timing was 1 hr 45 min. So I knew that I had to be under that. As I went to the timing counter, I realised that my name was written there on their merit sheet. I had stood Third in the open category of men, and I was awarded a cash prize of 5000/=. This is the first time I have ever won a cash prize in a sports event. Last time I had a podium finish was in Pune Happy Hearts Marathon where the prize was a free membership in a gymnasium which was 28 Km away from my house.  Anyways, my Sunday had started very well with an awesome experience of a run in naturesque surroundings and the icing on top of the cake was my podium finish with a cash prize.   The biggest advantage of this run was my renewed energy and target for pace for the next HM where I would try and maintain a pace to get a finish time of 1 hr 40 min or lower. This is to ensure that I am out of my comfort zone soon enough which is essential to keep the “flow” on... My timing in this race was 1:43:09, almost close to 1:45. 

Just a small write up on "Why do I run?"

Running is My Oxygen

Why do I run?  Running was never related to winning a race for me, I have never been an athlete in my childhood or even later. Then what is the reason for this mad addiction to get up each morning and get out for a run with a target in mind.  I ask this question to myself and sometimes don’t get a clear answer.

But why is an answer required? There are many things in life which are intangible and inexpressible in words. The feeling that I get every day after a run is great as if I have achieved something, and this feeling eggs me to run more, set higher targets and the story continues. There are ups and downs each day, some days are lost due to travel/ social commitments etc. and for a runner, each day lost means going back in training especially if the break in running is more than a couple of days. Consistency and commitment to training schedule is extremely important to avoid injuries.  The human body is a marvellous piece of machinery which adapts and conditions itself to whatever you decide to do with it. So is that it? Am I trying to discover the capability of this human body by running longer distances and trying to see how the adaptation process occurs? The mind plays games every day, some pain here, some niggle there, but once you start running, all this disappears and appears only afterwards in the day, especially if I am idle. On a busy day, there are no pains or niggles. Amazing thing, isn’t it? It is how our minds have been conditioned by us and how the body reacts to it. When I run long, I focus on my form and keep checking my breathing pattern. That way the mind is busy and stays away from idleness and pain. So is idleness and pain related? Maybe, is it why as humans age conventionally, they develop pains in joints, muscles etc.. Is ageing due to idleness? We may argue that ageing happens therefore we become incapable of doing things and so idleness is because of incapability. But how is it that a person who has never run in his life takes up running and is able to run a full marathon comfortably even at an age of 60?  This is the absolute reality and fact on ground, and not a mere imagination or exception of one odd individual. Take anyone who is reasonably healthy and not already suffering from some disease, and start training him/ her, I am sure that the person will be able to run and put aside ageing for a long time to come.. So is this why I run, am I trying to put aside ageing and become immortal?

Running is next to nature; I don’t run inside a gymnasium on a treadmill, I love to run outside on roads, beaches, and parks and so on. Why? Because I love nature, when I run generally in the mornings, there is solitude and peace of mind. I can harmonize with the trees, birds, the darkness of the very early mornings slowly opening out to the first rays of the sun and if I turn lucky to hear the roaring of the sea and playing with the tide on the beach as you run along the water line. It is really beautiful to be out in the early hours of the day and become one with nature. It is said that the mind is most fresh in the early hours and maximum creativity flows during these hours.  Let us analyse and see what happens inside this mind:-

When I wake up in the morning, a thought arises,

Mind:  Am I OK to run or should I give it a rest today?

This happens usually in the mid-week time when you have run at least two or three consecutive days. There is bound to be a niggle here or there and the mind identifies it and this becomes a reason to not go for the run.  

Self: You cannot skip, have to go, just put on your shoes and WPJ and out you go.

Mind: Even the running coach says, if not feeling up to it, give it a break, if you overdo, you will injure yourself.

Self: Shut up and get out of the house, everything will be alright.

This play goes on for a while and then finally the steely resolution and the thought of the beautiful sounds and scenes outside seduce me to step out of the house. Then it is pleasure and paradise on earth... So guys.. Just kick yourself out of the house and see the magic after that....

Happy waking up and early morning running.......

All the best for SCMM 2015... all those participating...

