2010 DK Silicon Valley Marathon

Sunday, October 31, 2010 – Halloween Day!

3rd year in a row at the Silicon Valley Half Marathon…. And another year where my performance was almost identical to the previous 2 years. Again placed 48 in my age group, I completed this one in 2:13:45, slightly behind the 2:10 that I did earlier. What made this effort more than respectable was that I did this run with a gout attack. For those of you who are new to gout, it is very painful and disabling – fortunately, the attack had come not in one of the classic locations – that would have made me bail out of the race, but behind the heel allowing me to run. With the pretty strong medication, I was amazed at the fact that I was able to run, let alone being close enough to last year!

2010 Official Results

Just a few days back, on 20th, I ran with the legendary Dean Karnazes himself. It was a practice 5 mile run in Stanford, along with several others registered for DKSVM. Dean was such a down to earth nice person; for all his accomplishments, he had no airs about himself… I guess truly great people are truly humble! He was there on Oct 31st also and he kicked off the Halloween run wearing Pheidippides costume commemorating the 2500 year anniversary of the first marathon!

This year, my goal is to run every single week of the year. So far, so good… another 8 to go and I hope to end the year doing about 700 miles. More interestingly, I experimented with bare foot running this year. Having clocked more than 60 barefoot miles this year, I can say that it is actually a pleasure to run bare foot… except that the number of locations I can run is limited to ONE - a fully synthetic and rubberized running track in Campbell! I know I inspired at least one other person to experiment bare foot running.

That’s it, folks! I appreciate you talking the time to read and comment. Keep those feet moving… you will be glad you did!

2009 Silicon Valley Half Marathon

Sunday, 25th October 2009


I successfully completed the Dean Karnazes Silicon Valley Half Marathon – my 3rd long distance run. This had been a year of learning to run with injuries – or rather, recover from them and get back on the feet at the earliest. In that sense, I am grateful that I was able to compete and complete the DKSVM race with a decent timing of 02:10.

02:10…. Interesting! It matches my 2008 run to the minute!! Almost to the second!!! The run experience was a close repeat of the 2008 race as well. What are the odds of that!

Since I didn’t change (well, other than aging by a year), I thought I will do a comparison between this year’s and last year’s results to see how the world has changed around me...

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	2009	2008
Overall Time	02:10:10	02:10:04
First 6 miles	00:55	00:55
Hardest 3 miles	9,10,11	10,11,12
Overall Place	410 out of 927	484 out of 982
Division Place	48 out of 71	53 out of 78

Certainly looks like I am statistically better off in 2009 over 2008!

2009 Official Results

Still 2 more months to go in 2009. In spite of the injuries and the mandatory time I had to take off from running, it looks like I will beat my 2008 stats (652 miles / 1050 kms). More on that towards the end of this year.

A Christmas Day experience like no other

We had just finished our stay in Death Valley and were leaving the place on our way home on the Christmas day. It was extremely windy and quite a bit of dust was getting blown around.

We were going to drive from Furnace Creek to Rhyolite, the largest “ghost town” still standing in the Death Valley area on the Nevada side of the border. The winds were quite strong – the note I read in the visitor center said gusts up to 50 mph! On top of it, lot of sand and dust was getting blown around. As if driving the straight roads below sea level for miles together wasn’t good enough, the dust storm produced a haze around us that was surreal… You notice that I am refraining from using the term sand storm – as interesting the dust storm was, it was no where close to the sand storms I had experienced in Pilani during my school days in 1980s. It was bright, sunny and a warm 68 ºF when we left Furnace Creek.

The road to Rhyolite took us over the Daylight Pass, about 4000 sq. ft. above the sea level. It was a short 45 minute ride, but by the time we reached Rhyolite, it was 42 ºF, cold and the winds that were blowing up the dust in Death Valley was making us shiver! On top of it, there were stretches of road where we were the only vehicle as long as our eyes could see.

