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
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