 

Big occasions and races which have been eagerly anticipated almost to the point of dread, are where great deeds can be accomplished. – Jack Lovelock

Goa River Marathon 2014

Goa River Marathon 2014

Well, How do I begin... It is definitely a milestone to have achieved a first sub-100 HM at this event. I personally had not even set this target and was just planning to run and treat it as a training run for the upcoming SCMM. But things happen, and when you are least expecting it to happen. My friend Purnendu Nath, whom I met recently just a few months ago at Pune, and we ran together, then we again met up in Goa when he was holidaying and again we ran together on the beautiful beaches of Goa together, we ran twice, once a normal 10K on the beach and the second time we did 8 speed runs of 1K on the beach and the road leading to the beach from my residence, four each.  It was an amazing experience to train with Puru the Guru( That’s what he is known as), he is also the famous six pack guy who always runs bare chested and is therefore the cynosure of the eyes of many damsels ( they may not be in distress though...). He trains specifically for this event at Goa and is very serious about his performance and has a garmin which is pre-fed with a lot of information and warning limits as he has to track his performance with respect to cadence, average height lift off from the ground, pace etc. etc.. . I am not used to running with gadgets and therefore am quite illiterate and ignorant about it, but when someone with a gadget is running alongside, I do get tempted to know my pace and performance, because it a sure-shot feedback and you can plan to improve. So Puru came home for dinner, and me being a lousy host, made him cook along with me and we prepared a funny concoction of rice, pulses, and mashed potatoes and mixed it with fried tomatoes and onions. It was like “sludge”, yes that was the word he used to describe the result of our effort. Hopefully it was a nutritious pre-marathon night meal with sufficient carbohydrates. He just mentioned that I should be targeting a sub-100 as he has run with me earlier and he felt that it was do-able by me. I was not so sure about it because the best I have done so far was a 1hr 41 min at Pune which was a bit of a cheating as the distance was about 800 m short of 21K, and the last year, my GRM timing was 1hr and 52 minutes. GRM has two hills both on the going as well as the return route and the weather gods have not been particularly happy this time in Goa, being quite warm for a mid December morning.  So I was not at all sure if it was even possible. Anyways, I made up my mind in the night that I would target a sub-100 and started making strategies and also asked Puru for his strategy, so he immediately did a calculation and brought out a figure of 4.43 min/Km average pace for the race.  I am used to “5. Something min/Km” and so this average value kind of intimidated me a bit, but then I said I need to pull up my socks and try and achieve a PB this time. The thought started playing in my mind and I started to imagine how I will start off strong and try and continue strong by focussing on my form and try not to lose the form in the return leg, too.   

             I woke up at 0330 am, and left for my friend Appu Rajan’s house who I had planned to go along with for the race as he lives close-by and knows the roads well (another friend whom I recently met at Benaulim Goa, while running on the beach). Appu Rajan is also an amazing runner, about 64 years of age, he has been running long distance for the last approx 30 years or so, he is a Tamilian guy living in Goa for the last 40 years. He finished in 2hrs and 10 min. Running the mock race in Goa about 2 weeks earlier definitely helped as I had identified a public toilet near the airport and I generally get the urge to visit the washroom twice in the morning especially during the race day, and it is always better to identify a place close by but not with the crowd of runners to save time.

        It was amazing to meet up with the entire Savio’s gang after a long time and this is something that I really want to write about. All my work life of about 21 years in the Navy, I have not made so many friends as in these last 2-3 years because of running. In my running network, if I may so call it, I have about 50-60 runner friends in Mumbai, about 25-30 in Pune and now about 30-40 in Goa with whom I can really interact any time as we all have a common interest and life is suddenly looking very interesting. I have been travelling places in the Navy, but my running life in three places viz. Mumbai, Pune and Goa have given me so many friends. What more can a person ask for, I am so thankful to God that I am able to run and I would like to keep running forever, because I just love to make more friends and meet new people and enjoy these running moments. This is almost like meditation and I even love to write about these experiences, because I believe that when you put down on paper what is in your mind, the feelings and thoughts get cemented and stronger beliefs and values are set.  Secondly running helps you to break your own mental barriers and become a stronger person. Each day is different and there are highs and lows but running goes on and targets are always there looking up to your resolve and training to get there and achieve them. The flow of life is fully fresh and happening in such a situation wherein you are always preparing to achieve a set target, it has been a long journey of starting to run with a timing of “2hrs and 07 min” for a HM in 2009 to today’s PB of “1hr and 38 min” approximately (I still do not know my official timing..). What I have come to realise is that there is nothing impossible to achieve if we set our mind to it and put in our full hearted efforts to achieve the target. It is important to keep pushing ourselves out of our own comfort zone, whatever it may be, whether in job or in running as only then, there is a flow happening in life, else there is stagnation and life becomes uninteresting and dry.

