Javadhu Hill Ultra 2015- An awesome experience

 12 July 2015 will be etched in my memory as another milestone has been achieved. I ran the JHU 50K on this day. Well, this milestone was an impromptu decision to participate in this event since I was in Chennai and having made few friends in the Chennai Running group called “Pillar Pacers”, was motivated to join them.

So I had initially registered for the Chennai trail Marathon which is scheduled in Sep 2015, but then, I was not sure whether I would be able to come to Chennai that time, so I decided to transfer my registration from the Chennai Trail marathon to Javadhu Hill Ultra. This is a great thing about Chennai trekking Club that they are a no frills club, and are very accommodating to all these changes. So the registration happened and I decided to run a 25K. Why, because I had not practiced much, the longest distance I had done last Sunday was 22.5K and was regularly doing a 10/11K only. But I had done a three hour run in Chennai‘s hot and humid weather. I also was sceptical that doing an Ultra now could cause an injury that would not allow me to run for more time. I also had this fear that it could be a DNF and that would be a blow to my morale. The mind is always playing these games and trying to dissuade from taking the plunge. But on the day I boarded the bus and met many people who were participating in the run, I decided that I am taking the plunge because, it was an opportunity and CTC is well known for its support organisation, so it would be a perfect way to complete an Ultra and the name of the race was Javadhu Hill Ultra, so what was the point in doing a 25K here anyways. So the decision was made and I decided to get my registration upgraded from 25K to 50K.

Caution: While I took this decision, I had been running consistently with small breaks here and there and have enough experience of distance running. So if and when I ever feel uncomfortable, in the sense that my body gives me the signals to STOP, I will definitely stop and pull out. Runs will end, running never ends, so that is the spirit with which I take up any run. Running has to be for enjoyment and I love nature trails, so that was my biggest motivation to take the plunge for the 50K. I also had confidence since I have done a 50K earlier at Pune albeit it was on a flat stretch of road.

I was facing a peculiar problem at Chennai, one day, I felt the recurrence of pain in my left butt( gluteus maximus) and was bit worried, the other day, I woke up with a stiff left neck and it was a bit painful. It became alright in a day or two and I ran with this pain. I was warned by some people not to neglect my neck pain and when this pain recurred after a couple of days, I got it examined by a doctor who told me that my muscles were in contracted state and needed to be relaxed. Probably I was spending too much time in front of the computer doing my blogs or social network and causing strain to the neck. Anyways, I went on to Youtube, and did exercises shown there to get my neck back in shape, and I was feeling much better after 2 days of exercises. Decision making in such situations is very tough as a lot of pros and cons have to be played out and weighed, and if you are having a history of injury, it becomes even more difficult. Here, I took a chance because somewhere deep down, I had this feeling that I was being too over-cautious and I was actually all right with only a minor niggle here and there because of some imbalance in the kinematic chain, which has to be corrected. So running slowly and peacefully in correct form will actually help me, is what I felt at this point in time.

So as I reached Javadhu, and met up with some running friends with whom I had run the TCS World 10k in Bangalore, I was again told that I was doing a stupid thing by running an Ultra, as I had just come out of an injury. My mind was again disturbed, but I had decided, and there were two of my partners in crime from the Chennai Pillar pacers group who were instrumental in my decision to take part in this event, and both of them had registered for the 50K , so there was no way I was backing out. The event was a no frills event with all participants staying in classrooms of a school with their own bedrolls etc. Some people had got their tents and pitched it in the school grounds. The food was served in the school itself. Everything was organised perfectly and yet there was no fancy stuff anywhere, no bollywood celebrities, no Zumba dance, no VIP for flag-off etc. etc..

My partners had come with full preparation, one of them had got peanut butter, sandwiches, dry fruits, salt tablets and energy gels. The other partner, an ex- army personnel, had got a mosquito net, double bed sheets, and two large bottles for water. I was kind of travelling light with only a bedsheet and an extra T shirt. Yes I managed to carry an Odomos for the mosquitoes. So I slept on a bedsheet on the floor and my bones were paining after some time, and I was changing position every few minutes. I woke up at about 0200 hrs to find my partner heavily exercising with both his legs up on the wall and then doing body parallel pushups, and when I asked him, he said that he normally does that to get his bowels moving. This man is 53 years of age, but full of josh and a fiery spirit. I was awestruck at his energy levels. So we finished our stomach cleansing routine by 0230 and it was good that we finished early because we were sleeping in a classroom and using the school toilets. By 0330 hrs, there was a long queue for the toilets. Many people were sleeping in the open as well as in tents. The weather was nice and breezy, not cold, but a bit chill in the morning. The sky was starlit and no sign of clouds, so we were in for some Sun running for sure.

So by 0430 hrs, we all reported to the starting point as the 50 & 75K races were to commence at 0500 hrs and the 25K at 0600 hrs. Met a lot of interesting people there, and we all did a warm-up session organised by one of the runners. We did some nice dynamic stretches to open out all the essential running muscles and associated parts. Then the race director made this announcement that there is an option available for all 50K and 75 K runners at the milestone of 25K and 50K, in case they don’t want to continue, they should state so and they would get their finishers medal for 25K or 50K, but if they decide to turn around and continue and then they are not able to complete the distance, they would be declared DNF. I guess this is the way to get more people to take up challenges and try themselves out. And we did have many participants for 50 & 75K.