On a whim, we decided to drive by Las Vegas, even if only for couple of hours before heading for our night stay at Barstow, CA. The moment we entered Las Vegas, it was like a slap in the face… from miles and miles of solitude, we had to crawl in the strip amidst bumper to bumper traffic! When Jaya & I hiked the Golden Canyon earlier in the day, we were the only two people in the canyon for couple of hours with absolute peace and quiet. In contrast, making our way through the crowded gaming area in Circus Circus, we had to avoid a human every step of the way!

Our early night drive from Las Vegas to Barstow took us over the Mountain Pass. It was raining from the time we left Las Vegas. By the time we had reached the top of the pass, the precipitation had turned into freezing rain with occasional flurries and the outside temperature was reading 33 ºF.

From the solitude of Golden Canyon to the crowds of Las Vegas… from the dust storm in Death Valley to the freezing rain later in the night… 25th December 2008 was a day like no other.

Fri, 12th Dec: 1000 kms in 2008

Sometime in April, I realized that if I put my mind to it, it might be possible to do 1000 kms of running by the year end. It was especially gratifying last Friday when I went past that milestone with 2 weeks to spare. I intend now to end the year with a 20 km/week average and hit 1040 which will serve as a nice little tax reminder for me!

This was the 2nd year of serious running for me. I had not logged my runs in 2007. In April, I read an article about an Air Marshal who had logged 89,000 kms since starting his running in his late 40s over a 3+ decade period. I am not afraid of setting lofty goals, but I want to throw in a sense of realism in my goal setting.

1000 kms was the first goal.

I will switch out of metric and shoot for 1000 miles in 2009.

2008 highlights
Number of days ran: 159 days or 44% days of the year
Total Distance ran: 1050.2 kms or 656.38 miles
Longest run: 21.08 kms or 13.1 miles
Best week: Week 42, 33.25 kms or 20.67 miles
Competitions participated in: 2 [Sunfeast 10k and Silicon Valley Half Marathon]

Silicon Valley Half Marathon

Sunday October 26, 2008.

I decided to take part in the SV Half Marathon two weeks before the event after having regularly logged ~15 miles per week for the past several weeks. I didn't formally train for the event, but felt that the general fitness level I had ought to be sufficient to do this run - possibly better the timing from the 26k Bangalore Ultra I did in 2007.

During my regular runs, I was steadily doing better than 10 minute miles (more closer to 6 minute kilometers). I completed the longest preparatory run of 10.3 miles in 104 minutes - 10.09 minute per mile. I set a goal of 2:10 - 2:15 minutes to complete the race.I got off to an excellent start, completing 3 miles in 28 minutes, 6 in 55 minutes and 8 in 75 minutes. Could I do it in 2:05? During the next two miles, I maintained 10 minute miles but was slowing down a bit - the right knee was having a mild pain. I didn't want to injure myself; but I was doing my best timing yet and was getting motivated to somehow push for 2:10. A "gu" bar at the 6 mile marker and a sip of gatorade or something similar was all I had until 9 miles. The 11th and 12th miles were probably 11+ minute miles. The final mile and a chance to push for an overall average of 10 gave me the boost to push ahead - the guntime showed 2:10:59 as I crossed the finish line and I knew I had an excellent chance of having made the 2:10 race time.

Right as I entered home, Jaya told me that I had done 2:10:04 - I was thrilled. This timing, a personal best, was far superior to my performance in the Bangalore Ultra 26k and at the end of the race, I felt comfortably tired, if there is such a thing!

Here is a link to the official race timing.
Official Result

For those in RFL who read this blog, I will tell you - I certainly will miss running the 2008 Bangalore Ultra. Taking part in the 2007 ultra and incorporating running into my life was instrumental in my achievement today. While this run was very well organized, there is definitely a charm and closeness in the RFL group and events - and the Hessaragatta course is awesome. Good luck to those who are running in November.

