Racelogue: ADHM saga

We run when we're scared, 

we run when we're ecstatic, 

we run away from our problems 

and run around for a good time.

Christopher McDougall, Born To Run

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon is one of the gold event for 21k events for the country. This was in my bucket list of Procam events for the running season. Another two more to go (at time of writing).The euphoria surrounding the event by the runners is huge. International Runners are participate in this race. 

After finishing of Airtel Hyderabad Marathon, this was next planned event. All Runners  were eagerly waiting for the registration to begin. TMM Registrations began before ADHM. After TMM Registration for HM closed and registration began on  14th September. Being eagerly waiting for it, I did it on opening day, didn't wanted to miss out.

Now coming back from AHM - got injured again, decided give rest to Achilles tendon once again for the month of September. Come October and  started with slow and short runs as had BSF marathon on 29th Oct and needed to do some long runs and mileage.

Oct has Kolkata Runners Collaboration anniversary run on 8th Oct. I   needed to do a 15k before that. As decided , I ran 15km. I was satisfied considering the rest period, weather was sultry. As I was on improvement running plan, I needed to run according to the plan.

Next was 22nd., Run of 10.5k. This was part of Airtel RFE promo run. Then on 29th was BSF run, my training plan was for 17k but did 21.197 for the Marathon. When the race started ,  the weather was good and  mid way, the perfect Kolkata humid weather was back. Finished the race with personal best of 2.17.07 hrs

I was continuing as planned, then plan got shelved as need to travel out for work. In between there was lot of controversy with Air quality being extremely bad and ADHM  should be shelved. IMA was hell bent getting the event postponed/shelved. And finally came 18th Nov - day for travelling to Delhi. Avinash Singh, Rakesh Agarwal and myself traveled together to Delhi and onwards to Expo. We are staying at same place in Defence colony which was quite close to venue.

Reaching Expo, it took time to collect the Bib and t-shirt. After that spent some time with the other fellow runners from Kolkata. We went back to Defence colony market and we finished teh late lunch at Desi Vibes. 

Unlike other races, ADHM starts at 6.55am which is quite late. I woke up at 4.50 and got ready for the event. Avinash, Rakesh and me walked down to the starting point-  Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in about 15 mins.

We entered through gate 7 entry, we went directly to holding area and got ready for the race. Warm up was done near the holding area as we had not gone to the Warm up zone of Procam.  We were waiting for rest of Kolkata Runners. First to come were Anupam Mishra, Prasun Majumdar

I was starting from Holding area C, at 6.55 the holding area A released followed by B and then C. As I moved out of there I could see the 1.50, 2.00, 2.05 one lot of pacer in front and another in back.  As I moved out of the start point and into the road from the stadium, there was portion before a temple which was bricks with tar on them, this was a risky zone. After this, I saw few boys from the side walk jumped into the race - gatecrashers. I was wearing the band of 2.10 pacer whom I could not find the holding area. The first 2 km I was trying to get clear of the crowd, I got hold of a bisleri bottle at 2km point. ADHM route has water point every 2 km till 15th Km mark. I moved on following the crowd.

When I reached the Mathura Road, I could see the elites on their way back, this was I guess this around 16km mark. Following them about 400-500 m were the Indian elites.  Running towards the India Gate which could be seen from faraway gave me goosebumps. Crossing India Gate  and running towards Parliament I could see some runners pointing toward left. Moving my gaze to that side and saw Rahul Gandhi standing there and waving to the runners.

Running on Rajpath is something else, its a feeling which one cannot describe. The route went on Rajpath, to Sansad Marg ,to Jantar Mantar and back. Running across so many historical monuments gave feel good factor.

After crossing 10km mark, as I stepped on a flat speed breaker, as my foot came up I could feel I have sprained my right foot. But it was not hurting, I decided to continue. Before reaching Jantar Mantar, I met Rakesh on his way back. And on my way back from Jantar Manatar, I met two of my Kolkata running buddies- Sandip Mojumder and Abhinav Kashyap who were running together. Just for information Sandip is a barefoot runner.

In fact, I was running good after the sprain, the next 3 kms I was ahead of my planned times which I crossed checked with pace band. I was not far behind the 2.00 pacer chasing him. I was pretty sure I end up with better than my target time for ADHM.