Run began in darkness and there were volunteers including Peter van Geit (Race Director) who were positioned at all dangerous spots to avoid anyone stumbling/ injuring in the beginning of the run. The run started from a ground opposite the school and we ran on the ground mud road till we reached the tar road, and then, it was road running for 4.2k. The weather was awesome with a slight breeze blowing and I consciously kept my pace very slow, because I have a habit of speeding up and I know very well that ultra running is not about speed but about smart pacing. So the run started very smoothly and we were about four or five in a bunch who were pretty much together for the first 8/10K, as we crossed the tar road and started the trail run into the hills of Javadhu. The scene all around was of an untouched forest with few villages in between and early morning and in nights, the sky was resplendent with the glory of the stars and planets visible very clearly to the naked eye. I believe that this is an attraction of this place and there is an observatory nearby which is frequented by tourists to do astronomical gazing. I had planned to run with my partners Babu and Arun jain, and all of us had decided to run slowly and pace ourselves comfortably for the entire race, and we did that for about 10/12k, after which I do not know how it happened, but I was not able to run that slow, so I just did whatever my body was feeling comfortable with. Now there is a catch 22 situation here: You can run very slow and in effect, you will have to run for much longer time, if you run at HM pace, by 30k there is a high probability of muscle cramps and spasms, so it is very important to adjust your pace to an optimum one, so that you don’t spend too much of time because the return leg will have the sun blazing which will only increase. So it is important to understand one’s capacity and accordingly pace for the run. The lesson I learnt here is never to force your body to speed up or slow down, it is critical to keep the muscles relaxed while running. While it is the case in the beginning of the run, but as we start running on hill routes, the body tends to get stiffened and leads to cramps. So I focussed my energy on my form and relaxed all my muscles as I ran and eventually as I was doing this meditative exercise with myself, when I looked around me, I was all alone, and my group was left behind. I reached an aid station and waited for them to reappear, and as they appeared in sight, I slowly started jogging thinking that they will catch up soon, but again as I got into my meditation and enjoying the pristine environment while running, I was all alone, but I must confess I was enjoying the solo running at those heavenly stretches ( believe me solo running in such environments is an absolute pleasure).

I then took a decision that I will not slow down and just continue running at my pace. I found myself overtaking many people at this juncture. I caught up with two mallu runners from Kochi (Soles of Kochi), who were running an ultra for the first time and that too 75K, hats off to them. Their group leader too was running the 50K and he was too fast for all of us. Amazing runner, Ramesh is aged 46, does a FM in 3 hrs 05 min, did this Ultra 50K in 4hrs 45 min and was strong as ever and as cool as a cucumber at the finish point. I was awestruck by his fitness. 

Somewhere deep in my mind,I had this time of 2: 40/2:50 for the half way mark, and I knew that the first 10K was very slow, so I thought some amount of time could be made up in the balance 15k. But as I approached the 15K point and then on, there was a steep climb and it continued for about 2K and I religiously followed the rule of climbing up the steepest slope by walking, and started running as soon as I hit the peak. While walking, I ensured that my pace was fast but minimum effort with muscles relaxed, and of course, correct form. As I crossed the 21K point, I saw the first guy cross me( a foreigner) running very fast and strong and soon I saw Vipul ( 75K) behind him and then Ramesh and so on. I made it a point to count each runner and announce their position as they passed me and I counted upto 16 before I reached the turn around point.

There were aid stations every 4.2 K, and very well organised with electoral, water, fruits, salads, chocolate and chikki pieces cut into small bits making it easy for runners to have, even the fruits were kept chopped and easy to have, minimum effort for any runner. The trail part was really beautiful but the path was uneven and stony. The trail got over at about 23K and I hit the tar road which was again a steep downhill run which meant that in the return leg, this was going to be a tough one, and then again entered a mud track and finally reached the 25K point just about 8 min short of 3 hrs. I took a water break, had some chocolate pieces and then took off on the return leg. The climb started almost immediately and all sorts of thoughts started playing in my mind asking me if it was OK to have turned back, Can I just turn back again and cancel this 50K and take away the finisher for 25K etc. etc. I silenced my mind and just trudged along, and the moment I felt my quadriceps tightening in the stress of the climb, I started walking uphill and as soon as I reached the peak, started running again. This continued throughout the return leg. Now, interestingly, when one crosses the 35K mark, the first thoughts of fear of DNF start hitting you, past memories of muscle breakdown at 33/32K also torment you. I shoved them aside by saying that it is only 15K from here, so if required, just stop do a complete stretching and then again begin a 15K run and be over with it. But the mind plays truant always, and as the sun picked up, I was feeling very thirsty and hot and wanted to wet my throat continuously. But aid stations were spaced about 4.5k from each other, so I had to count my steps for each KM and do that four times before I could get water/ hydration.

