Hyderabad Marathon and Old pals

The second edition of the Hyderabad Marathon went off very well. I did a half this time and the weather stayed good as it was raining the previous two days here.



Met couple of old pals and lab mates from IIIT Hyderabad. Vardhaman, Sesh and I (as seen in the above pic).


After around the 17th KM mark the incline gradually increased and around 7.30AM the sun was also setting in real hard. But all in all it went off very well but couldn't manage a sub 2 this time.



Lots of Hyderabad runners and also members of Team Asha, Hyderabad.

Nice hometown run and its always a great feeling to be back home ! The event was very well organized and all the logistics were in perfect place. Great job organizers !

More pics in here:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/balsubu/Hyd_Marathon2009#

Keep Miling !

End of a Great Running Season

Finally the 2008-09 Running Season came to end at Auroville yesterday and this also completes my one full year of running. It started with my first half-marathon exactly a year ago at Auroville and yesterday I did another one.

This also has been a great running year and my association with Asha has added that extra bit of a meaning to my running !


(With Asha folks at Auroville, Pondicherry)

It has been a truly great year and I'll be still running with the on and off. With this I'll now get back into cross-training to strengthen my knees and improve speed. The next running season will officially start off in August with the Hyderabad marathon.


Last three days were exciting as I met my childhood friend and his wife at Chennai and had some great breakfast, lunch and dinner. Great drive to Chennai from Bangalore by Biswa and quick temple trip to Kancheepuram enroute.

There is still a month left before I wrap all my donations for Asha. Thanks to one and all who supported my runs. I'll be back again next year !

The running related pics are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/balsubu/Auroville2009

Till then keep running and be healthy ! God Bless !

Mumbai and Marathons

Last week I was at Mumbai and had great fun.

Thanks to Amit, I had the best darshan of the city. Food and hospitality: Thanks again to Amit. More detailed blog report later.


Finished the Mumbai Marathon !


(With Shumit and KP Suresh)

BTW, a week before that I finished the midnight (half) marathon as well. It was also an amazing experience.


Thanks to Pranam for the drop ! Way to go people !

All pics in here:
Running Related: http://picasaweb.google.com/balsubu/MumbaiMarathon2009
Mumbai Travel Related: http://picasaweb.google.com/balsubu/MumbaiTravel
Mumbai Food Related: http://picasaweb.google.com/balsubu/MumbaiFood

My Pics from Amit's mobile cam: http://picasaweb.google.com/AmitRPatil/BalusMumbaiTrip#



Before I sign off, Amit is the person you need to catch up if you desire to see the true Mumbai (right next me in the above pic)!

Go people, go running !

My Bangalore Ultra Run with Asha Folks Amid Running Demons

The buildup

It was my first Bangalore Ultra and the idea was to do a 25K as I was coming back from an injury. For beginners Ultras typically cover distances greater than your marathon (42K) distances up until 100KM (and beyond sometimes). I was training with Asha folks as I ran my first run for them.

Doc Rajat and Santosh where to do a crazy thing, like run for 24 Hours or 200KM which ever comes first. Later we got a mail from doc that he may not run because of flu and Santosh was up to it. Guess couple of others volunteered to run with Santosh.

AS the Bangalore Ultra starts on 16th Nov from 6.30AM to 6.30PM the idea was to reach the run sight a day earlier and begin on 15th Nov at 6.30PM and end by 6.30PM the next day. Shumit surprised all of us by declaring that he would do a 100K and would accompany Santosh and Doc. This just spruced me to aim for 50K subject to how my leg reacts.

Asha Tent: Our Eldorado

Santosh and I did an easy 5K at cubbon the previous Webnesday and I decided that I'd be up for volunteering and Santosh picked up Shumit and myself in Tata Sumo. We reached on 15th Nov by 4.30PM and soon got into business.


We setup the Asha tent from scratch as it was fun to build it following the manaul for dummies and filled it with all possible paraphernalia that was required for such an event. Santosh' mom and dad were a wonderful company and Aunti had got so many varieties of food and I chipped in with few Aloo phulka rolls. This was just the beginning of so many things to follow. It was a long night.

