Where was I?

Going into the details and apologies and reasons for abandoning my blog for so long may be a bit too less for egregious nature of my irresponsible act. To bare the truth I am ashamed to say I was lazy in not even posting a post in a month. But, again this was a very happening period with Lot's to update all of you on personal, professional, blogging,running front. Though I refrain from any personal information on the blog, I believe there are a few things which should be shared. Go on for more...

First, I got married on the 29th of April to Harshada. You can find some of the marriage pictures here. Second, In the last six months, I was on three different projects at my work place. All of them very exciting and demanding on not just my time but also brains (do I have some?).
The third and the most important thing is what next? Ever since I founded this blog, it changed names, it changed themes, and it changed the core idea around which I blog. So much of change!! Continuing on the same vein this blog will continue to carry on my favorites of the season. Apart from that there is this new blog in pipeline "UXIndia" specific to User Experience in the Indian context. More details about this on coming Tuesday.

Coming back to this blog. There is a lot coming up. First the announcement for Design Camp Bangalore, then a few updates on the fitness front. A series of posts on how to run a marathon. My learning's from running a marathon and drawing parallels to entrepreneurship, other stages of life. Prepare with me for the Mumbai Marathon 2009.

This time it's not a empty promise. Technology has come to my aide in making this confident claim. Want to know how? Keep reading...!!
Thanks to all those of you who kept coming and commenting. I need all your support to start from scratch.

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I ran the Mumabai Marathon 2008

It's been more than one and a half months since I last updated my blog. I tender an unconditional apology to all my readers. Please do drop by regularly from now on to read more of the stuff that interests you.

In this post I will write on my most treasured achievement in the recent times. Many of you might have known this, others you will get to know of it. I ran the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2008 on 20th of January 2008. A full "42.195 km" or "26.2 miles". For more on the experience of this run please go ahead.

[The Day Before]
It was a pleasant saturday after noon when I took a bus from Prabhadevi to Churchgate. I fell asleep in a ride of about 40minutes. It was not difficult to find the "Get Active Mumbai Marathon Expo" at the World Trade Center.I was impressed by the scale and publicity this event was I collected my bib(1615), met a few friends at Powai and headed back to Rohit's place by night. Got my running gear ready. In retrospect I believe Nike should sponsor all my Marathon runs.Draped in Nike from head to toe! (Nike shoes, Nike socks, Nike running shorts, Nike dry fit tee, Nike head band).

The most important thing the day before the marathon is food. I had a couple of aloo parathas and veg biryani and fruit custard.

[After the Run]
"13:57:**" was what the timer read when I saw the finish line. There were a group of people welcoming and congratulating me.(There was also a photographer who took some shots of mine, if your are reading this do send me those photos), I just grabbed a bottle of water and emptied it for the umpteenth time in the last 6hours. Collecting my timing certificate and the medal was a very sweet experience. Barely able to walk, I collapsed in the middle of Azad Maidan talking to my mom. Tears rolled down my cheeks while I was talking to my fiancee. I was just crying. A melodramatic scene indeed. I collected myself, limped back to the historic Victoria Terminus.

The feeling of running the full marathon was just overbearing. This was a significant moment in my life. I have never done anything in the arena of sports and running the full marathon made me speechless.

[The Run]
Mumbai is the city I love to be in. No wonder I chose to run my First Marathon (I don't consider half marathon's as Marathon) here. There was a cool breeze as I stepped out for the Azad Maidan at half past six in the morning on the run day. There were lot of people dressed in all the colors of the rainbow all way along. The crowd was just great, the crowds in Hyderabad run are pale shadow of the show here.

Once in the arena, I met Sesh another fitness enthusiast from Hyd. It was a real coincidence that he spotted me out in such a huge crowd. The run started with a huge roar and there was a sea of humanity cheering us all along.

The first 10k took about an hour, the next 5k about 40min. Then slowly the pace reduced, I was having pain in my right foot. 18k in about 2hrs+, the pain was increasing. I wanted to better my half marathon record mark, but took about 10mins more (21k in 2hrs 40min). The pain in the right foot was unbearable at this mark. It was just moving mile stones all the way since then. A few miles down the line (~25km ) I was just unable to walk. I would have collapsed.