There is another feeling that I always get when I run a longish distance, which is :- As the distance increases, every 1k distance feels very much longer and takes more time to show up. So the distance kept reducing very slowly and soon, it was just 10K left, and I had absolutely no problems whatsoever, be it muscle cramps, or leg pain or anything at all, but still the mind was playing truant, at times, scaring me that anything can happen at anytime, and every 1k distance also is a big deal at this juncture. I told my mind to shut up and told myself sternly that there were only two options: a shameful DNF or a glorious completion of my second Ultra of 50K. Then I visualised the finish point and continued positively. I met fellow runners at the aid stations where we got ice sponges and ice cubes , chocolates, sweet lime, salt, lime etc. etc..  Finally I hit the tar road for the last 4.2 K stretch and now the race completion was imminent. But again this was a longish journey because it had many uphill routes and I did walk up those slopes. I knew I was in the less than 6 hrs category when I saw the 49K mark and decided to speed up because it was just about 8 minutes left for the 6 hr duration as per my watch, so I increased my pace a bit, but immediately felt the starting of a cramp, and slowed down but maintained a faster pace and soon enough, I was in the “last 200m” which I ran as fast I could and finished the run with a strong punch up in the air. So finally “Javadhu Hills Ultra” was done and dusted and confidence is up for the home ultra at Pune in November.

DOMS - Dreaded by Runners- The why, how and what of it....

Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness ( DOMS)

The dreaded thing for a runner, especially when coming back  after an injury. Let us try and understand what this is and how can this be avoided, and if already suffering, then how to overcome it.  Delayed Onset of Muscle soreness happens generally 24-48 hrs after a strenuous exercise/ workout. Most marathoners face it on completion of a race day, where you have given more than your best and achieved a PB. In case of runners, this is also highly probable after a tough strength training session or a tough hill training session. What are the symptoms? Well, you may feel a very slight soreness on the day of exercise after finishing the session and all would seem to be OK. However after 24 hrs, the same pain would have increased two-three fold and you will feel the pain only when you move and not while seated or standing. The most prone areas are the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes for runners, which are jammed after 24 hrs/ 48 hrs and any movement of those muscles causes great pain.  

Why does it happen?

Earlier, it was believed that this is due to lactic acid formation and the inability of the body to remove the acid faster than its formation which caused stiffness and jamming of the muscles. However, this has been proved wrong as the lactic acid is flushed out within one hour of the exercise session/ run  getting over. It is believed that DOMS primarily occurs due to the microscopic tears in the muscles, similar to what body builders face in the gym, when they exercise to build and grow their muscle groups. The muscle actually tears microscopically and repairs and re-builds and grows this way. During this process, there is a bit of  a swelling and pain and it is difficult to continue running. But the question is whether to run or not? For that let us understand the "why does it happen" first:- Contractions ( downhill running) when we do hill repetitions can cause this. Eccentric contraction exercises during strength training can also cause this. 

What should be done when you are suffering from DOMS?

I am writing this out of personal experience and no scientific/ medical evidence whatsoever. When I did a strenuous strength training and developed DOMS in my quadricepses,  I decided to give it rest and did no exercise the second and third day. The third day was extremely painful and I suffered for 5 days before I could begin to jog again. In another event of DOMS, I went for a strenuous hill run and got DOMS in my glutes and hamstrings. This time, I decided to keep massaging and exercising the affected area, I went for a swim the next day, applied relaxant ointment, and iced it three to four times, did specific exercises for that area in the evening of the next day after a proper warming up and I was ready for Slow Long distance run next morning. No trouble at all, just a slight pain in the beginning of the run and as I continued, the pain vanished. I feel it is because of the increase in blood circulation to the affected area due to the activity, which probably clears the histamine and free radicals thus reducing inflammation and giving relief from DOMS. Inactivity and total rest will also heal but will take more time and it is definitely more painful, so the choice is clear for a runner. 

Caution: The exercise should be aerobic and non-strenuous to avoid further damage to the muscle fibres. Always  start the exercise after a proper warming up and stretching both pre and post run.  

Note: I am writing this blog for the benefit of runners like me who searched for a long time in the internet and tried to understand DOMS when I was facing this problem. It would be nice to get feedback from other runners on DOMS and other injuries they faced and how they overcame it. 

Chiku Buku Run at Chennai with Chennai Runners Pillar pacers group

Yesterday, chatted with Praveen Giriya, a comrades finisher this year and planned to catch up today for the "Chiku Buku" ( forgive me for the wrong spelling) route run. Praveen told me that he designed this route for the group and is called this because it runs along the Mambalam station railway tracks( 'Chiku Buku Raile' song in Tamil -- does it ring any bells?). It is a very nice route covered by greenery at most places especially on Bazullah road.

So, today morning, I woke up and decided to run till Ashok Pillar and meet up with this celebrity runner of Chennai and of course my newly found friends Arun Jain and Ramachander Babu Radha. I left home at about 0445 and reached Ashok Pillar about 2 kms away by 0455 hrs and could find no one there. It was quite dark there and then suddenly as if to provide me with light, the Saravana Bhawan restaurant there switched on all lights and opened their shop. I waited for about five to ten minutes and finally saw one person arrive at about 0505 hrs on scooter. I introduced myself and we both waited and slowly people started trickling in. They waited for one of their veteran runners to take stretching and warming up, and soon Praveen Giriya, Arun Jain and Babu also were there and we started our run after a customary group snap. 