As I neared 16 KM mark, my foot was starting giving problem, I was not in comfort. I decided to not push it hard, and  pick up pace after 19th km mark. I could hear the one of the 2.05 hr pacer behind me, motivating his bus. I was with him for while and could not keep up for long.

Crossing 19th KM, it was getting crowded (as 10k runners were there ) and lane was narrow. I started putting the pedal on the accelerator and moving up slowly. I could see my average pace was decent and according to 2.10 hrs pace band I was fine. And I could see the 2.05 pacer again.

Around 300 m mark, I face the stone road once again , and lost a bit of speed here. Finally moved back into stadium , sprinting towards the end line. And done, I did my 1st ADHM and finished with 2.09.32. My target was 2.12.30 for ADHM.

All the runners were presented a red towel as they moved away from the end point. I immediately stretched my calves, quads, IT band.  After that I moved into the volini recovery zone to get a better stretching, the place was crowded which is  a understatement. I waited at one of the station.

As my turn cam, I sat down and took my shoes. Since I thought I have sprain in the foot, I will get it sprayed with volini. As I was taking off my compression sock from left foot,   my left calf   muscle got pulled and it hurted like hell. It took me about 4 minutes to get over it.

I spent 10 minutes doing stretching with the help of volini volunteer. Afterwards, I walked to collect the medal with a limp - valuable lesson learnt  from ADHM. I collected my medal, went to nutrition zone for the breakfast. Palash Sen concert was going on beside that. Met rest of our running buddies- Sudip, Vivek, Prasun , Rakesh, Avinash, Debjani, Vivek, Atul, Anupam, Nikhil, Atul and many more.

There were 35000 runners, the biggest event I attended so far. The experience was fantastic. The crowd was good, in spite of the rain in previous night, there were people throughout supporting the runner,cheering , music, placards At one place, some people wearing Turbans  had put up water for the runners. The atmosphere in the stadium before the run was electrifying. This was something which we don't see everyday.  The whole route people were there, even in race of 2hrs plus you dont feel lonely, you see a runner in one hands distance in front and behind. Running in big events such as these, you dont find the race route empty and towards the end its crowded like anything. 

Same day evening pushed off back to home with  Runners high. Maybe next year will come back maybe not. Lets wait and see whats store in future.

Note: I started writing this after coming, final editing and getting this took a long time. TSK25 was also done before this is published.

RACELOGUE : Journey to AHM 2017

It's not where you are today that counts. It's where you are headed. - Arthur F. Lenehan

A journey always has a story to tell. When running season closed for Kolkata, I had overwhelming desire to do a half marathon (HM). I checked the marathon calendar. As already told in my TCS racelogue http://samudrajeetghosh.blogspot.in/2017/05/racelogue-tcs-world-10k-bangalore-this.html , I had shortlisted few. The first HM I wanted to try was Cherrapunji and the next Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (AHM). The dates of both were not out, I was keenly waiting for the same.  Expected date of Cherapunji was 16th July . March end I decided to go for 14 weeks MYASICS training plan for HM. I started following it.

In April beginning Sketchers Gorun club was launched in Kolkata. I enrolled for it, hoping this improves my running. 

2nd week of April, AHM FB page gave update of registration to begin from 17th April . 

I did the registration on the 1st day and got the early bird discounts. The registration got confirmed only after few days, got the BIB # 0036. I checked out the flights and timings which would be suitable and booked them. In meantime I check for Cherrapunji Marathon and  learned it was cancelled this year.

Few days later, there was whatsapp group formed for the runners from Kolkata going for AHM. There were about 20 to begin with which swelled to 60 in the end. The group was aimed at sharing information, logistics, pre runs etc.

The USP for AHM is  "India's toughest city marathon ". This was going to be my first HM as well. The only solace was for me I knew the route pretty well, it being my office route for 2 years.

I needed to modify MYASICS plan with Sketchers training being on saturday, making sunday my rest day in the summer.  It was recommended to do hill training for getting prepared for the race. Kolkata didn't have any choices for hills, you need to do flyovers again which was little dicey where I stay.

Anyway, in May did TCSW10k in Bangalore. That story already told. coming back after that started training again. My knowledge of Banjara hills/ Jubilee hills, I decided to do more short hill training, practicing on Footover bridge at Sreebhumi.  