Gathering Storm

Soon Doc and Anita joined us and by 6PM we were all set. The Three Musketeers were all set with water bottles, lights. Unfortunately Sudhir had his gearbox jammed and could cycle further but was a great company in the tent.


On dot, at 6.30PM all three started for the (epic) run and the RFL guys had already marked the path for the next day event. All that we now had to do was to wait for them to come back as the loop was 6.25 one way, so 12.5KM would be like one and half hour and thereabouts.

I was starting to feel heavy stomach as there was so much food out there. Luckily Anita had some "poha" as a quick starter. Doc had got some loads of breads and his car bonnet had some 10 pair of running shoes (no kidding).


First Break

We had our time sheets ready and in about one hour and forty five minutes the trio turned up. It was dinner time and every one were happy to serve them. After some fueling the runners started again. They had spotted couple of snakes as well.

Soon Gaurav joined us and he cycled with them the rest of the night by providing them support. Make no mistake Gaurav also planned to run 50K the next morning.

The moment they all left we volunteers had a galla time and there was so much food that every visitor to our tent was offered food and many tasted it as well.

Sleep, Snooze, Sleep, Getup and Sleep

Well this is what we precisely followed the entire night. Suhir, Anita, Uncle (Santosh's dad) and I were doing this after the third lap onwards. The were taking about 1 hour and 40 minutes so we had to keep the alarm at for every 1.5 hours. Luckily no mosquitoes and there were some great sleeping bags.

Then somewhere from horizon three-four lights begin to appear and keep moving in a sinusoidal fashion and approaches towards you. They were our runners all glued for refill and begin afresh taking one lap at a time.

This cycle went on till 6AM and now Aunti and Uncle were back fresh to take over. Aunti initially called me "Balasubramanian" and soon she made it "Balu". But the tone with which she used to call was all the more soothing to my ears.

I must have bugged Anitha, Sudhir, Aunti and Uncle with my gibberish and some silly PJs. But guys it was fun !


The Morning of 16th Nov

Sreeram and his wife had come my motorbike around 4.30 in the morning and Sreeram's wife also joined Aunti and Uncle in the tent for support. Soon other Asha runners came by and by 6.30 we all were set for the run.

There were around 300 runners in various categories and it was a very well managed event and planned to perfection.


My Run and Running mates

Soon I was slowly settling to a pace and hit upon Rajesh Vetcha from Hyderabad Runners and Pankaj from Dell. Rajesh Vetcha calls me as "Son of AP (Andhra Pradesh)" and soon we three of us hit rhythm and Rajesh Vetcha took lead in all sorts of topics and 25KM just passed by. As I was aiming 50K I slowed down around 20KM mark and was doing fine up until the 31KM mark.

Now I started to walk and was feeling worn out and had lost all the motivation to run. I just walked the next 6 odd KM and decided to stop at 37.5KM. I could have walked the rest 12.5KM and finished my best ever 50K but decided to save it for next year. One my leg was slowly beginning to hurt and the next is I want to run bulk of my distances and not walk instead. I guess it was a wise decision to stop and tapered for rest of the day.


Massage and Stretching
Luckily Anita pointed me to go to the B2F (Back to Fitness is Doc Rajat's Venture) folks and have massaged and stretched. Thanks folks !

Then I took room keys from Anita and went to room and took a fresh bath. It helped a lot and I had lunch coupons from the RFL guys. Gaurav was also done by then and we had lunch together. It was pretty decent lunch and the only thing that I did was to sleep for the next two hours.

Screw It, Lets Do It

The above pic explains it all. The kind of motivation they all had. Way to go Doc !

The Grand Finish

The time was approaching 6PM now and Santosh and Doc were planning the distances for the next half hour. As the clock slowly ticked we all waited and just about 6.18PM Santosh and Doc finished. Santosh finsihed a mammoth 160KM. These three, Sanotsh, Doc Rajat and Shumit were like Running machines. Running tirelessly can going on and on like the machines and stopping every hour and a half for fuel. It was one long 24 hour !