Four of us ran together and as the roads started becoming narrower on Lake-view road, we had to break into a formation of twos. Interestingly, one cyclist burst his ire on us as we were blocking his path and he was getting late for milk packet distribution and his lady was perched on his back seat. When I said "Sorry", he burst back in anger " What Sorry" and five to ten metres ahead, he reached his destination and stopped. We were highly amused by his behaviour, but that is how a "mind in hurry" works. I sincerely expressed my apologies to him in Tamil and moved on, his wife smiled and justified that they were late for milk packet distribution.

It was a beautiful morning, weather was good, and I was enjoying the pace, and suddenly I realised that myself and Babu had actually paced up much ahead as we got off the flyover and entered Bazullah road, when Praveen called out and told us to slow down, as Babu had to run a race on Sunday. So we waited for Praveen and Arun and then continued at a normal pace. Hereafter, Praveen Giriya was always ahead of us and his pace was fantastic, and though I kept pace with him till we crossed Panagal park, I realised that I was pushing myself more than my capacity and I reduced my pace and let him go ahead, and self and Babu paced together and continued to run. Praveen in his best form, was itching to do 16k and asked us, and we refused as we were happy with 12k for today, being the fourth consecutive day for me after a long injury break. So self and Babu maintained our pace comfortably and continued as we watched Praveen glide past us comfortably and he was about 100-150 m ahead of us constantly, and twice he came running back and asked us to pace up with him as only 2.5k was remaining. Now Praveen was very comfortable at his pace which was probably a bit more than our pace, but the mind is a devil and in such situations, I normally switch into "race" mode and most of the times, this is the cause for injury because you push yourself more than your capacity. On a particular race day, it is OK if you have been targeting a PB and it is the D-day, but on a normal training day, unless you are fully in form and up to it, it is not worth pushing yourself more than necessary. So I curbed my instincts and thanks to Babu who also maintains a similar cadence as me, we paced comfortably and we finished the 12k in about 1 hr and 04 min. Perceived effort was about 8.5/ 10 today, because somewhere in my mind, I was trying to compete with Praveen Giriya, but I was no match for him as he runs like a deer and in extremely good form. He is an accomplished Chennai Ultra runner who has just finished Comrades successfully and is an inspiration for all runners here. It was a pleasure to run with him today. Thank you so much ,Praveen Giriya, for the awesome run today, which I enjoyed immensely.

So if you read this post, you will understand that while maintaining a pace is important, pushing a "little bit" more is also important, because that is what leads to improvement. Only the "little bit" is difficult to quantify as there are many factors like, how you are feeling on that day, weather conditions, etc. etc. But being in touch with your own body and mind while running is of utmost importance and you will know where to draw the line, because sub-consciously, when we cross the line, our form deteriorates and becomes the cause for injury and set back. I still have to learn a lot, because I do cross the line many times, without realizing it, because I have got used to running faster than what my body can take. So as I write this, I am telling myself that I need to slow down and control my instincts while running to avoid injuries. Learning never ends.. running also hopefully will never end for me till the very end... Thank you "Chennai Runners Pillar Pacers" group for the lovely run today. I believe there are about 34 groups in Chennai and the total strength is greater than 5000. Way to go, Chennai! Keep Running!

Running & Living- Analogies to delve on: Food for thought...

                                                       

IS RUNNING HARD WORK?

Is Running hard work? Let us compare running with life and try and see the analogy and learn how running teaches us to live our lives:-

Starting to Run:-  Yes, when you started running, did you enjoy waking up and wearing your running shoes and getting out, when the rest of the people in the house were busy dreaming and snoring in their sleep? It does take a lot of will power to get up and get out of the house early in the morning, isn't it? Then as we start running, every muscle in the body screams initially to stop, till the body warms up. After about 10 minutes of warming up, it starts to feel alright as the running rhythm takes on. Very soon, after some considerable distance of running, the mind starts playing games, and fatigue/tiredness takes over and you start wondering why the heck are you running at all, what for, why is it necessary etc....  Once again, mental strength plays its role, where you make up your resolve and don't give up and continue to run to complete the distance you had decided to run when you started off. The greatest feeling is when you complete what you set to achieve and then the entire day goes off well till the next day begins and again the same story repeats itself. Isn't this a great lesson in life?

Anything we start off doing in life, the same mental evolution happens. All of us have our own choice to make, either we remain in our comfort zones and continue to dream and slumber or we make up our minds and get out of our "bed", put on our "running shoes" and take up new challenges. The start is always unnerving and difficult as there would be many forces acting against us in our minds and it takes great mental strength and perseverance to overcome these thoughts, and soon as we continue and see a little progress, the rhythm takes over and we reach our new comfort zone. Very soon, fatigue and tiredness literally takes over as you start wondering whether these efforts are fruitful and why are you even putting in so much of hard work? The lesson from running is to be applied here and if we continue to "keep running" and persist in our efforts, very soon, the end would be visible and we would be able to achieve our set goals.