June decided to do more long runs to do endurance. And summer is not kind to Runners in Kolkata. I took part in 15k in the Kolkata Road Runner hosted Collaboration run on 4th June. Next long run I included Ultadanga flyover for my long run of 16K on 18th June. 

22nd June, as per MYASICS plan I need to do 10k at 7.3-7.5 pace. I did better than that and after my cool down, I was dismayed I had injured my achilles tendon. I gave it a rest for couple of days, it felt fine. Meanwhile, I need a new pair of running shoes. Last ones had run over 900kms.   I checked out the shoes, read their reviews and understanding their specs. I ordered for Mizuno Wave Rider. 

Then on 25th June , I was running for Anti Narcotics Run, I felt good and till 5k ran good, then the problem started. I managed to finish the race 10k somehow. It was not good, I decided to rest for the week. 

Problem with tendinopathy of Achilles tendon is that it is tough band of tissues that connects calf muscle to heel. When you walk or run it gets used. About a week I rested, felt good pain subsided.

On 2nd July SaltLake Runners hosted Collaboration, I was taking photos of the the event. Pain started coming back and it worsened. 

Other thing which came during period was Kolkata Runners t-shirt for AHM. Sandip Mojumder and I took up the job, getting interested peoples lust, costing , design with help of Satwik of KRR . 

I was  dejected with the return of pain, I was walking with a limp. After few days, there was no change.  I decided to see an Orthopedic Surgeon nearby, he gave medicine and advised rest till it heals. Now it was July 1st week and I had race on Aug 20th.  I started taking medicine and kept my fingers crossed.

25th July, I decided to start again, ran for 2km, next day 3km and 3.8 km. These runs were real slow and I was feeling okay. The tendon not being used for running was aching a bit. I iced after run to prevent any flaring ups. I needed to run in my new pair of shoes so I could wear it on the race day.

30th July- Collaboration run hosted by KRS I decided to do 5k to check how good the tendon is holding. This time  ran slow as well and it was real slow that one of runners Irfan came up and asked why I was running so slow. 

Week 1 of testing was fine, I was able to run 5k. But rested again for couple days, I picked up again for 3 days with max 6.9k. Finally week before the race did a slow run of 5k to see how it is holding.

I had again pain a week before the race, for AIRTEL RFE promo race, I ran slow and checked how the leg was holding.

August 19th , I left with group of 60 runners for the AHM 2017. We landed at 8.30, collected the baggage.

 I went to Secunderabad to finish off personal work and from there moved to Expo for the BIB collection. Collected the BIB and had lunch with our team of runners. Abhivas Kashyap brought us Yogabars from Bangalore which were given as  Yogabars team as well wishes.

Moved back to hotel. Had dinner early and went back to room to get ready for the next day.

Sleep for 6 hrs, got up at 4.00 am to get ready. By 4.55am I was down at lobby to meet other runners from Kolkata to walk down to People's plaza- starting point. We reached the holding area at 5.13. I had already warmed up at hotel itself from my previous experiences.

Around 5.35, runners moved to the starting point. I could see the FM runners passing the start point, they had covered the necklace road already.

At 6.00 am the gun went off for the HM, all runners started to move, it was crowded. I and my fellow runners started moving slowly to cross the start line. Once I crossed the start line , moved the right lane where the FM runners were coming in and started running towards the Khairatabad flyover (1st on the course). Slowly moved up, the crowd was still thick. After coming down from the flyover, moved to Raj Bhavan road, and could see the amazing sea of runners before me.

Before 2 km rest of my fellow runners were moving up, crossing 2km mark, I received a thump in back and saw it was Yashovardhan Kanodia , FM runner from Kolkata and  with him was Avinash Singh. Yasho moved up fast,  Avinash and I started running together. We are old running partners.

Before the 4km mark, my left leg tendon started giving trouble, not a good sign. Avinash told ignore it and we started moving up on the Panjagutta Flyover (2nd one). This one is long and there are several ups, as we were coming down, Avinash remarked the down is so short. I explained to him that flyover is landing on Banjara hills which is high. We saw Ritesh and Arvind running in front of us, from Kolkata.

We check the pace it was just 7, we started moving forward with same pace, I had water at next hydration point. I would keep talking and and telling where to expect the next up and down. Slowly we crossed LVPEI and into the KBR park stretch. We could see Karthekiyan in Kolkata Runners t-shirt in front. He was maintaining the pace.

