Changaa Daud

Urban Stampede - Route map 2012 vs 2011

2012-07-23T20:54:00.001+05:30

Following is Urban Stampede route map for 2012 (yellow line) and 2011 (red line). Please click on placemarks to identify start / end point and u-turn mark.

Most of route is different than last year except a small stretch near u-turn.

View Urban Stampede 2012 in a larger map

Fauja Singh - A True Spirit of Life

2011-10-17T23:51:00.000+05:30

Fauja Singh - a name that will inspire me for rest of my life.

I came to know about him soon after I started running. After learning about him, I had no more excuses left for not running and keeping myself fit when there is a man who has courage to run at an age when most of people will be worried of getting engaged in any such activity.

His biography - Turbaned Tornado is a story very well told by Khushwant Singh (not the popular Khuswant Singh). I wasn't expecting much from this book (but still wanted to know more about the Legend). But it proved me wrong. It is short but very well written.

It amazed me that a person who could hardly walks till age of 5, could hardly walk a mile till age of 15, started seriously running only at age of 89 and then went on breaking one record after another in his 90s. This book isn't about how he ran his 21st, 22nd or 25th mile. This book is about he did it. Reading about enthusiasm in one 90s (and now 100s), leaving behind on all that tragedy in one's life, can only inspire me. Really a true spirit of life.

Yesterday, he ran his eight full marathon - first one after eight years and registered him as oldest man (and only man above 100) to run a marathon. Seeing him finishing in this video made me cheer for him.

Last week, he set eight other records. He broke existing records for 100m (23.40, previous record - 29.83), 200m (52.23, previous record - 77:59), 400m (2:13.48, previous record - 3:41.00) and 1500m (11:27.81, previous record - 16:46.41) for his age category. He set new records for 800m (5:32.18), 1 mile (11:53.45), 3000m (24:52.47) and 5000m (49:57.39). His performance defies all age-grading calculation. For more information on this, check result of this event at http://www.ontariomastersathletics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Results2.pdf.

Seeing his pictures with both feet raised in air, made me ask - Will I run like that when I am as young as him?

This picture is owned by Doug and has been borrowed from album - https://picasaweb.google.com/112004903915826442493/FaujaSinghInvitational.

Long live Fauja Singh and Strong live Fauja Singh. A Salute to you.

Marathon – A Non Runner's perspective

2011-09-04T22:43:00.000+05:30

On our trip to Ramoji film city, taxi driver asked my wife "mam, did u come to Hyderabad for some work or generally?" (translated to English). Anu paused for few seconds thinking whether to just pass this question. Then she said we came for the run here. It was yesterday. She asked back if he knows about it. First he shook head with a no but then traffic block the previous day, struck him. And he exclaimed - that police one. My wife thinking this might be easiest way to explain as he would have seen lot of policemen deployed, she said yes. So, mam, is he (asking about me) selected? - he asked back. Anu didn't get his question. He framed the same question differently - mam, will result come later? She believed that he got it correctly. She affirmed - ya, it will come later. She meant the race timings. Just when she was getting to rest back, he queried again - mam, was this selection for constables? She moved ahead uncomfortably now. He continued - "or for SI?" Anu whispered to me - I don't know what to say now. And to him, she announced that it is not known yet, ensuring topic is closed.

I wonder what a non runner person (like this taxi driver) will imagine about hundreds of people running on road in the middle of day. Would he ever had imagined that most of these runners are just running for personal satisfaction with no hope of winning any competition (or police job)? And what would he think if we would have told him that we just ran 42 kilometers for fun?

I do receive many such questions about running. The answers to many of them are just so normal to runners and sounds totally out of world to the non runners. Some of the most common ones are

Did you win the race? Obviously no. I try to explain that long distance running is only sports where 90% of people don't compete with others but just try to beat their own time or simply run for fun.
So, do you run continuosly? Are you allowed to walk? When I try to answer this, I am made to feel, I cheated in race by walking somewhere.
How long was your marathon? More than anything, it is ignorance. But calling 5K as 5K marathon is simply insult to magical figure of 42.195 km.
Are you nuts? Why are running this much? Almost impossible to explain that running marathon is pretty normal.

If you are runner, you would have received many such questions? What was most funny (or embarrassing) question for you?