Training schedule and setting goals:- Caution! Whether running or life, goals that we set have to be practical and achievable. In 'running' , if we set a very hard goal as compared to our physical and mental capacity, we might be able to achieve it, but not without hurting ourselves and injuries would force us to stop running to allow recovery and once again we have to start from the scratch to train ourselves. Again this has its analogy in life, if we set a very hard goal beyond our physical and mental capacity, the chances of failure are imminent and is likely to set us back ( recovery period) and it would lower our confidence, so it is always better to go for " low hanging fruits" and as we gain confidence, slowly reach for higher targets. That is why when we train for running, we always start with low hanging fruits i.e 5k run and as we gain confidence, we slowly and steadily increase distance. In running, pace is generally used to measure performance, but it is important to remember that pace is only a by-product of   running and training consistently.

"We worship Form":- Perfection of form has always been the mantra in running, no matter what distance we run, at what pace we run, it is important to run in perfect form. This holds good for anything we do in life. I keep telling my children that if you are doing anything, do it well. Don't just try and finish something, you must try to achieve perfection in any action that you perform, whether it is making the bed, brushing teeth or any activity that you do, so that this becomes a habit. As you sow, so shall you reap. Only if we cultivate these habits, will we be able to transform ourselves into a strong personality and character. The analogy of "form" during running to "perfection" in actions in anything we do in our life is thus another important lesson.

Variation in Training:- In running, a consistent training schedule including strength training and cross training is critical to keep the body free from injuries and make the body and mind stronger. Similarly, in life, we must learn to do things differently to keep moving out of our newly acquired comfort zones as well as to keep our brains ticking to find new solutions or "think out of the box". For eg. take a new route to work, or  try to write with the other hand, or anything that challenges us mentally as well as physically. We must learn to face our fears and overcome them, and as this becomes a habit, we are moving on a successful path and living a better and fuller life. 

Running and Hard work: We always have a choice to not run and continue a comfort filled life sitting and watching television or listening to music or doing any activity that doesn't tire us physically or mentally. Life in today's  modern technology-filled world is spoiled for choices: X-box, video games, android apps, blogging the way I am doing right now are all activities that are done in the comfort of our homes in sitting position or lying position or any position that is lazy and comfortable. Why am I sounding as if I am against something which seems very normal? Because as we evolve in our running life, we get to learn more and more about our body and mind and get closer to nature. What I have realized is that hard work and improvement/ growth both physically as well as mentally are critical components in life and the moment we stop hard work, we stop growing. ( Caution: Growth is not measured only monetarily because money and power both can be earned without hard work, however, monetary achievement can be a measurement parameter the way running pace is a parameter to measure improvement in running). I believe that if we are consistent and persevere in whatever we do in a perfect manner, then we are sure to achieve success both monetarily as well as in our personal growth and the story continues and growth keeps on happening irrespective of age and time. Even today, if we look at the lives of villagers who have an active life of farming, it is highly probable that they have much better and healthier lives as compared to most of their urban over-stressed contemporaries. Discipline and commitment are extremely important virtues that need cultivation and running long distance enables us to cultivate these two virtues to the maximum. 

Human beings are designed to run/ walk/ stand. Sitting cross-legged on the floor with spine erect ( "sukhasana" in Yoga) seems to be a natural and correct position for all the biological functions of the body. However, for the last few decades or maybe more than that, most urban dwellers have got used to sitting on chairs, sofas etc. In all our daily sitting positions, our core gets disengaged as the spine loses its erect  form. The debilitating effects on all the important joints of our body mainly the hip and knees are quite visible in the elder population. I don't remember hearing about any sage/ seer suffering from arthritis even though they sit for hours together in "sukhasana" doing meditation. I also hardly remember seeing any sage/ seer being depicted having a paunch or being fat. There must be something really good about "sukhasana" then. Running long distances for longer durations and doing stretching exercises coupled with cross training and strength training, compensates for the "lazy sitting" injuries that we daily inject into our joints while at office and home relaxing in front of the idiot box or the computer. Indian toilets were a good exercise for the hip flexors, adductors and abductors, but alas, most of us have changed to the "comfortable" western commodes. The western world has had a huge influence in making us very comfortable, but destroying our ability to live naturally and keep our bodies and mind stronger.  So running not only makes us physically stronger but also mentally alert and makes us aware of our body and it's requirements to maintain strength and flexibility while increasing it's endurance/ stamina.

This is therefore a food for thought for all runners and non runners to ponder as to how we can make our lives more interesting and get closer to nature and keep improving and growing from strength to strength and achieve much higher milestones as we continue moving ahead both in life as well as running. I would like to end by saying:-

  

Dehi- Mumbai-Pune-Goa- A tremendous running journey

Transition from a uniformed life to a re-attired life has exposed me to a variety of  situations. Running has been consistent throughout, in fact has been a pillar of strength in all new places and situations. When I started running, I never knew the side effects of running, namely the friend circle and networking. Having spent more than two decades of my youth in the defence forces should have made my life rich with friends in the defence circle. However, my last four years of running in Mumbai, Pune and Goa  have made more true friends than I have had in my two decades of service.

   Runners have great minds and golden hearts and runners don't expect anything from anyone. We mingle very easily and all we need is to acknowledge and encourage each other in our daily runs and long runs. The journey of running in Mumbai , Pune and Goa saw me joining running groups, the first was in Mumbai where I initially used to run alone in marine drive and I noticed a couple of groups on marine drive. I was quite inhibited and was hesitant to approach them, but as time passed by, during one run, I was running with a lady and helped her to pace up the Peddar road climb and also shared my "gatorade" with her.Yeah, I used to run with a Gatorade bottle in my hand those days. Later, we got introduced and she introduced me to Savio DS'souza, who is a running coach. He incidentally was the national champion for consecutive four years from 1982-1985 and even now at an age of 60 plus, completes a half marathon short of 100 minutes.