Crossing Jubliee Checkpost, we climbed the uphill one of bad ones on the course. Coming up and moving forward, we saw Subrata Mondal, another of FM Kolkata Runners, he was struggling, we cheered him and asked to be with us. He started again running with us. He was with us about a km till the next uphill bend. So far on the course, we found people, volunteers, bands all cheering. Hardly any gaps were there.

We crossed 10km here which is after Pedamma Temple. We checked out pace and till it was 7, we have managed to keep it constant so far. I told Avinash, we will get long down hill hereafter and try to make up the time.

Once we got into Madhapur, crossing the Dasapalla hotel , Avinash felt craps in his knee. I told ignore it as possible. Next aid station , he took volini spary to ease it. We started moving forward, so far so good. We were enjoying the run and spirit.

Coming 500m to Cyber towers, caught up with Ritesh and Arvind, they also started running along with us. At cyber towers , we met Howard. We cheered him, he asked us to go ahead. As we started moving towards Mindspace, we meet Nishant running. Again we cheered and crossed him. This was the merger point of 10k and HM/FM. The road was crowded beyond words.

After crossing Lemon Tree, we took right and here Arvind got lost.  Avinash, Ritesh and I kept moving and before reaching Hitech Main Road, we are all together again.

Here it was diffcult for running as hardly any gaps were there, people were running , walking , talking, cheering.

We cam down the down hill of Hitech Main road, Ritesh and Arvind moved up. Once, we were on the old Bombay road, I told Avinash we have one last flyover left. We started moving towards the Flyover and before reaching 100/200m we again caught up with Ritest and Arvind. And we could see Sandip Mojumdar in up front.

I started moving up, Avinash told go ahead, I started pushing up fast on the flyover and had to keep shouting "Coming through, please give space".  Before reaching top, I was with Sandip Mojumdar, I asked about rest of Kolkata runners. I moved up, leaving him behind. One of runner was walking, I told only 2km left, com'on run. Hearing that, another runner who looked he was to give asked "only 2 left " and I said yes. com'on don't give up. In reality it was more than 3km. He started running with hope.

As I came down and running with faster pace I saw 2.30 hrs bus Poonam Metta, I reached her and started running with her. Then it was last uphill but small, I asked her is this last and she confirmed.
I kept running and she stopped for photo. I said she is better runner, she will make up and I can't.


I crossed the ISB road corssing and could see the Gachibowli Stadium, I kept shouting "Coming through, please give space" and ran as fast as possible. Before entering the stadium, I got bit slow, probably running last 3 km at fast paces with negative splits.

I entered the stadium , I pushed myself and crossed the line. I was out of breath, and feeling of satisfaction came. The Runners high is what we call it.

 After taking 5 minutes to regain my breath, I did stretching first before moving to collect the medal and bottle of water.

As I came into resting area, I saw Avinash, Ritesh and Arvind have also reached. Avinash asked my time, looking into Strava I said its 2.28 min, he said it cant be, his is 2.28 and I must have reached before him.

We saw the other runners and had breakfast. Got energy recharged, before moving up to take pics.

Lessons from last TCS10k. Route recce- This helped, even though it was familiar, I came from Secunderabad to Hitex on the route,. It helps specially if you are not 100% fit. Hydration - I took electrolyte solution i.e Electral for hydration for 4 days before the race, sipping 1 litre through the day. I didn't felt any cramps at any point in and after the race. Also, endurance gels helped. Have a plan in mind, I planned to take it in halves - first 10k and then next 11k.

Lesson learned - Run with someone you know rather than with a pacer, it helps better. Keep gels while bringing in plastic packet otherwise they can spoil your running clothes. There is always odd chance leakage may happen. I did negative splits 1:15/1:10 which means I had juice left. Run to enjoy, don't be bothered how others are running.Overall, a training plan helps if implemented properly even there is a break in between. Thanks to all who were there.

When I reached Hyderabad, I was just hoping to finish the race within 3.30 hrs - race cut off time. I was not sure how my left would hold. In fact , Saturday afternoon it was paining and I had to take medication. Finishing in 2:25 in my first HM, that too in tough condition, leaves a smile on my face.  Adieu till the next story.