Hyderabad Marathon - A New Strategy

2011-09-04T20:25:00.003+05:30

My wife looked at me and said I look worried. Yes I was. Because I had not done my last full marathon in July due to IT Band Injury. Because I have just run once more than 18 km in more than three months. Because I have not been able to clear my bowel since I have been to Hyderabad. And here, I was standing at starting line of Hyderabad Marathon to run my 7th full marathon of the year. None of this would have worried me so much if it would have been any of those smaller runs. But this was full marathon - real test of the body and mind. Slow runners like me put their body to work for continuous five to five and half hours. And that is a really long duration. It is not easy to predict how the body may react to this test, especially if one hasn’t tried for sometime.

Nevertheless, I was there at the start line determined to complete this marathon, no matter what happened later. Race was delayed due to late arrival of chief guest. That gave me more time to meet up more folks and mark my pacers during this time. As I planned earlier, I wanted to get on to the 5 hours bus.

Race started approximately 25 minutes late. I started running pretty close to pacers. But I was not very involved with their talks. Approximately after five minutes of run, I hear five, four, three, two, one, Walk. I was little shocked. I asked them - Are you going to do this very often. Karthik said they are going to do 5-1 in first hour, 4-1 in second hour, 3-1 in third, 2-1 in fourth and 1-1 in last. I couldn’t believe that they plan to do a sub-5 marathon with a run-walk. Balaji, who had pacer balloon at back, told me that I should follow what I am comfortable with. I just moved ahead. Very soon they caught up with me. I was now sure they knew what they are doing. My mind got involved in convincing me that they must have thought about it. They are the pacers here. I anyway had no strategy other than just run. I asked them in what time they plan to do their 5K. They firmly answered - 32-33 minutes. Also, they informed me in what time they plan to finish half marathon. And how much distance they plan to cover in first hour, second hour and third hour. I was convinced with their plan. Next time when I heard Five, Four, Three, Two, One, I walked. :) I had new strategy - something that I never tried ever in long runs.

Pretty soon, it was evident route is not going to be easy. There were flyovers one after another. I stuck with the pacers. It was quite fun with Balaji, Karthik and other Chennai Runners. We were going pretty strong. We could do half marathon in 2:17 hours. This was way far better than what I have done ever. But I started getting tired after this. Soon, I was left little behind. And then I was losing run-walk rhythm which I was getting with pacers. I was running just couple of 100 metres behind the pacers but it was extremely difficult to catch up with them. At this stretch I ran with my running buddy - K P Suresh. He runs with such an ease. And it is always so nice to run with him. He was running his half marathon. Our routes got diverted after I was done with my 25 kilometres. I was lone again. Good part was that I could still see the pacers. I caught up with another set of runners. I asked them if they are running for sub-5. I was wishing if I can get some company. When they said they are slow for sub 5, I moved ahead. I was somewhere still hoping I could catch up with my pacers. I was hardly walking now to put every effort to catch up with Balaji and group. I did my 27th km in 6:30 pace to reach as close to them as possible. They had target of doing 27 km in 3 hours. I was almost there but two minutes late. And they were ahead of me by those minutes. My desperation to catch them caused fatigue. And by 29th km, I was sure it will be difficult for me to catch up with them. I slowed down. During 31st km, I felt some pain. I stopped for a minute to give a little massage to myself. I was tired. This part of route looked little deserted in terms of runners. I decided to go on my own rhythm of run walk. My garmin was not set for showing detail timing in seconds. So, I decided to follow a vague 3-1 run walk. This was giving me pace of little above 8. I was satisfied with that then. After 34 km mark, route was through Hyderabad university. This was little better route. But, I continued same pace with same strategy till 37 km. 37 km has always been very important to me. That is when I start the count down with 5 km left. I improved my pace slightly by occasionally increasing my run time. At around 39 km, we left the university to face the traffic road. We were running in opposite direction to traffic. It was fine most of time but there were issues at some places. At 41 km mark, route entered the stadium complex. That helped me in further improving my pace and 42nd km came at 6:49 pace - something which is very easy on any other day but not after already running 41 km. Last 100 metres was to be run on the track in stadium. I was welcomed by 12m12m folks there. They cheered me up. They paced me up. And I believe I ran the last 100 metres faster than I could ever run. According to Garmin, I touched the max speed of 17 km per hour. There I was crossing finish line at 5 hour 4 minutes 23 seconds. Failed by few minutes for my target but happy that I could do my personal best, beating my previous best by 19 minutes at what seems to be toughest marathon route I have been at. Felt extremely happy to receive my finisher medal.