It was here that I met Tanvir a journalist, we pepped up each other and those on the way to push ourselves. To add to the woe the traffic was opening up, which was a big de- motivator. At this stage I met George from kerala. He was officially the last man to finish the Marathon in last years edition and was determined to do better this time. We were joined by a bunch of others who were determined to reach the finish line.

To top it all there came a bus to pick up all the tired folks. This was one of the most difficult mental tests to pass. On one side the body forces you to consider the option of the comfort of the shade, on the other the mind wants to complete the marathon. It was tough but the will prevailed. It was not easy, there were no distance boards in the last 10km, the were water stops were far and few in between, the traffic was open, no body seemed to know how far we had to go, a complete chaos.

Once we reached the church gate, I pep talked another guy to run along for the final distance. We jogged to the flora fountain and from their just managed to give the final sprint to the finish line. All the while my poor foot was taking lot of pain.

[The Evening]
I could just barely walk, I had these boils in the groin area, blisters on my feet, and the worse of all my right foot hurt like hell. I could gauge the severity of the injury only when I was immobile for most of the next two days. Talking to Nalu, Mausi and good food at Mausi's place helped a lot in mental recovery.

[What Next]
I am planning to run my next full Marathon at Bangalore Mid Night Marathon in May 2008(if it happens in time), and will start my preparation from 9th February 2008. I will keep chronicling my preparation over here.

Tune in now to so-did-i, lot of exciting things coming your way.

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My First Half Marathon: Hyderabad 10k run

Not every day in your life does your good friend get married. Not every day in your life you run 21km in about two and a half hours. Not every day in your life are you faced with a decision to chose one over the other. That is precisely what happened to me last weekend. The title of the post tells you which one I chose, read the rest of the post for why I made such a decision and of course my experiences of My First Half Marathon ever.

Why I skipped my Friends Wedding
It was an innate desire to prove to myself that I am capable of achieving what I want to, that made me skip my good friends wedding. As some of you know, I am a Scanner by personality. Except for getting into IIT, I don't credit myself with any tangible achievement. I have dabbled in many a things but without any end result. I set out to change this and the first in line is running the Marathon. I don't know if I can convince any of you or this good friend of mine with the above argument, but in my mind I had no option but to run at least one Half Marathon in 2007.

The Preparation
It all started with running the IT city run on May 19th in Bangalore Mid Night Marathon. I am a lazy bum to the core, when it comes to anything to do with physical activity. With the help of the knowledge I had about my self, I started telling every one who cares to listen about my intent of running the full Marathon in January 2008 at Mumbai (I still have to run this). That set the tone for the rest of the things. I came across a fun group which runs with all seriousness, The Greater Bangalore Hash. I got to run a lot and also meet some very nice people at the hash. I missed only one Run at the GBH. Running the cross country and haring a couple of runs gave me good confidence that I can run the Half Marathon.

Apart from hash, I enrolled my self at a nice plush Gym. The gym and hash helped me not to become lazy for a long period of time. Not more than two weeks at a go.

Leading to the Run
I planned to run the Half Marathon in Bangalore Marathon, but the dates eluded me till date and I am sure the organizers will have a "Bangalore Marathon 2007" in 2008 or who knows in 2009 or beyond. Luckily for me, the Hyderabad 10k and Half Marathon was around the corner.
The online registration was pretty simple. I received my bib and the t-shirt by post in time (though not without follow up).

The last week before the run, I exercised myself without stressing out any body part. My trainer at the gym was excellent in helping me out on this. Two days before, I just stopped any physical activity and was just building my reserves. (read eating a lot ;) ). One thing I took care of was not to eat anything which my system would not accept. Over the last few months, I have a good understanding of my digestive system.

The Run Start
Woke up by 4:30 am on the day of the run, and was at the venue by about 5:40am. Collected the automatic timing chip. As is with any Indian event, there was enough confusion at the counter which distributed the timing chips.

I was impressed with some of the arrangements at this stage. (The mobile toilets, water supply). The public announcement was a big let down, the RJ who was announcing did not have clue on what are the necessities/needs that need to be addressed. With about 200 people for the Half Marathon and a few thousands cheering the run got started at 6:30 am.