#AHM2017 #KOLKATARUNNERS #YOGABARS #SALTLAKERUNNERS #

Racelogue: Lazybones to 10k

Sometimes in life we come to cross roads where we know which is the right way or the high way. It was month of October 2015, had a minor health scare called blood pressure. It called for ditching the sedentary  lifestyle ?(not doing exercises, food habits) and bringing a change. As tomorrow never comes,every day I would say I am starting tomorrow and didn't.

Eventually it was December when I finally took my sports shoes out of cupboard, and dusted them. You must be thinking where the hell sports shoes came from, this was back from 2012 when I had a fling with Gym.

Plan was for jogging but all of sudden starting jogging is not wise so I started with walking. I always believed that any physical activity you do and don't sweat its not worth it. I did a round of the lake no. 1 of lake Town fast. Drops of sweat formed. After couple of days I realized this is no fun, spending half an hour or more for a round or more. I decided let me start running and that I did.  For couple of weeks or more I completed 2 rounds which amounted to 3 kms.

This went on for few months, then in March / April I ran hardly. The scorching summer began and I started again. This time I decided I need to increase the route as going in circles is damn boring. I changed my route. This was continuing till August, was running in between 4-5km in a hrs time.

August end this was what changed my course of running. I saw a post on FB by Unnikrishnan on completing AHM Full marathon. That gave me seed of running marathon. I decided I try for it. I googled about Marathon's in Kolkata, learnt about distances. So began my journey for running 10k, I decided to skip 5k as they were not timed events and it didn't give me a kick. I saw first event was Airtel RFE in November, needed to wait for registration to open.

My plan was simple, try to run more kms till November. I kept running routine regular, not to miss  them. I did nothing special. I change my running area to Salt Lake finding it more runner friendly in terms of traffic and shade.

Slowly I increased to 7-8km , this was done 1.15 min, I was happy. I did nothing special, just  continued. Meanwhile registered for the upcoming Marathons Airtel RFE, TSK25,  Trail run. So this was going to be my journey for coming few months.

I changed my wardrobe, got proper running clothes. Tried understand the Dynamics. The journey was all alone, running in the streets in the morning. Morning walkers became familiar faces, the point where I meet them everyday became routine. It became like my clock.

Slowly October vanished from the calendar. The excitement was growing with me slowly. Questions were popping will be I am able to complete with 1.20 hrs for the timing certificate and least of all not finish last. My belief was in these conditions if I managing to run then in ideal condition for marathon, I will do better.

Then demonitisation happened, morning runs were combined with the ATM runs. This sounds funny, but running helped in this stressful situation. Week before the D-Day I had to travel out for work, and runs stopped.

I came back on Friday night and Saturday went for BIB collection. Took my BIB, checked the route map which I already check from last year data. All geared up. Sunday woke up early morning, reporting time was mentioned as 5am. Reached City centre 1, saw warm up for 21k going waited for them to move to holding area. Reached the warm area. Warm started 5.30am and it was good as I got warmed pretty good. The race began at 6am - the gun time, started moving out from the start, as I came out from City centre , I saw the Kenyans overtaking us immediately , for 21k it was loop of 2 of 10k. 

I kept my pace, as good as possible. At 3km  started to get warmed up good. I could see many Runners overtaking, then who cares. For me it was my 1st race and it was about finishing.  As I approached the Godrej waterside I was slowing down, I pushed myself , told myself I can do it. Stretched myself, kept running, reached back Karunamoyee, was happy as not more to go.

I did a time check as there was 1.20min for timing certificate. As I moved from Central Park towards Labony, my calculations said about a km to go ( I had done a route recce) , I decided to lets put the pedal on the gas. Slowly started moving faster, overtaking other Runners. This always gives a kick.

As I moved from Vidyasagar to City centre , I could see  not much more to go, I huffed and puffed. Body was aching, tired, mouth dried up, sweating, finally came the finish line and saw I managed a time of 1:15 my personal best. The high which I felt on completing the race was something you can't explain. The feeling is special only a Runner will understand.

I did my first 10k in my first race. I didn't trained special, no guidance, no interval training, no hills. This journey was in not  giving up, continuing the runs. Before the race I believed I could complete the race. All one needs to believe is in self and enjoy. Set achievable goals based on time periods and you can conquer the peaks. Thus started my journey into running. In 3 weeks time I brought down my personal best to 63.40 min chopping off almost 12 min then that's another story.