Finally, Happy Me :)

Thank you Hyderabad Runners for this wonderful experience. Big thanks to Balaji and Karthik for pacing me up. And another big thanks to Suresh for running those tough part of route with me. Also, this race became so special for me as Anu did her first half marathon here.

Anu and Me after the race

My First Sports Prize

2011-07-04T22:40:00.002+05:30

TCS 10K, an international gold label IAAF race, introduced corporate challenge. Corporate challenge is an inter company running completion in which two gentleman and one lady from a company participates as a team. Each team member runs 10 km. Team with least sum of individual timing wins. We (I, Anto and Arundathi) decided to participate in it. When we didn't get sponsorship from our company, we agreed to sponsor self. We truly believed we will be able to get in top three which means we will have some good cash as prize.

My training plan period was for 9 weeks. I have been doing one marathon every month. To make sure, I recover well before TCS 10K, I kept enough gap between them. I had interval, tempo, long run etc included in training.

At Finish Line

On Race day, we reached Kanteerava Stadium well in time. Weather was just perfect for running. Running environment was perfectly set up. Crowd in all colors were energized and enthused. We had Elite men and Elite women race before our race. It was so inspiring to see them. Only wish, i could run at a pace comparable to them. It was so encouraging to see Senior Citizen run. A commitment of good health to self and family.

Arundathi, Anto & I

Next was our turn. We had advantage of being at start of five thousand plus crowd participating in open 10K. But that didn’t shield us from few pushes here and there. I fired up from starting itself. My first km came in 4:25. Probably my fastest ever first km. Second and third km came in 4:31 and 4:33 minutes respectively. Fourth km which had downhill stretch came in 4:26. This was totally against my plan. I intended to run slow in starting and increase speed later. But instead I went fast in starting. Fifth km was pretty difficult with uphill. It came in 4:56 minutes. That made my 5K in 22:51 - A PB. Run got difficult thereafter with 6th km in 5:08. I stopped twice in 7th km - Once for water and then for energy drink making this km in 5:30. Eight km came in 5 minutes. Then, I increased my pace completing 9th and 10th km in 4:43 and 4:38 minutes. Extra 70 metres by Garmin took more 19 seconds. I finished my 10K in 48:13 as per my Garmin. This was my personal best for my 10K, beating previous one by 86 seconds that I did long back. Also, I beat my last year timing by more than 16 minutes.

Anto and Arundathi did their run 51:08 and 48:43 respectively. We waited for another one and half hour. Then we were told that result cannot be announced same day due to technical issue. Result appeared on website next day. And our result was not announced though we knew we should have been second. We were told that my timing chip was not scanned at starting point. It took four days for us and organizers to agree on our result. This was more difficult time than to really run the race.

Merit Certificate

Finally, we were awarded 2nd position - My first ever sports prize in this life.

Silver Medal and Trophy

Auroville 10K Run 2011 - Unofficial Ranking

2011-02-23T20:25:00.000+05:30

This is unofficial timings and ranking for Auroville 10K Run 2011.

Please click here if you are unable to see the embedded document above.

In case you find any discrepancy, please leave a comment and I will get back to you soon.

Auroville Half Marathon 2011 - Unofficial Ranking

2011-02-23T20:11:00.001+05:30

This is unofficial timings and ranking for Auroville Half Marathon 2011.

Please click here if you are unable to see the embedded document above.

In case you find any discrepancy, please leave a comment and I will get back to you soon.

Auroville Full Marathon 2011 - Unofficial Ranking

2011-02-23T19:53:00.000+05:30

This is unofficial timings and ranking for Auroville Full Marathon 2011.

Please click here if you are unable to see the embedded document above.

In case you find any discrepancy, please leave a comment and I will get back to you soon.