        Let me get my thoughts back to this wonderful memorable event GRM 2014. So I met quite a lot of interesting people, thanks to the celebrity Puru who was with me. A podium finisher in most races, Andrea Stadler, an amazing spirited runner, who is practicing for the SCMM 2015 FM, said that she planned to do an additional 10K if she felt well after the race. I don’t know from where it came, but I immediately volunteered and said that I too was interested in running an additional 10K and would love to run with her. She was very happy that she would have some company after the race. But I was scared as she is a 1hr 40min runner and I was not yet sure that I would be able to keep up that pace, anyways, the game was on and we started warming up and moving towards the start point. We all were together: Puru, Andrea, self, Ajit, Azeez, Vikas and Sohini (who had come with Puru from Mumbai) when the race started. We strategised to move from the sides and get out of the crowd as soon as the race started and we followed the plan brilliantly and Puru , Ajit and self just took off from the sides and overtook most of the people much before even 1-1.5 k. The race was on, I had to keep up the pace with Puru and Ajit, who were about 10-15 m ahead of me. But I was felling scared that my pace may be too much to maintain throughout the 21k. I focused on my breathing and form and kept these two guys in sight all the time and ensured that the gap did not increase. I purposely did not want to catch up with them because I wanted to set my rythm correctly to match with my breathing and form. I maintained the form till we reached the hill and there I could see the gap closing as they were a bit slow, I kind of run uphill faster as I enjoy it and sub-consciously put in effort to increase my pace while running uphill, it has something to do with my mind telling me to face challenges with more power.  I maintained a lag of about 5-7 m continuously after that and finally we reached the turnaround point. This was the first time I saw the elite runners cross in the return path at about 9K point, normally I am used to seeing them at 6.5-7.0 K point. I knew that I was doing good time, Aziz too was running with me and his garmin was giving the pace at each Km and I heard 4.31 and 4.32 at 8k and 9K, so I was feeling good about being able to maintain a good pace.   After the turn around, it was good as I could see people ( Savio Sir and Roshan running together), and I felt good that I was ahead of Savio. I decided that I had to maintain my pace and not let anyone overtake, I saw Andrea who was just about 100m behind after I turned around. On the return leg, I could feel that Puru had slowed down a bit as I was constantly catching up with him and running with him for some time and then he would again go ahead. Every uphill, I would overtake him and in the downhill, he would just take off like a rocket past me and increase the gap by about 20 m. It was scary but the last hill I overtook both Puru and Ajit and for quite some time they did not catch up and then finally they overtook me and I too decided to increase my pace and stay just behind Puru to maintain a rhythm, I was confident that Puru would help me achieve my PB today, whatever it was.  So I faithfully followed Puru and Ajit and I was feeling good about everything, my pace was good and I was not feeling tired and I was mentally strategising about the last 200m sprint to make up time and boy, was I glad to see the 500m board, and then the turning and before I knew it I was sprinting towards the end point and I knew that I had left both Puru and Ajit behind, but I  was only looking at the finish board and I sprinted across the mat and turned around to see both Ajit and Puru about 50-60 m behind the finsh point. Puru came to me and showed me his garmin time of 1hr 38min and told me that I would be 1hr 37 min, and I was feeling elated as this was a tough run and I still achieved my PB of 1hr 37 min and joined the “100 min” gang of HM runners.  Incidentally, this was Ajit’s first sub-100 HM too and we hugged each other with joy and I thanked Puru from the bottom of my heart for having given me the thought of sub-100 yesterday night. This thought only led me to break the mental barrier and achieve a higher goal.  Most of us are capable of doing much better and we don’t realise our own potential and therefore need to keep pushing ourselves to achieve higher targets and one of the ways is to identify a mentor or running buddy who is better and then try and match up to his/ her pace. This strategy has worked wonders with me; first it was Dr. Muthukrishnan Jayaraman at Pune, and now Dr. Purnendu Nath( Puru the Guru) at Goa. I have still a long way to go before I can catch up to the pace of these two amazing runners as they are both way better than me, and I hope they will allow me to run with them so that I can better my own timings as they better theirs. This way, the flow of improvement continues and the challenge is always on.