Racelogue -TCS Open 10K Pacers report

As a kid growing in 80's we had nothing other than Doordarshan for entertainment or information. Olympics used to be my favorite event to watch on TV. As I remember  I  was watching one of the long distance run at Seoul Olympics and heard for the first time word "Pacer". From my knowledge of English, I understood he is the one who sets the pace. Watching the entire I understood that Pacer is runner who sets the pace for someone who is targeting a record or personal best. This was all I remember as a kid.

Back to present, when I appeared for my first 10K in Nov 2016, I started seeing the words 45 min Bus. 60 min Bus 70 min Bus. It took bit of time to understand. Its a Runner who is pacer who is experience Runner who is going to help you achieve 45 min personal best (PB) and the group who follows the Runner/Pacer are called "Bus". As I was new , I didn't need to be on a bus as any time was going to be my PB. My next few races went the same way, I didn't get my timing bus or there was no bus.

Moving on, I attended the TCS World 10K in Bengaluru, I still like the name Bangalore. 10K had 18 buses the most I seen for any 10K race. After finishing the race with my PB, I thought about how did the actual pacers performed. It took time for me get the timings from the event site, their name on event handbook and registered name were different. The table of pacers came out like this

S.No.	BUS	Name	Net time	Gross Time	Deviation
1	0:45:00	Umang Kamra	0:44:11	0:44:24	0:00:49
2	0:45:00	Murali Gaddam	0:44:00	0:44:22	0:01:00
3	0:50:00	Sumit Chadha	0:49:25	0:49:54	0:00:35
4	0:50:00	Sukhchain Singh	0:49:07	0:49:53	0:00:53
5	0:55:00	Akhilesh Kamath	0:54:30	0:56:52	0:00:30
6	0:55:00	Dinesh Heda	0:53:16	0:54:50	0:01:44
7	1:00:00	Arun Mahendrakumar	0:59:26	1:01:07	0:00:34
8	1:00:00	Kartik Subramanian	0:59:58	1:01:15	0:00:02
9	1:00:00	Sandeep Cr	0:59:14	1:01:10	0:00:46
10	1:05:00	Karthikeyan Balasubramanian	1:05:10	1:06:40	(0.00)
11	1:05:00	Sunil Chainani	1:03:35	1:05:30	0:01:25
12	1:10:00	Devander Bhatia	1:10:24	1:26:27	(0.00)
13	1:15:00	Mahalakshmi Sagar	1:13:37	1:16:43	0:01:23
14	1:15:00	Lokesh Rekapalli	1:12:05	1:14:56	0:02:55
15	1:20:00	Nandini Ashokumar	1:19:53	1:27:54	0:00:07
16	1:20:00	S Jaya Jaya Raman	1:19:44	1:27:48	0:00:16
17	1:30:00	Rajapriya Sivakumar	1:29:21	1:38:05	0:00:39
18	1:30:00	Govindarajan Krishnan	1:29:23	1:38:06	0:00:37

The list shows most of the Pacers did the job, only 2 pacers missed the time planned for their bus. Some bus was real fast reaching 2 mins or more before the time. I had read somewhere the bus for 10k , net time should be at least 20 secs lesser than the planned. Pacer uses the smartwatch for the time, and as manual error can creep in they will be always looking to finish before 30 secs on their watch. I mentioned the gross time which is the gun time of the race starting. If we look into the buses of more than 65 mins the gross time are big as they start from last zone. Just to add , Mr.. Krishnan ran the Boston marathon 2017.

From my perspective 1 min before the planned finish will be little difficult for runners who are trying breach the mark, this depends on the bus which is gunning for the time. 2 min and plus will be real tough on the guys who are on the bus. It would have been interesting if timing of runners who were on the bus was available. Pacing is a difficult job when you are sacrificing your pace, the runner who runs consistently tend to be better pacers. Closing off ,the pacers did their job brilliantly. The results speaks of their work.

RACELOGUE - TCS World 10K Bangalore

This is sharing my first outstation race experience and tackling the course. This is going to be first of the series. Beginning of the year, I had decided to participate in events held at the Metro's. I missed the SCCM in Jan,  having  started running late last year( Aug) did not qualify/apply nor knew the process. I shortlisted few of the places to run and one of them was Bangalore. The 1st event and in the gap of Kolkata Running calender was TCS World 10k #TCW10K. I registered  on 23 March as the registration  opened. My earlier Procam registration of TSK25 eased the process, no need to upload documents and timing certificates.