It was photo session for all of us to get noticed and be part of this elite company. Soon we got the Asha tent down and packed up. Doc was very tired so Sreeram drove Doc's car as I cannot drive a car. So I took Sreeram's motorbike and we all met Bombay Post near Domlur. Had some decent dinner and discussed some topics orthogonal to running.

All in all it were great two days with Asha folks and hope to join you soon for a run again.


Just in case others if you have forgotten to contribute, please do so by going to my Asha support page:
http://www.ashanet.org/bangalore/marathon/runners/balu.html

Some of our Pictures are at Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/balsubu/Ultra2008PicsfromBalu#


Thanks to everyone who have supported me for this run. It is primarily you who are the winner !

Keep Miling !

Weekday Run, Finally

After slumbering out there for almost 3 weeks, here I am finally on road miling on a weekday. I'm back into strict diet again and yesterday night Biswa and I decided to do a quick 6K run. As usual after snoozing the clock couple of times I was up by 5.30AM and Biswa decided to cave into further sleep. So by 6.20AM I was out on outer ring road clocking miles. Then went into EGL for a brief while and at a later stage went into Kormangla 5th and 6th block before I finally reached home exactly after an hour.

Been really long running on a weekday and I'm sure the high calorie mangoes that I had the previous night was very motivating. Have been consistently hanging around 82Kgs for sometime now. Time to break into the sub-79 barrier in couple of months and intend to maintain it thereabouts. Not sure where to run this Saturday, but might go to GKVK cycling (still undecided though). After the new washing machine at home here, life has been great. Its a Samsung, fully automatic, in the price range of 9.5K. Guess worth to have one.

Until then boy and girls, keep miling.

Self Imposed Half Marathon - 21K

I did not run on Saturday morning but was planning a treadmill run but somehow I'm not an evening runner. So just yesterday night during the EURO 2008 matches I decided its time I did a big one solo. Plan was to go to GKVK but wasn't worth the effort. So the day began right at 4:15AM and I was awake by 4.30AM. Got my energy bars, electral in the empty Gatorade bottle at exactly at 5:35AM I was miling.

The route that I generally take is for my cycling activity and today it had to be running and I guess my first water stop was after an hour and fifteen minutes, around the 12KM mark. By two hours I had almost done 19 odd KMs and by two hours and 15 minutes I reached close to Maharaja hotel near my home. I wanted to cut through the 25KM mark which would have been the highest that I would have ever run on a single day but I guess I'll do that in July in Chennai (30K mostly). Then Amit, Kunal and I were supposed to go for brunch but we got Kunal's confirmation a bit late. So Amit and I went to New Krishna Bhavan at Sampige road and it was all the effort.

The pain is slowly sinking in and the weather overcast. Just the right time to go for a siesta.

Click here for the route

Back on roads miling

After having leisured around for 4 days here I'm back to running ways. Though did just around 6KMs I guess I could have done another 6 easily but the Sun was out by 7AM. Biswa and I decided to do a quick one today and by 6.40AM we started to run and by 7.20AM we wound it up. Mostly ran along the Intermediate Ring road between Indira Nagar and Koramangla.

We got a new cook at home, Parmeshwar and he is good. Only problem is he comes as early as 6.30PM and we are used to eat around 9ish in the nights. Never mind and I guess this Saturday I'll run in the vicinity and may be on Sunday at GKVK or at Cubbon. Until then keep miling.

There you go running

Finally after snoozing the alarm for about 4 times I was awake by 5.30AM. Thats the very reason I set the alarm at 4.45AM and went to sleep by 11.30PM. By 6.20AM I was out and miling. For a change took the standard route in an anti-clockwise direction and kept running leisurely and by the time I reached NGV from Airport road and Vivek Nagar the traffic was building up and there were these nice pretty looking office going women folk around and that just made me run the last mile much faster. Really faster and in one hour and five minutes I almost touched 11KM.

Good going my man, there you go running.

