Playing catch up

I have been meaning to update my blog but work and travel have kept me away from this... but not from running. I finished running 16 days in September, less than expected but I was sick for a few days and travelling towards the end of the month so no go. Not tracking well with my prep for Singapore, but am confident that I will make up. Am planning a 35 km run during the forthcoming 8th ECR Run of Chennai Runners on 19th Octber....

Since my last entry, some of the highlights have been the Chennai Half Marathon on 31st Aug, about which I have a section at the end of this entry...

I had hit some pretty good form post the Chennai Marathon and was really enjoying my runs and building up the miles. Pacing myself comfortably and doing a 5k in 26 min too in one of the runs. In the middle of Sept I caught a cold and that really did me in - have missed a couple of long runs, started and stopped after some distance as the body was just not able to cope. Am slowly building up the miles now.

Have also had problems with my feet, the blisters are back and badly. One of my toe nails has fallen off, and I am done with my current collection of shoes. I wonder if I have to buy a half size larger or shoes with a wider toe box. For now, I have decided to stick to Asics, and as I type this, am wearing a brand new Asics Nimbus 10... thanks to Murthy and Priya for the birthday presents (they got me 2 pairs!!). Am about to step out for a 5k run in London. Am mad keen to do a 21k run here on Saturday... lets hope the weather holds up.

Oh, I have also read 2 books on running in the last 5 weeks.
Must read: The Barefoot Runner by Paul Rambali (about Abebe Bikila - unputdownable)
Optional: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami (you can skip this one I did not get much out of it)

More writing later, hopefully, for now here is the short story on
The Chennai Half Mara"torn"

Pic shows me (No. 2734) and my buddies from Chennai Runners at the starting point..
It was a gruelling event in hot, humid weather... the event wa s a huge crowd puller... apparently some 160,000 people participated in various events. One person died, more than 30 ended up in the hospital.... here are my recollections from the run:

I made it to the "finish" in 2:23, I think Ram was ~6 min and Shahid ~3 min ahead of me. My Garmin said something like 20.55 km.

After about 18km I lost interest - till then I had not walked. After that I started walking as I knew I would finish in <2:30.

The top two accounts of the Chennai Marathon were from Monappa and Sandy.. I have reproduced them below... do read them, worth it!!!

Monappa:

I participated in the Chennai (half )Marathon 10 days ago..there was major publicity prior to the event...posters all over the city with endorsements from local celebrity sportspersons ( Vijay Amritraj,Kris Srikanth, Jyothsana chinapa,etc)..radio and press ads.. However on the day ..none of them were present at venue..we had to wait at start line for the sports minister (M.S Gill) to turn up to inaugrate the event..he turned up 30 min late..(as usual)...the compere/announcer at the starting line was doing his best to keep the restive participants in check with announcements on the P.A system..." Ayyo Mister..why are yuu krassing the line?..vat is the yuse ? u have to run full 21.09km anyways...pleese go back."!

Once the race started ..loudspeakers at regular intervals on the course blared out the marathon anthem with heavy bass beats..."YYoo Chennaaii Marathon.. ... .."..I noticed runners with IPODs fidgeting with their earpieces..trying to block the noise and then giving up...!

The sky was overcast with a light drizzle...which made the initial phase comfortable..but as the course bordered the beach right through..it began to warm up soon..

I paced myself to the staccato beats of the Chennai marathon anthem with "tunnel vision focus" to maximise my running efficiency..however I lost a stride when a lungi clad barefoot middle aged gentleman overtook me and went ahead saying" ayyo ayyo rumba rumba urgent..".. Suddenly the guy veered of the course into an adjoing vacant plot and went about with his morning abolutions..thats when I realised that he wasnt a runner..but a resident of one of the shanties adjoining the course...and the shortest distance between his resident and the (public ) latrine was a portion of the Chennai marathon official route..!.

My new Saucony running shoes--->$70
Quick wicking Russels running vest---->$20
Adidas fuel belt filled with Glucon D----->$25
Number of candy bars pilfered from my 3 yr old son to "fortify" my energy diet---->4
Expression on my face as this guy went about his "£$%^%" stuff---------> PRICELESS .. .

The organisation of the course was well planned with water stations at the regular intervals and "physio" stations manned by trainee physiotherapists from a local college.. Not surprisingly the stations manned by the lady physios were crowded with "injured "young runners.. while the stations manned by the guys had only flies ..... the "TLC" clearly was in more demand than the Iodex sprays..!

2 hours into the run with Chennai sun shining with all its might..my mind was beginning to create a world of its own..I imagined a giant chilled limca bottle awaiting me at the finish line....the finsh line..where was that damned thing..the more I ran/jogged/hobbled/crawled..the longer it seemd to take..
Tiger passed by at the 17km mark....I thought.."hes experienced ..I should give way.."
Ram passed by at the 19km mark.. I thought.."hes experienced ..I should give way.."
Narayan passed by at 20.5km mark...I thought.."hes experienced ..I should give way.."

Finally 2hrs and 20 min from the start line...I finished the race..exhausted, dehydrated and tanned like a cherry blossom tin The organisers in their infinite wisdom had located the finish 4km short of the parking lot..! so finally after covering 21km+4km..after a full 3.5 hrs in the sun ..I was finally done with it all..

Chennai Marathon..lots of sun..some fun on the run..a little fiction! Enjoy!


Sandy:

Here’s a small note on my experience with the Chennai Marathon:- I went to bed Saturday night looking forward to the 7k Chennai Marathon absolutely pumped up.

I slept very well despite the anxiety. I woke at 0600 hrs ready to hit the start line. And then I did a minor calculation. I had to drive 4 -5 km to the parking lot. Walk probably a km or two to the start line. Jostle with 1000s (At that point I didn’t know it would be lakhs) of runners, non-runners, organisers, celebrities, various dogs and some sheep while waiting for the chief guest to arrive. Run 7Km dodging school children who sprint out 30m and then walk hand in hand like in the old MGR movies. And finally get to the finish line which over a period of time starts to resemble a refugee camp with people sprawled all over the place amidst the battle debris of plastic water packets, crushed aquafina bottles, various little pieces of ice, general puddles of water and various podiums with no one around. (all seen during the last Chennai run in feb this year) Oh and of course drive back another 4-5 km to get home.

Decided I would instead run my own 7k and ran it in my head while I slept another 1.5 hours.
And I have lived happily ever after.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Run when Chennai Sleeps, Sleep when Chennai runs.

Thanks Monappa & Sandy - for "cut pasting" your entries without permission!