I got confirmation in April 19 and the BIB no. Having stayed down south for 6 years, you learn something about their culture, living, beliefs. One of them is 9 is lucky number and I added up to check what it landed upon and Bingo, it was 9. I had already booked my air tickets- Jet flight up ( FF points came in handy) and Spicejet back. Booked my rooms in Hotel VT paradise after lot of checking which will be near.

I had 2 months to get ready for the race but unfortunately I was trying to get in ready for HM. So in simple words I didn't prepare for TCS world 10k, hoped that my training for HM would cover it.

Pre race preparation involved getting into TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2017 Pacers/Runners Interact Here - FB group to check the pacers and information on the course/buses. I planned to be on 60 min bus.

Lets fast pace up to 20th May, I reached airport 5:40am for checking in, already did a web check-in. Got in fast and had some idli's for breakfast. The flight  took off on time 7:05 and landed early at 9:15. I had already booked Ola for moving to Expo Site, it took an hour and 20 mins. I reached at 11 sharp as the expo started. Little bit about the expo, what I saw was quite big in terms of number of stalls - Garmin /Bisleri/ TomTom/ ORSL/Performax/Nike/Enerzal to name of a few. It was interesting hopping into stalls and learning. This was my first outstation race. 

I collected the BIB and sat for Stephanie Rice  (brand ambassador) session at expo.

Pacers were introduced in the session before her arrival. There were 18 pacers,  8 pacers were new, 3 were female and most likely 6 were from Chennai. One of them was had run the Boston marathon this year and was driving the 90min bus.Hats off to the gentleman Mr. Govindarajan Krishnan for sacrificing his pace. 

There was quiz on cricket by Radio Mirchi, I got a prize for correctly answering, the only player to hit six on 1st ball in test cricket,

I had enrolled for the Speaker session of Mr. Chandrasekhar Subramanina- Tackling the 10k route. I attended the same, got nice tips from the session. Some are Know the course, hydration, nutrition, warm up,

And then I met Nagraj Harsha, the Ultraman, I had met him at Kolkata Trails 2017, he remembered my face and had nice chat with him. Finishing the chat , I went to search for my 60 min bus owner- Karthik Subramanian, had a small talk with him. Left expo and checked into hotel, had lunch. Evening had to purchase my mobile armband as I had forgotten to bring it, got something I didn't like.

Went to sleep early, had to reach the venue by 4.30, but got woken up by thunderstorm and lighting. I could understood it was raining quite heavy, went back to sleep. Woke up in the morning,  got ready, all geared up for the race.

As I was going down, I met another gentleman Mr. Jayaraman from Mumbai, who was running the race as well.We chatted a bit while walking down to Kanteevera Stadium took us hardly 10 mins. I learned he was in the holding area F and  I was in C.So we said good luck and moved to our respective gates  mine11 and his 10.  The weather was cool and I checked the humidity was 70%, reminded me of Kolkata.

The runners were coming in 4.30. Slowly the place was getting filled up.  At 5.00 Nike Run team from Mumbai started the Warm drill, I took the liberty to use the washroom for quick release. I could see runners from various groups - Jayanagar Jaguars, Trail Blazers, Dream runners, TCS guys, etc. all geared up for the race.

At 5:15 the gates of A&B were opened, as soon as all were on track , C&D were released. I saw my pacer on the left, managed to get in behind, 5:30 the race started, I tried to get my apps started Nike Run + and Mapmyrun but for the new arm band , goofed up.

I got late behind, I could see my pacer vanish. I tried to catch moved out of stadium, nowhere to find. I saw the 65min pacer, I spoke with him of the track ahead, he asked if I was on his bus, said in negative and saw another 60min pacer Arun, This was on 1km almost mark, caught up with him and latched to him, there was little elevation after 1km- not so much. We ran together crossing the 2K mark and then was the surprise of the race, the road was water logged , 2 narrow strips left & right was what all the runners were walking through, time lost for many. Before reaching the bottle neck I saw Karthik with his passngers (runners of course), he was shouting don't worry, we will make up, ignore the water, run through it and I did the same as him but lost some pace. I ran with him till we got on to Cubbon road. He moved up, and then I was back with Arun who was back. I kept  with  Arun till 4k mark and then he was moving ahead fast, I kept at my pace. Before the 4k mark there is U- small one , going is downhill and coming back is uphill. Gain in downhill for the loss in uphill. 