11.4KM road running

So after some heavy duty food yesterday and Vandy's banters I was hell bent to run today and after snoozing the alaram at 5.15AM I was up by 6AM and by 6.40AM I was all set and running. Maintained a decent pace and settled down nicely by the time I crossed the NGV. All that I had to do is to keep running for an hour and this time I was able to almost 12 KM close to an hour. Got some toned milk from the shop and kept in the fridge. Luckily had stocked Gatorade and consumed around 200ml and after bath had some new Bran flakes. Tasted pretty decent and off I went cycling to office. Will run a shorter distance (5KM?) tomorrow and will be in Hyderabad this weekend to catch up home and by buddy from Australia.

Keep cycling and running as I have some runs planned up at HYD as well.

Sunfeast 10K - 60 minutes

So finally done with my Sunfeast Bangalore open 10K. I must say the organizing part was perfect. Collected my bib and goodie bag on Friday and by 7.30AM today morning Biswa and I were off to Kanteerva Stadium loaded with all the energy bars and Gatorade energy drinks. We guessed parking could be a problem, so we decided to take the bike instead of Biswa's car. The volunteers asked us to park at St Joseph's school which was another 2KM back and we finally squeezed our bike near the Hudson circle and left our if-you-want-steal clothes right in the bike. By 8.1) we were about to enter the stadium from gate g-11 and paused by to see the start of the women's world 10K which was teeming up with African runners.

Just as we moved into "non-time-chip" gallery we met Joseph. We had already met him in Auroville marathon and he was Biswa's running buddy for while there. After a quick chat I was just looking around for familiar faces and saw Shumit Vatsal as Biswa disappeared for a leak. Shumit and I had some quick chat and wanted to meet up later in the day only to realize that none of us had mobile phone. He was to come to Koramangla but just that I have his contact number in my office mailbox for which I do not have access from home. Sorry Shumit, next time we will catch up, especially tis time at your place with Chennai runners. Soon it was our time and by 9.02 we crossed by the start line and there were hoards of runners and especially from the defense with their flags. Many were running for charities and many for a cause or as a group. There were too many people and the first 2KM were very slow and Biswa stopped for a while and asked me to go ahead. I just continued and the heat at some stretches was terrible.

The good thing I noticed is people from all walks of life were out there and cheering apart from the arranged cheerleaders. When we were running near the Ulsoor lake, many senior citizens and residents cheered and encouraged many runners and water stops were also amply stationed. Some runners couldn't take heat and we had ambulances rushing and an Airforce helicopter was hovering all throughout. Also CNBC-TV18 was covering the event live and the fastest runner in the Mens event clocked around 27 minutes.

All in all I just finished the clock when it read 10.02AM with couple of seconds. So precisely I manged to finish the race in 60 minutes and 20 seconds. My target of under 60 minutes was always there. I guess I'll slowly prepare for a 50 minute 10K soon but then its time for preparing for long runs with a couple of marathons to compete later this year. Finally met up with Biswa at the certificate counter and then with Joseph. Thanks to Joseph's wife, our another ritualistic picture was taken and I'll put that across once he mails me up. Sunfeast folks seem to be giving away their biscuits about everywhere and this time it was at the refreshment counter. But I'll give thumbs up for their event management, good one Procam.

Until next time, catch us running.

Ring Road - part of EGl - 8K

I guess after snoozing the alarm from 5.15AM to 5.30AM finally Biswa buzzed me at 5.45AM and we decided to an 8K. By 6.40AM we started to jog and as we entered the ring road picked up decent pace and entered into EGL and after 1.2K took a U-turn back to home. This was just to keep the body fit kind of a run and tone it for the Sunday's 9AM run.

By 7.30AM we were back home and we might go today to pick up our bib and goodie bag from Kanteerva stadium. I might do a 3K plus cycling or will just stick to cycling. Looks like RFL guys are coming up with some Nike dry fit Tess tomorrow at their pasta party (carbo loading) at Bristo near Brigade road. Will be checking that out as well. Until then, keep miling and good luck and injury free run for all the Sunfeast participants running Sunday.