     As I became more regular with the group, I met a number of interesting people from different walks of life, some working, some doing their own business, students , old, young and all varieties. The only common thread was that all were running enthusiasts and it was an infectious feeling to share your experiences and listen to their experiences. That is the way runners bond, also after post run workouts, we used to chat and learn about each other and slowly the network of friends grew. Participation in events makes this bond stronger as each one of us trains with a target and then encourage each other to go for it and when we finish the event, there are those euphoric moments which are shared with each other, adding memories to our running life. One such event was the Goa river marathon of 2013, with a few of my friends from this wonderful group of runners trained by coach Savio D'souza.

In Mumbai, from 2011-2014, I participated in ADHM 2011, SCMM 2012, Zendurance Nashik Run 2012( 1st edition), SCMM 2013(My first FM), GRM 2013, and SCMM 2014( HM). Prior to Mumbai, I used to run in Delhi and had participated in 4 ADHMs in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. When I particiapted in SCMM 2012, I got my PB of 1hr 50 min and this was an improvement by about 5 minutes. I was shaving off five minutes each year and therefore I was feeling good that there was growth hapening in my running life. At this time, I was not taking any professional advice or coaching for running, just following a training calender from the internet( Hal-Higdon's trainign program for beginners). But in all my subsequent runs, I could not achieve any further improvement, I had plateued at the level of 1hr and 50 minutes, I felt. Also, as I was trying to increase pace, I was getting injured with the dreaded IT band problems, but I never let any injury reach a level and used to step back and cure it before I commenced again. But I was not getting answers to my plateau, even though my coach Savio used to give tips like "run tall", "keep your hips straight", "move your hands", "shoulders low" etc. and I used to try sincerely, but I could not understand where I was going wrong. 

Then I decided to leave the Navy, and as a preparatory action shifted my family to Pune. I came to know about this group called FreeRunners at Pune run by "Jeetendran Nair" and this was a turning point in my running life. I used to visit Pune on weekends and run with the group. Again, I met amazing people in this group and we connected like crazy, it was much better than Mumbai. I was able to be myself and relate to all of them. They were a young group where many had just started their journey, but were full of life and energy levels were very high. Being a non-athletic person in my younger days, I never knew much about body mechanics and kinematics, and this is where the story with FreeRunners took its most beautiful turn. I was introduced to this concept of "form" and I really understood what mistake I was making. At this stage, I had already run a FM, so the path was going to be extremely tough. There was a huge amount of unlearning to be done. So on weekdays at Mumbai, I used to practice running slowly but in correct form and on weekends, run with the group and try to maintain correct form. Eventually, there was an improvement in form and in my very next race, I could see improvement as I was running much stronger and not getting tired easily even after large distances. The biggest surprise was when I received a call from Jeetendran Nair asking me to be mentally prepared to run a 50K at the end of that week. I was not sure whether I would be able to do it, but Jeetu has a way with his voice, and he was confident of me, that is what I call "leadership", when a leader can identify and motivate people to push beyond and believe in themselves and achieve more than beyond. This was a huge milestone for me and I ran my first ever ultra of 50K in Aug 2014. I ran many races in 2014 at Pune and my best timing was 1hr 41 min and I also managed a podium finish at the Happy Hearts marathon. I had broken the plateau, though I was informed later that the distance was about 600m shorter than a HM. 

Before the Run...

                                                   
After the run -->










In Sep 2014, I left the Navy and got a job in Goa so I shifted alone to Goa leaving my family at Pune. I just wanted to take a trial to see how a job outside the Navy would be and I landed up at Goa. I lived in a beautiful place called Benaulim in South Goa, just 1km from the beach. It was a lovely beach stretch of 25+ kms and I decided to make the most of this time in Goa. The very first weekend, I was running a long run on the beautiful roads of Goa with fields and framhouses and water bodies on both sides. I encountered hordes of ferocious dogs who came gnarling at me and I was petrified, but somehow managed to keep running with walking breaks whenever I encountered them. I happened to meet Dinesh Heda during this run who was running 65k that day as a practice run for the upcoming bangalore ultra 75k, where he eventually was a podium finisher. We exchanged numbers and soon I was part of the "Sussegado Runners" group of Vasco, Panjim and Margao. The energy of this group was great and I found that whenever any run used to be organised even at a place more than 30k away from where they stay, they would  be there to run. Goa is a party place and many new runners did find it tough to sleep early and get up early to run long distances, but as soon as one got baptized to running long distances, the partying automatically reduces and good things start to happen.
Goa is well known mostly for its beaches but it is also resplendent in the abundance of beautiful trees,birds, fields and water bodies, even the beaches are lined with trees and water bodies.