        Andrea soon followed at 1hr 42 min and she again was a podium finisher here. We took two glasses of electral/ enerzal and started our 10K sojourn back on the same route. She is a very strong runner and I again just wanted to keep up with her pace and I managed to be with her till the 5K turning point after which my laces had come off and I had to stop for a while and we had two uphills to do in this 10K run, and I just could not continue the pace on the return leg, as my legs were feeling tired and I slowed down considerably and at about 29K, I stopped and walked for a bit till I reached a water aid station and emptied two cold water cups on my head. I felt rejuvenated instantly and started jogging immediately after that and I completed my 10K in a little over an hour. I could see Andrea waiting and stretching at the finish point and I thanked her for the great run. So finally I had a PB and a 31K run this Sunday which will be etched in my memory forever because it is my first sub 100 and also because I met some really amazing people and intend to be friends forever with them...

   The event was very well organized with sufficient water aid stations and on the return leg, there were oranges and bananas, which ere thoughtfully peeled. There were biscuits too, on the whole, a well organised event with a lovely crowd cheering us when we ran. I hope the saps would come soon so that I can add them to this blog which would cement these memories for a long time to come.

        Adios and looking forward to the Mecca of Marathons in India..the SCMM 2015.... Hope to meet up with a lot of friends there...

 

Run to and in TaljaiTekdi..

Sunday long runs is now a routine , more like brushing your teeth, so when I woke up this morning at 0400 hrs, I was in a double mind whether to start running from home or drive to NIBM and then start running from there. Well, this was because the planned run of the group was only 15K max in the Taljai forest. Well I had to reach NIBM by 0515 to meet another co-runner and we would run together to the Taljai Forest, both of us were not too sure about the route and had seen Google maps and memorised the route. So finally, I made the decision and decided to run from home to NIBM which is exactly 4k, the only problem was that there were two points where there are these groups of stray dogs which come charging at you especially when you are running alone. I was a bit scared but decided to tackle them in the standard way by shouting at them and showing them a stone or a stick. As I started running and reached the first point, I was relieved as there were no dogs today, poor guys must have just gone off to sleep after night watch-keeping duties. Good for me! I continued towards NIBM and as soon as I turned into the second point, there came the beasts, they were six strays and they started barking and started playing Kabbaddi with me.. they would come charging at me, come near and then go back as if testing the waters. I shouted at them, but to no avail, they continued taunting me, I had stopped and was slowly walking away from them, they tried to charge at me again,I took out my second line of defence, I hurled a stone at them. This worked  as they all backed out and I started running again without looking back. So far so good! No noise from behind.  I felt strange as I am a dog lover and always felt that these animals are the best friends of men, but even they have got influenced by the humans and have started behaving like rowdies by attacking innocent people who are running. Their nasal instincts can actually tell them if the person is a thief or is just a person who is exercising, but the gang of strays is more like an agitated mob who just want to have a go at some innocent/ vulnerable passer-by. How these animals learn from their environment is something to be observed. It is high time that human beings mend their ways, else these animals will only mirror our actions. I saw the time, it was about 0455 hrs, and I had another 3k to the meeting point. The route is an uphill climb which is quite steep but only a short distance of about 300-500 m and I enjoy this climb as I still remember the first time when I ran this and couldn't climb up and stopped at the steepest point. Now I am able to do it very easily and this gives me a "kick" of sorts so I always try and speed up in the climb to try and prove to myself that I have become stronger.