Kept moving up to 5K, here is most interesting part, before the U- Big, I could see the road straight ahead had elevation,  as I turned left for the U I paced up for the downhill and managed the uphill back of U and crossed the 5K mark (this is the straight road ahead mentioned earlier). Looking into my break up , after 5K I lost bit of pace, crossed 6 min/km. There is elevation in 4.5K to 5.5K stretch. Be comfortable here, this can burn you out.

As I neared Chinnaswamy Stadium, I knew next left it was downhill, I tried  to gain in pace . Again at the U turn there was water logging, had to take bigger U turn at the 6K mark. Coming back to the  Cubbon road there was Mist chamber to wet the runners, I avoided it - specs and mist don't go together. As I  reached  the Cubbon park metro and take left, this is again uphill with GPO on the left, till 7K mark I  struggled, there was one gentleman, who shouting Com'on after 7K mark its downhill, keep running. As I took the next left to road before Vidhan Soudha, this place takes away the pain. Marvelous, Vidhan soudha on right and Cubbon park on the left. 

And here the 3rd bus for 60min Sandeep appeared,  I ran with him and asked is it all downhill into Cubbon park, he said all except 250 metres, Hmmm was my reaction. I asked what was the pace, he said 5.5. Slowly he moved ahead into the Cubbon park near 8K mark. I tried to make best of the downhill but this was not much helping, crossed the 8K mark. Now something to point there are lot of water stations on the course, and trash cans as well. But inside Cubbon park you will not find any, be careful if you have a bottle.  Crossing the 8K mark and taking right is the last uphill, you will feel this one till you reach red Central Library.

Crossing the 9K mark, felt good. Crossing it , saw one runner had collapsed and being carried off. Felt sorry for him. Almost to 9.5 k mark there is left and you can see the finish line, as I neared the the finish line , I could see the time 1:01:10, I got little disappointed misisng the 1hr mark but still I used the long strides to keep it as low possible thinking still this is going to my personal best PB. Crossing the finish line, I felt  whoa, over. 

Then came the sms, Congratulations, you have finished in 59:52. I cursed myself, I was looking at gun time not my net time. Nothing felt better than this. Runners high this is what it is. Met Karthik while moving to recovery zone, thanked him for his support.

Cooled down, did stretching routine before moving to collect the medal and breakfast.

Finished the breakfast, went back to hotel , rested for sometime, watched the World 10k on TV and had breakfast in hotel. Checked out of hotel and had lunch at Nagarjuna, nice Andhra restaurant. After lunch left for airport to catch the 6.10 flight back. Reached home at 9:10.

Few things on the course- uphills are deceptive, make most of the downhills. Warm up- do it before holding area or if you are first in then finish it early. When all runners come in you dont get space to do it. If you plan to be on a bus, then be near the entry to holding area, catch him there otherwise its difficult to move in the crowd to be near him.

Keep left while starting the race as you take right for coming out of stadium and then again right into Kasturba road, all runners lean into right side, left is comfortable. While getting up into Kasturba road it steep, put some effort to move out of the crowd this is the chance. The number of runners in open 10K are huge in number close to 10k, it never gets spread out, you will be finding runners brushing ahead all throughout except for the last 2K stretch.  Finishing the race , move to hotel for breakfast. The food packet is not adequate after 10K. The humidity was horrible, if you are from Kolkata it will be home feeling for you. Keep sipping water through out the course, don't drink you will end up in the portable toilets. Hotel VT Paradise is best place to stay near the starting point, and its pure vegetarian.

The experience was fantastic. The crowd was good, in spite of the rain in previous night, there were people throughout supporting the runner,cheering , music, placards At one place, some people had put up water for the runners. The atmosphere in the stadium before the run was electrifying, beyond words for a non writer like me. There was crowd at stadium at 4,30 shouting in Kannada, I thought they were protesting, one gentleman asked another what's it all about. He said nothing as such, only cheering and telling to enjoy. Runners keep shouting and motivating others throughout as well

This has been written to help the runners going for TCS World 10K from a newbie's perspective, there are many expert views on tackling the course. I had punched in as much i remembered while coming back, I will keep updating and correcting. Hope this helps all, and my small effort in this world of bloggers.

#TCSW10K , #TCSW10K2017