My barefoot running on the beach was an amazing experience, and the minimum clothing allowed me to jump into the sea for a post run swim on most days. What more could you ask than this especially to see a beautiful sunrise when lapping around on the waves of the ocean, after a nice long run listening to the early morning birds and viewing some really spectacular sights and sounds while running.  More fun gets added as you meet new friends on the beach who meet and greet you each morning as we are regulars and are always there at almost the same time. These photographs are credited to a good friend of the beach, Ms Sandra Dsouza, an avid photographer and a daily morning walker on the beach.
I learnt how to save snakes from her. It was a tremendously satisfying task to see the poor creatures wiggle off into the ocean after a long struggle on the sand where they were thrown mercilessly by the fishermen as they get stuck in the nets along with their daily haul of fish.

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This snap is of a beautiful place at the end of the beach where river Sal meets the sea. An amazing place to be in the morning, where you get to see sun rise from behind the betul lighthouse. I also had a flock of sea gulls blessing me by hovering above me before settling down on the sea/ river bed.






Goa saw me running many events and some self created events and I also got my PB for HM i.e. GRM 2014 of 1:37:44 , thanks to a mentor Dr Purnendu Nath( Puru the Guru). I also made friends with another beach runner Appu Rajan, who is 64 years old and has been running long distance for the last 35 plus years. He is a silent runner who doesn't  mingle much but embodies lots of principles in life. He has an iron willed mind and never gives up, looks half his age and keeps himself active and agile at all times. A great personality from whom I personally learnt a lot, he completes a half marathon in 2:04 to 2:08 and is striving hard to get this to below 2 hours. I am amazed at the energy level of this man at his age, he is always pushing himself  towards improvement. I still remember the day we both ran 26k and he was dehydrated quite badly during the return leg and we were in an isolated section of the long beach, and I was worried so I ran back fast to manage water and by the time I started running towards him to give him water, I could see him running even in that state, he has a "never say die" spirit. Appu Rajan  is a legend of a runner who has had no professional training, but runs very smoothly and in almost perfect form. It would be a pleasure to have him run with the FreeRunners group at Pune sometime.
I am back in Pune after the stint at Goa and have started running again with the FreeRunners group and have had the opportunity to start a subsidiary branch/ group near my residence along with a couple of veteran FreeRunners Parag Dongre and Muthukrishnan Jayaraman. The response has been quite good and people have started joining the group to join the fun. Running has been great and in spite of many small setbacks due to injuries, illness etc. which challenge you, it helps us to get to know our body better and become stonger runners as we become older. People like Appu Rajan, Durga Shil, Taru Mateti and many other seniors who run so well  inspire us to keep it going and keep running freely because now it is hard not to run and each day without a run is actually miserable... 

Goa Marathon -Panjim to Old Goa and Back- 01 Mar 2015

       This is my third consecutive week of running event participation after the Dr Ramani Marathon in Ponda and the Goa Triathlon Team event in Bambolim. When I woke up today at 0330 hrs, I was greeted by loud sounds of thunder and lightning. Electricity went off and it was eerily dark everywhere.  I am used to running in the rain and in fact love it, so that was not an issue for me, but reaching  the race venue could become an issue as Goa has narrow roads and a lot of tree cover and in such thunderstorms, the chances of roads getting blocked by fallen trees is quite high.  So we were to go in a car pool and I messaged my friends to start a bit early to cater for this risk. I managed to be ready by 0420 hrs and stepped out of the house only to find heavy downpour. My scooter was washed nicely by the rain and I wore a wind-cheater cum raincoat and got onto the scooter and started driving towards my friend’s place who was chauffeuring us to the race venue. It was very difficult to see anything as the rain was lashing at an angle and hitting my eyes. There were no streetlights also and somehow, I managed to drive slowly and reached my friend’s place by 0430 hrs. He was up and ready and there I learnt that two of our car pool members had backed out because of the rain. I was surprised and I immediately messaged on our group Whatsapp about the benefits of running in the rain. Trainers’ also advice to increase mileage during monsoons as the body is cooled down naturally and we can push ourselves more. Rain and Runners are always friends. But the Flu had gotten the better of Runners and the fear of Swine Flu was also active in the minds of most people here. So many runners from my place were not ready to venture in the rain as they were just recovering from an attack of Flu and were scared of a relapse. I did not want to take the responsibility of being blamed for a relapse, if it occurred, so I let it be and we proceeded towards the venue. As luck would have it, two runners who were planning to bike it to the venue, asked for a lift and we had to wait for them quite a bit, and we were getting impatient and anxious that we would be late as our race was to begin at 0600 hrs. However, because of inclement weather, the race organisers fortunately decided to start the race a bit late. So we reached the venue well before the start of the race. Everyone was very skeptical about the race as I was told that in the previous edition last year, the roads were not blocked and the traffic was very unruly to the extent that runners could have been fatally injured, also water was not sufficient and the starting was not well organised etc. etc. With all this skepticism as we entered the grounds, we could hear announcements on the system, but it was dark, there were no lights in the ground.  Because of the rains, the ground had also become slushy, and it seemed as if this year also would be a repeat of the previous year’s woes.