First 15km
The enthusiasm and support was simply superb. The traffic arrangements were outstanding at this stage of the run. From People's Plaza to Lumbini Park, Abids, to Charminar, the road was kept clean of any distraction by the Traffic Police. Hat's off to them for such great cooperation and help. There were water stops, just at the right points. However, it would be nice to have water stops every 2km.

Watching the Charminar in all it's splendor was a feast. At this moment I made a wow to myself that I will run the Marathon's in as many cities as possible, just to be able to see some of the places over there, which is not possible other wise. Frequent chants of Dhoni Dhoni lifted my spirits more. (I have long hair locks).

We returned Lumbini Park along the same route.It took about an Hour and 40minutes to cover this distance. Except for a little pain in the heel and the incessant cough which was my friend for the last three weeks, I was in a good position to finish the run in 2hrs and 10-15minutes.

Last 6Km
As we entered the turn to enter Tank Bund, I realized my above conjecture is just that. There was a sea of humanity in all colors who were blissfully part taking in the 10k run. There was no way I or any of the others who were running the Half Marathon can run. We had to stop, reduce our pace and at some places forced to walk.

This was very disturbing and affected my pace. Nevertheless I kept moving. Another very disturbing thing was dual distance indicators for the 10k and 21k folks. It was lot confusing and in the end it ended up worse as the Half Marathoners were supposed to finish of 1km ahead of the 10km'ers but there was no indication to that effect, and we were made to go the extra km to the finish line. I still don't understand what was on the minds of organizers. Finally with great difficulty I made it to the finish.

The last two km were difficult, where we walked for most of the time. I even had mild cramps at the 1km mark, but could wade through.

F***ing Organizing (excuse me for the expletives)
Running the Half Marathon was not as difficult as it was to wade through the crowd and trying to find out what to do next.
i) None of the volunteers/people with all access cards seem to have any information about what the runners who finished the run should be doing.
ii) Worse, each of the person we talked to directed us to a different place for collecting certificates.
iii) A few volunteers were rude enough to shove and push the runners.
iv) There was a live band going on by a DJ,his group and some filmi actress from Mumbai, all the people were engrossed in it than attend to any issues with the runners.
Above all, there was utter disregard for the sport and the sportsmen. It hurt a lot that very old people who ran the half marathon were shoved and moved pillar to post. I am very sorry that none of the tv channels/ new papers failed to report this. Amidst all the euphoria it was lost that the people who made the event a success were reduced to just no bodies.

I still don't have the exact timing, in spite of paying for the timing chip. There is no information on the website regarding this (72hrs after the event).

Update: I now have the result, I stand 93rd with a timing of 02:24:24.

In end it was a good event which could have been great.

Personal Scores
On the personal front, I am now confident of taking part in the Mumbai Marathon. (I have a small issue with my Left Hamstring, hope it doesn't impede my Mumbai participation).

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Running for Running

I love to walk, there are a lot of friends who vouch for how much I made them to walk. One of the things that I decided on coming back to Bangalore was that I will run a marathon. I know it's a huge task for some one like me, but nevertheless I decided to.

As a first step towards this goal, I enrolled myself at the one of the best gyms in the town. Almost three months later, I see myself going 10km and more.

The second best thing that happened is getting to know about Hash. I have seen many social gatherings, clubs, organizations, but never was motivated enough to continue beyond a point. In my opinion most of them are hypocritical, always with contradictions to which, I never got a satisfying answer. Hash does not pretend to be one, nor is it one. It's a group of people getting together to run.
What is it that binds them together? Running/Walking and having fun. I just love to hash. Watch out for more on Greater Bangalore Hash.

To all those who run(You are not alone, there are a lot out there), here is a list of events for the rest of the year. This list is a courtesy this post by Swaroop.

2007 Aug	Mysore Half Marathon
2007 Sep	Bangalore Times Marathon
2007 Oct	Delhi Hutch Half Marathon
2007 Nov	Hyderabad Half Marathon
2007 Dec	Bangalore RFL Ultra Marathon
2008 Jan	Stanchart Mumbai Marathon

It is a great experience to run and I will blog more in the coming days on what it takes to run and how running has slowed down my life. Paradoxical!! yes it is, keep tuned!!