Cheers
Suresh

BIAL Run

It was too good an opportunity to pass up RFL's run on Sunday, Jan 13th at the new Bangalore International Airport that's coming up in Devanahalli. Afterall, how often will you get an opportunity to brag to your fellow passenger before takeoff and landing that you've actually run where the aircraft you are in is at that moment:)? I had to leave home by 4:15 am to catch the bus from Cubbon Park at 5:00 am and reaching the airport in time for an early start.

Our run was on the runway that was 4 kms long; we started along the taxiway, going to one end of the runway and running all the way to the other end before turning back on to the taxiway and returning to the starting point, making it an 8 km loop. It was chill and slightly foggy when we started at 7 am; the runway runs east-west; it was awesome to see the suns rays on the mountain on our right as we ran due west. The greenery around the runway was very pleasant. I can definitely tell you that the takeoff and landing in the new airport will be a very nice experience. Nice doesn't mean it will come anywhere close to the breathtaking beauty of SFO; but it will be nice and probably the best in India. I completed one full loop and did a smaller 2nd loop totalling about 15 kms in 110 minutes. It was good to have the knee behave reasonably well and not trouble me like it did during the Ultra.

Of course, this blog wouldn't be complete without my impressions of the new airport. We were given a tour of the new terminal by Marcel Hungerbuhler (the COO of the project, a runner himself) and his staff. The single terminal building has 9 aero bridges with the departure on the left and arrival on the right; 7 baggage carousels; lots of shopping & dining options. Everything we saw was state of the art. The airport can handle ~10 lakh passengers per month, a number that was doubled from the 5 lakh passengers at the beginning of the project without compromising the launch date. The financial stakeholders in the BIAL project are Siemens (Germany & India), L&T India, Zurich Airport, Karnataka Government and Airport Authority of India. The technology stakeholders are largely L&T and Siemens. With 77 days to go, I am reasonably confident that the terminal will get completed in time. Otherwise, Marcel had better not be running with us today :). Seriously, during the tour, we were given to understand that the Zurich airport looked in far worse shape 30 days before the opening than does BIAL now. What is definitely troubling is that there is still ~5km of kachcha road from NH7 to the airport that needs to be fixed; the NH7 - Airport road interchange is looking far from complete; there are couple of overpasses being built on NH7 that will take time to complete. You can read up lot more on BIAL from the following link - http://www.bialairport.com/

How long it is going to take to reach the new airport? Well, from the outermost point in the city, the Hebbal flyover, it will take about 30 - 40 minutes. You need figure the time to take to get there from where you live in Bangalore - for us, living in the eastern end of Bangalore, it will take 40 - 60 minutes by the Outer Ring Road. So, anywhere from 1:15 minutes to 2 hours for us. A far cry from the the 30 minute luxury we enjoy today. Is the new airport going to worth the additional commute? I am impressed enough to give it a shot in Q2 for my US trip - or then again, it could be to exercise my bragging rights!

Run Statistics
~15 kms in 110 minutes at 8.2 km/hr.

The Ultra

When I flew back to India after a trip to Redwood City, California on Nov 18th, Jaya had introduced me to RFL (Runners for Life – a group of hardcore runners in Bangalore) and pointed out the upcoming Ultra Marathon on December 16th. Ultra Marathon has runs in 3 categories – 26k, 52k & 78k. Having never run more than 5k (although in a respectable 30 minute pace), I decided to plunge in and take the challenge – for Jaya had also pointed out Mitra Jyothi (http://www.mitrajyothi.com/) to me and her desire to do a fund raiser for them, I decided not only to run but also raise funds for Mitra Jyothi with the run.