Random runnning - 10K

So finally I was out on roads after I dismissed the alarm at 5.15AM and the guilt woke me up by 5.45AM and by 6.35AM I was on the roads miling. Absolutely no idea on the route but the plan was to run a minimum of one hour, that means around 10KM. The preparation for the Sunfeast 10K run has been good so far but the bad part is that they are going to start the open 10K at 9AM and I'm sure the sun will begin to shine hard.

Today's run was good as I clocked the first 2KMs with a very god pace and eventually settled to my 10KMPH pace. I believe 5.30AM is the right time to run and by 6.30-7 I must wind it up. As soon as I was nearing the Victoria road I took the right towards Airport and was facing the traffic most of the times. As I approched Domlur I checked the time and it was 7.20AM and I had 15 minutes to finish the Intermediate ring road and as I was about to windup I saw Nischal Pai with her black shades running towards Domlur on the uneven trail on the footpath. Just exchanged a smile and hi and I carried on and it was just 3 minutes more than an hour and I had covered 10.3KM now and decided to walk till home. But the open ground was more tempting so I decided to jog the rest of the 200 meters. As soon as I crashed in I was feeling very thirsty and the Gatorade preserved for the Sunfeast 10K had to be sacrificed.

Click for the route.

May cycle tomorrow or will do a quick 3-4K just to feel good and on Friday might do a 11K with Biswa. Also, got my acceptance letter from the Procam guys and now I need to collect the bib and goodie bag. Probably will wait for Biswa's letter and then we'll go together to get it. So training is on track and hope to crack the 10K within an hour. I guess I've now gradually migrated running 10Ks on alternate days.

Keep miling !

Hussain Sagar - 9K

The day began at Hyderabad today at 5AM and by 5.45AM dad dropped me to Tankbund and parked his car aside to take a walk. The run started at 6.15AM and after some quick stretching zoom I went. Today it stinked a lot and the lake was in terrible state. Soon I crossed the Viceroy hotel and I went into Necklace road. As soon as I reached the Deccan continental turn cops stopped me and they had erected some barricades. One of the traffic constables told that the road was closed and that I need to go back. I was disappointed and asked if I could talk to the inspector. Then I went towards the inspector I told him that I run here most of the times. The inspector was cool and in a typical Hyderabadi tone told me "Ajja udhar bhag lo" (Run there today). I told him I do this loop every time but it looked like he was pleading me. For a second he was tempted but he then told that there is a constable recruitment going and there was a 5K run for them and I told that I'll be faster than your constables. He then "Senior officers hai babu.. meruko gaali dete" (There are senior cops out there and I'll be abused if you go now). I guess he was more than courteous. That's why I like Hyderabad man. They just convince me every time.

Then I ran back towards Tankbund and did one more loop. It was 55 minutes already and I'm sure with today's pace I must have done a 9K and then I decided to halt for some stretching. The thoroughly not satisfied, I'll try to a full loop tomorrow as early as 5.30AM even if they decide to close the Necklace road.

Until then, Keep running.

EGL - Intermediate Ring Road - 10K

Biswa wanted to do this on Friday, but since I'll be away we decided to do this today. As usual I woke up before the alarm went off and after snoozing I was up by 5.15AM and we started the run by 5.55AM from the Intermediate ring road from Koramangla and started to run towards EGL. The EGL one way towards Airport wall is 4.2K and in an hour and 15 minutes we jogged leisurely back to the ring road and started to walk back after finishing 10K.

A nice quick start and have many more runs lined up this week. Till then, keep running.

Running and Cycling

After Madurai food and weather I wanted to hit running desperately and on 2nd May woke up as early as 5AM and by 5.45AM I was out on the roads and I decided that I'll be running on the road instead of the park. b 5.55AM I was off and was up and running and Sony World junction was the only one where I stopped for a second or two. Met one fellow runner passing b who returned my smile and others where hostile as usual. Passed through NGV complex, then into Vivek Nagar and then onto Victoria road. Saw a pretty woman running ahead donning a typical gym wear but she then stopped and I had to continue. Reached my old office (Riya.com) and then took a left towards the Hosur road.