The weather was good and I reached NIBM dot on time, and my friend also arrived in five minutes and we were off towards Taljai Forest which was about 6.5K from this point. The route was our standard hill running route of Bibvevadi which has rolling hills. So we finally reached the road leading to Taljai Forest and it was a steep uphill road as it is located on top of a hill. The entire group arrived at 0605 hrs and started warming up outside the forest. Once we entered the forest, it was an awesome sight. It was a trail with dense forest on both sides. In between, the entire foliage was full of blooming flowers resplendent in their bright colours mostly yellow. Birds were chirping away and one could hear the peacocks cry in between all the bird banter. The group was excited and all were chatting with each other, I asked them to be silent to listen to nature. In fact, I decided to run faster and run alone for some time ahead of others as I wanted to feel the nature around me and seep it all in. It was amazing running early in the morning at this place with fresh oxygen being spewed by the surrounding fauna, the sweet voice of the birds, rustling of leaves as the animals and birds played hide and seek within the forest. I was in a meditative trance while running and felt that time should stop so that I can enjoy this for more time.

The path was stony and soft mud , maybe it had rained the previous day, and there were ups and downs. The entire periphery was about 8K and we ran one round and then started the second round but since some people had to leave early, so we cut it short and ran for another 15 minutes or so and then had our stretching and cooling down before departing. I think I must have run abou 23-24K in all from the timing I took and the average speed that I run at. I do not use any Garmin so it is only a biological clock that I use and assume to time myself. There were a lot of people who had come there for their morning walks and runs but the place was very clean by Pune standards. There was no littering anywhere, maybe the place was recently cleaned up on 02nd Oct in the nation wide "Swacch Bharat" campaign launched by the Prime Minister. 

There is a small water body and a temple in this place. Further there is a sports complex with a swimming pool which is provided by the government and is free of charge. There is an open gymnasium with amazing equipment for physiotherapy and exercise including parallel bars and horizontal bars. Many of us tried our hand on these equipment before departing from there. All this is free of charge and open to the public and is pretty well maintained. Wonder who maintains it and how funds are provided for it. I was pretty pleased to run here and enjoy the beauty of this place. A strongly recommended place for people running in Pune. 

ITBS: the dreaded problem for runners... Something I gathered from the Internet..

  http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/0168-knee-injuries.htm
 Look at the video below:-

 

 

 The article is long but worth a read for sufferers of ITBS. I am definitely trying this to overcome my ITBS.

Good luck and Happy running!

How important is posture for running? "Form is to be worshipped": A FreeRunners mantra

" How important is posture?" should be the question and not only for running. "Walk as you Run", maintain posture 24/7 is the mantra. Why is it so important? The human body with a straight spine is designed to perform perfectly only if the spine is erect. Unfortunately by habit most of us ignore it while doing our daily work and soon get "comfortable" with our reclining and slouching form, whether we are seated at our work spaces or in front of the TV in our homes/ dining table etc. Sitting for a long time is just not natural, we should be up and about most of the time with sitting breaks in between. During sitting also, we should try and maintain an erect spine. We have to try and make it a habit to make our spine erect at all times. Posture correction does have other benefits, just try walking tall with chest out and stomach tucked in for some time, you will realize what I am trying to tell. Just look around and if you see someone walking that way, don't we admire the person for a wonderful and pleasing personality? How do we achieve this? 3 things to remember:-

(a) Practice , (b) Practice and (c) Practice :Basically 24/7 keep your mind aware of your posture and keep correcting whenever you are finding yourself slouching. Fix a poster in your room with the correct posture and put in block letters "WATCH YOUR POSTURE". Tell your family members to check you if you are slouching or reclining in wrong posture. Remember 21days of practice makes it into a habit and surely, the posture will change and the body will become very efficient. "Sow a thought, reap an action; Sow an action, reap a habit;  sow a habit, reap a personality;  sow a personality, reap a character " Quoted from the book "MegaLiving" by Robin Sharma, the author of  "The Monk who sold his Ferrari".

Look at good runners and try to copy their form. Everybody learns by imitation of their superiors, we call them mentors, teachers, parents etc. but finally we are imitating them or sub-consciously we start walking, talking and behaving like them because they affect us in a very subtle manner. We become our environment. So it is very important to identify the correct people in our lives to emulate and treat as role models when it comes to posture correction. Try and spend more time with these people.

A person learns only when he unlearns his/her past. It is very important to accept intrinsically that there is improvement needed. There are a lot of us who have run many marathons and maybe ultras too, but still have a poor form. Change is the only constant in life and we have to be ready for it if we want improvement. And all of us must want improvement always.."Runs will always end.. but running will never end." We have to move on and ahead..better timings, greater distances , better form, better strength etc.. the more we push, the more we realize is achievable.