Before enrolling, I wanted to do at least 10k in 60 minutes – I comfortably got past that point on Sunday, Nov 25th. I registered & set about raising 1 lakh for Mitra Jyothi – I quickly got to Rs. 30k in a week and on Saturday Dec 1st, did a 12k run in 75 minutes. Everything was looking rosy except for some mild knee pain after runs. Optimistic, I went for a run in Bellandur organized by RFL on 2nd and wanted to do 13k in 85 minutes. Disaster! Within minutes of starting the run, my knee gave way and I ended up almost walking all way in 2:36 – the only saving grace was that I did 16.8 kms (6.46 km/hr or 4 miles/hour). I nursed the injury and started “tapering off” the aggressive 4 week training instead of the time tested 12 week program for such runs.

In the meantime, the fund raiser was coming along nicely. It was a challenge to make people open up their heart and wallet, especially in a timely manner, but by December 15th, I had far exceeded my goal, having raised 1.5 lakhs. My sincere thanks to my friends in India, US and UK who made this seemingly impossible task possible. My fund raiser page http://www.mitrajyothi.org/Suresh-pledgepage.htm will be active in Mitra Jyothi's website for some time.

16th December! I barely managed restful sleep on 15th night – and woke up well before the alarm was set to go off at 3:30 am. I had to catch a bus at 4:30 am to reach the “Our Native Village” or ONV, where the run was organized, about 2 hours away from Bangalore. We reached ONV just after 6 am, in time to cheer the 52k and 78k runners whose race was flagged off at 6 am sharp. The 26k run was flagged off at 7 am sharp with Queen’s “We will rock you” playing in the background to get us going. I quickly fell in step with Noel, a fellow runner who had intended to follow the 4:1 strategy – 4 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. It was a scenic run, almost fully in dirt track with ample greenery all around. Even the 40m incline we had to negotiate on the way out did not seem difficult. The run was set up 6.5kms out and back making one loop 13kms. I’d covered 6.5kms in little over 40 minutes and completed the return in about the same time to make my 1st 13kms in 85 minutes.

Mentally, I was feeling good, but both my knees were beginning to bother me. I had a brace around my left knee, but not the right. I slowed down in my 2nd lap and felt that I had to run more than do the 4:1. For, every time I started after a walk break, it was getting progressively difficult to get into a running rhythm. The next 6.5kms took 55 minutes. I knew my 180 minute goal was shot by now and the best I could achieve given my knee condition was 195 minutes. I took up the offer for medical help in the aid station located at the 6.5km turn around. I will never know if it was the best decision or the worst! The aid looked at my knees, both of which were having issues, and sprayed a pain killer and massaged them slightly. I was supposed to feel better. When I placed my feet on the ground, my left leg which I’d already protected with a tight knee brace did not protest as much as the right leg where the pain was excruciating. The final lap started with me limping and I knew running was simply out. I had spent 7 minutes at the aid station and had to hit a rhythm in walking fast. My left leg was the stronger now and using that as the anchor, I found a nice swing to the right leg with less impact. I had to shut the pain out of my mind and started figuring out mentally what could be my best time to complete the race under the circumstances. 1st 13 kms in 85, next 6.5 in 55 and 7 minutes lost in the aid station meant that if I did a brisk walk at 3.5 miles/hour (5.6 kms/hr) I could complete the remaining 6.5 in about 70 minutes to make an overall time of 217 minutes (3:37).

Shutting the pain out, I went about doing this, passing on any medical help or avoiding stops at any aid stations. Earlier during the run, I was cheering runners racing faster than me and encouraging others who were slower. It was nice to have so many folks who had a word of appreciation on my last lap when they saw me walking with a weird limp: anchor left leg, swing right forward; anchor left, swing right.

3:37 it was when I pulled past the finish line!

Run Statistics

Lap(kms)	Lap time(minutes)	Lap Speed(kms/hr)	∑distance(kms)	∑time(minutes)	Speed(kms/hr)
6.5	42	9.28	6.5	42	9.28
6.5	43	9.07	13.0	85	9.18
6.5	55	7.09	19.5	140	8.36
6.5	77 (7+70)	5.06	26.0	217	7.20