Life Ho To Aisee: October 2018

Running??? I can walk, I can trek, even I can cycle.. That too long distance. But running, a distant dream... This is something I was not able to do easily. This was my state till July 2017. However I registered for prestigious Satara hill marathon, that too only 3 kms run called as fun run and it started from that day onward.
Practice started with the help of google, running apps, and of course from my running friends. Friends (Santosh Rajapure, Bhalchandra, Amit Talwalkar, Adwait) were always handy giving important tips what to avoid. Google was always there with tons of videos on how to run and improve. Well, information without analysis and execution is just a data of no use!! I started running, but was able to run hardly 500m..not more than that. One day, I found a widget in Garmin about 5k running plan. I thought to give a try to that as well. And guess what, that's like eureka!!. Simple running technique, started with 200m walk followed by 100m run for 30 mins. Slowly running distance got increased (thanks to the levels in the app, worked as motivational factor

) and I was able to run 1k without break.

SHHM 2017

Till Satara marathon, I was comfortable running close to 2k. Satara 3k run was tough for me, but the crowd and atmosphere helped me finish it non stop. That was a moral booster for me! But then practise got stopped somehow. Next motivation came in the form of FICCI marathon, and I regustered for 5k. Somehow I was able to finish it mix of run and walk. Then there was Giripremi's mountain run for 10k organized on Int'l mountain day. As it was a mountain run, no shy of walking and I registered for it. With 50-50% of walk and run, I completed my first 10k.

Giripremi's mountain run, my first 10k

Touching the 10k mark was good, but not satisfying personally as I was not able to run the complete distance. I did one more 10k at JD marathon, but with similar success. Was able to run 6k continuously, and then mix of run and walk. One thing I learned after this run was I was trying to finish in less time than finishing with continuous run aka finishing strong. Videos and friends quick tips were not giving any notch further.

After JD run

Precisely, this is the time when Anagha pointed me out to a group which meets at Pu La Deshpande garden for running. I googled for it, landed on pune running website and saw many groups in different parts of the city including the one I was looking for. Again, time to shout eureka!! Came to know this group meets every Tuesday and Thirsday at 5:30 am for strength training (and not for running). 2 days a week, hmm I can manage, but what about time? For a person like me who has never seen how it look outside before 7 (disclaimer: except trekking days) was a herculean task.

After so many ifs and buts, I joined this group on 29 March. Weather was good,

After ST with the PR South pose !!

but I started sweating in 5 mins. After initial warm up and various types of walk, it was time for 108 surya namaskar. I was able to do 5-6 sets of 12 suryanamaskar. I thought this is tough to do, I cant do it. But later I came to know its only once a month (LToM - last Thursday of month). I convinced myself, ok I can skip it!!. That day learned 2 things - this group is called as PRS (pune running south) and their (now our) standard style/pose while taking group photo!

April and May months were pretty good as far as my attendance is considered. I registered for April LSoM (Last Sunday of Month) 10k run and was first time successful to complete without a stop or walk. Thanks to Pushkaraj sir, Manoj sir and PRS team for their continuous support and motivation. I also had couple of small runs with this team.
June came with 2 reasons - first Roopkund trek followed by rains. It stopped my participation and reduced excitement too. During the Roopkund trek, Sasi told that his goal is to run 21k by this year end. I said I am good with 10k and don't want to stretch it further! Had a good 10k run while I was in Moline. After coming back, Pushkaraj (Swami) told that we have to run TMM this time. I said ok, since I missed chance to run SHHM. TMM needs qualifying run with specific timing. That's how I registered for AFMC 10k run and finished well within the required time. After discussion with Pushkaraj sir, I finally registered for 21k aka HM at TMM (awaiting confirmation as on date though).

With runbuddy.. Pushkaraj Swami

With PRS Team

TMM is still in January 2019, long time to start the prep. In the meantime, I completed the August LSoM as well. August and September are 2 good months with quite a bit of running. Cross trainings (cycling, hiking) and strength training. Had 3 long, but comfortable runs beyond 10k and two 10k runs. All these runs were focused more on endurance and HR than timing. Garmin is really handy (since I wore it on my wrist!!) in monitoring HR. This gave me confidence that I can run 21k as well. With this mindset, I registered for 21k in Sept LSoM.
I was very much nervous before the September LSoM, and nervousness increased to a greater extent when I saw the mighty hill climb at the start point. (It was like giving a 10th standard question paper to a 1st standard student!!) The route was tough, with couple of good elevations including the loop repeat. First 10 kms pretty good, however the Upper Indira Nagar elevation just after 14 kms was too much for me to run, and I had to walk it. Again the 1 km with the elevation was impossible to run. Running alog with More sir and Bhansali sir was a pleasure. I (somehow) completed my first half marathon (HM) with 2:43 hrs of time. Considering the toughness of the route, it was surely a nice achievement.