     The race began at about 0615/0620 hrs. I do not wear a watch during my runs, also no gadgets. Actually, I have been thinking of buying one to record my timing at various points during the run, but now after this run, I have realized that at least for a half marathon, I don’t need a watch. Because that allows me to be in touch with my mind and body and decide my pace according to my comfort level. I am able to realize when I am slowing down and take corrective action, what matters is to finish the race strong and not land up in any injury. Sometimes, when we look at time elapsed, we could push ourselves to a target beyond our capacity and while we may achieve it in that race, injury is bound to happen and the learning of that race is also affected. Every time we run a race, our learning about our own capacity is enhanced and we understand the body better. If I am able to complete a race strong and then introspect on how I ran each split of the race, I can then focus on improving my pace in shorter runs till I again reach a comfort level at this higher pace. Well, this is something that I will have to write about separately in my next blog:

 “ Transition from ‘HM finisher’ à ‘Sub 2hr HMer’ à ‘1:50 -1:55 HMer’ à ‘1:40-1:45 HMer’ and hopefully soon a ‘1:35-1:40 HMer’ ”.

I had decided to run a few HMs to find out my consistent race pace for a HM. While I had achieved a PB of 1:37:44 in the GRM held in Dec 2014, I cannot call it my consistent pace for a HM, because I knew that I had pushed myself in the race and though I was able to achieve it, I still needed to become comfortable at that pace. When I ran the SCMM, I ran the first half as if I was running a HM (a serious error in pacing) and I reached half way in 1:41, then I ran the Ponda marathon which was 1:43:14, then I did a Goa Triathlon 10k where my timing was 0:46:33, and now I wanted to run this marathon to see if I could get my consistent race pace for a HM. So as I started, I decided to first move fast out of the crowd and then stabilise my pace, this has worked well during GRM and I have started following this in all races. So I slithered my way from the sides and moved ahead of the bantering crowd and soon I was running with a lot of Army guys in sleeveless vests and a few of them were really fast. I controlled myself and focussed on my cadence and form and breathing and tried my level best not to race with any of them. But the mind is a devil and every other moment, I found myself racing with someone or the other. It was a tough game to stop racing and count my own steps. So I engaged my brain and mind in counting steps and checking my form constantly-> “collar bone erect and behind till I feel the load on my core and abdomen”, “hips ahead of legs”, “hands moving straight and not cross”, and “breathing from the diaphragm and audible breathing”. These four factors, one after the other, I kept on checking on myself and soon I had forgotten about the other racers. I find this very useful as it becomes a habit to run erect and the legs just roll below the hips, as it is much easier to run this way. Credit of this knowledge has to be given to my running mentor “Jeetendran Nair” of the FreeRunners group at Pune who was the first to teach me these basic fundamentals of running.  As I moved ahead, I realized that I was overtaking many people and one person was tagging along behind me, and I could hear his breathing rather panting, and I thought that he would give up soon and lag behind, but one strong hombre, he was always there and when I turned around at 10.5K, he was right behind me. The scenery was awesome as usual as we were running along the river Mandovi, and I could also generate a conversation with this gentleman, who told me his name and he seemed to be a middle aged guy. I respected his efforts and complimented him.  As I started my return leg,  it was much easier as I could see a number of familiar faces and I made it a point to cheer and encourage many, there were runners who were just going to start walking and I would shout out to them to continue running and they would immediately start scampering into a trot/ run. It was fun to see how people respond to encouragement. I had this young army jawan running with me who was complaining that he did not get time to practice, but I noticed that he was running pretty fast and could do better as he was a young guy. I just asked him in a commandeering tone to start overtaking people one by one by making them targets and the way the youngster took off was to be seen. Yes, I did tell him that I am a retired defence officer and used my power of command a little bit, but it worked wonders with this guy.

       I realised during this run that if you are able to keep checking your form once in a while, it works stupendously. I was cruising along and  I had no clue of any time or pace. My body was working at its optimum level, I could have pushed it harder, but that would not be its optimum pace. As usual I sprinted the last 100 m and finished, there was no timing at the finish, but later I asked the organiser and he checked my bib number and the timing was 1:40:13. I was a bit unhappy that I missed 100 min by 14 seconds but soon, I told myself that the aim of this race had been achieved and now I can call myself a consistent 1:40-1:45 runner. The next target should be to become a consistent 1:35-1:40 runner and this could be the target for 2015. Who knows how the body reacts but what is important is to be in touch with the body and mind and understand it thoroughly and running is helping in this exercise.  I will give it a try, after all, it is the efforts which count and efforts always pay dividends, is what I have learnt in my running life as well as my personal and professional life.

     In contrast to the previous edition of this race, the roads were blocked for traffic, water was available at many points, and return leg water stations also served oranges, bananas and salt water / enerzal. The organisation was meticulous throughout without any problems what had been faced at the previous edition. Another lesson learnt: Do not judge anything or anybody on one performance, there is always scope for improvement and things change, so learn to have an open mind and necessarily give feedback both positive as well as negative. This is what can be done to make a difference in our own little way. Overall, it was an excellently organised race which was supplemented by an equally awesome weather and route.

My results of the race:-

http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-13143?lc=en

Feeling happy that I was able to maintain a constant pace of 4:45 min/km through the race with a tolerance of  2 seconds without any Garmin/ watch/ gadget and using my mind and freerunning. A Big Thank you to "FreeRunner" group!

Looking forward to more running days and more writing of my running experiences... 

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.