Guess it was just half an hour and around 6.5KMs and I continued sometimes on nice pavements and a cyclist was keeping me going as I found an amazing partner in him. In fact I overtook him near Audogidi and then went into JNC road and then finally crossed Maharaja as I see so many pretty office going faces while I was all drenched in swaet. Just ahead I saw my mom and dad walking and soon sprinted towards them. They were searching for the Wipro park and ended by walking in the by lanes. This was May 2nd and here is the route. Overall around 12KM in an hour and 10 minutes. More details at my WeEndure page for this date.


On May 3rd I switched over to cycling (biking) as part of my cross training. Randomly picked up a route and cycled for more than an hour and it was a smooth affair and no pain. Cycled for almost 21KM this time again.

My cycling route in here


Have my RFL fortnightly runs tomorrow at Cubbon. So need to be up early again. My parents just left back for Hyderabad and the Cab guy didn't turn up and we had to rush in two autos and to top it up I came back in BMTC bus just to save some money from the fleecing auto drivers and to promote public transport. Well thats about it. I somehow have an uncanny feeling that I might just break the 10K in 45 minutes barrier tomorrow. Keeping fingers crossed !

Roger Bannister and Hussain Sagar Run

Another weekend in Hyderabad and a quick 9.3K at Hussain Sagar in 50 minutes. It was a good run this time around. Started at 6.20AM and finished by 7.10AM. This is a fantastic route and just as I was finishing the Army guys were out in full swing.

I was doing some post run stretches as part of my cool down and noticed Naveen's dad walking on the other side of the road and he also momentarily stopped to look at me. I crossed the road to wish him and we walked past the Tank Bund and uncle invited me to his home (just 2KM from there). Notwithstanding home commitments I went ahead to catch up Auntie (Naveen's mom) for some update and also the Tea. As usual Auntie insisted on breakfast but I convinced her for "Chai".

Uncle gave a quick glance at his books and mentioned about Roger Bannister. He was the first chap to break the "Four minute a mile" barrier which was kind of unbroken for years. Once Roger Bannister broke the very next year 37 more runners broke and by many many more in years to come. I get to know so many things from Naveen's dad and he is an ocean of knowledge and he suggested me some quick reads on positive thinking.

Read More about Roger Bannister here.

Also not to mention how his wife goes hand in glove with all his books and thoughts. She in fact was the first to see my weight clamp down and was very happy. You see I lost around 10Kgs in last 4-5 months just by running and some simple diet. I'm aiming for 79 and thereabouts and would want to hang in there for as much time as I can. All in all it was good day and I'm not sure if I want to do a back to back 10K run tomorrow morning, but I might as well.

BTW, just finished "Motor Cycle Diaries" and man what a movie ! More in my next post, until then Happy Running !

EGL run this morning - 8.4K

It was a very early start today as Biswa and I decided to run at the Embassy Golf Links (EGL) around the Airport perimeter. So we were up by 5AM types and by 6 we were all set and reached EGL by 6.15 and after stretching we took off.

This run was more of a jog and just to get out of the monotonicity of the Wipro Koramangla park circling 700 meters for loops together. The traffic here is also very little and makes up for a decent morning event as long it is before 7AM and sun the was slowly beginning to ascend. We were done 7.05AM and again after quick stretch we were back to Tranquility (our apartment). I think we will have more such runs and probably we will slowly try a 24K soon if we were able to start our run by 5.30AM and I'm sure we will in the coming weeks.

I'll be off to Hyderabad tonight and be right back to Bangalore on Monday. I plan to do Hussain Sagar (10K) loop back to back on Saturday and Sunday. Also it is Tamil new year day on 13th so lots of home food to burn.

May not blog during this time but will update my running stats on weEndure for sure and have to catch up with lots of movies and especially a Telugu movie "Jalsa" with Hyderabadi gang.

Happy Running !