My First Marathon Distance Run – No option to give up

2011-01-20T23:05:00.002+05:30

A Full Marathon is one of the most important milestone for any aspiring long distance runner. So, was for me. I registered for a full marathon at Auroville scheduled on 13^th Feb 2010. But, I didn’t want any surprise on race day similar to those I had in Bangalore Ultra last year where I participated in 37.5 kms category. I had practiced for only 30 Kms once before that. I didn’t know it will not be enough till I almost gave up in the race. I had zero heat training. And the Sun didn’t show any mercy that day. I had tough time completing my last 12.5 Kms which took 2 hours 13 minutes when first 25 kms was done in 2 hours 45 minutes. So, I didn’t want to run my first full marathon in Auroville. I needed to make sure I can run 42.2 Kms before I could run 42.2 kms. That is running. How do I know I can run distance till I really run that distance?

It has been much less than a year since I seriously started running. I did my first 10K in little more than 64 minutes. Three and half months later, I ran my first half marathon in 2 hours 9 minutes. Then I just assumed that I can keep running at around pace 6 for any distance. I didn’t realize that when I ran first 10K, I was pretty naïve and slow. With decent practice, I could do 21 KM at same pace. But when I tried same in 37.5 Kms, I failed miserably. I wasn’t prepared for it. I needed to learn to run slower for longer distance. I don’t want to walk or finish dull. I want to finish strong. I want to make sure I can waive my both hands up in air and say, yes, I did it.

Many runners complains about running in loops for longer distance. And so do I. It is just so easy to give in any of loops. Your mind finds tens of reasons to give up. The time when you are not racing with anybody else, you need to keep racing with your mind. I didn’t want to give up again after 21 kms as I just gave up couple of weeks back as soon as I was back in Mini Forest from Lalbagh. I needed to make sure when I practice for complete marathon, I don’t give up. But that creates another problem, how do I manage logistics to carry lot of water and energy drink and something to eat during the run.

While I was looking for solution for all these to practice for Auroville, I got really inspired by Sabine, Gopal, Jagadish, Sindhu, Suresh and many others, who came up with idea of doing 12m12m – 12 marathons in 12 months. I wanted to be part of that team. I decided to join them and do as many as 12 marathons in 12 months. It may seem little crazy for a person who has not even done a single marathon. But I had to anyway do Auroville Marathon in Feburary. And I need to practice one before that in January. So, that makes two. Why not do just 10 more.

Most of 12m12m folks were running Mumbai Marathon. I hadn’t registered for it. Few of them would be running their full as part of Strides of Hope. I didn’t want to wait till that late in month.

I decided to do run my first full marathon on Feb 14^th 2011. There was no event. My wife and friends agreed to help me. And that was all I needed. I chose to start my run early from Mini Forest. I ran first 14 Kms in Mini Forest. I also made sure that I don't run faster than around 7 mins per km to ensure that I have energy to run longer. I was joined by Bharath after 11^th Km. Anu joined us at around 13^th Km with a bag full of energy drink sachets, banana and glucose biscuits. We ran toward Lalbagh then. Anu did Run – Walk. I and Bharath kept making loops to make sure Anu stays with us. I was done with half marathon by the time we reached Lalbagh. Anu took break once we reached there. We were joined by Karam in Lalbagh. Lalbagh loop was approximately 3.5 Kms, thus not very short. Also, availability of drinking water helps in kind of self support running. Bharath was with us till we were done with 28 Kms. I took my first little food break of couple of biscuits after 31.5 kms. Karam continued till around 36 kms. By that time, I was sure there is no chance to give up now. I had planned to run back to Mini Forest to finish full marathon. But decided against it due to possible heavy traffic. Soon, I finished my first full marathon in Lalbagh itself. It look 23 minutes more than what I expected. But I was glad I finished it. The feeling of happiness, satisfaction and tiredness was just amazing. I am really thankful to my friends and wife who helped me in finishing my first marathon distance.

I was a marathoner. Who else knows what it means to run 42.195 Kms?

Five reasons to run without Music

2010-11-24T08:02:00.000+05:30

Many runners say that music motivates them to run. They have special playlist of their selected motivating songs. You might have various other reasons to run with music. Here are five reasons, why you should NOT run with music especially when participating in some running events / race.

Give the respect to 'excuse me': Recently, I was running at Bangalore Ultra which had very narrow trails at some parts of track. In my second lap, I had a girl running ahead of me and guy walking just ahead of her. When she was very close to guy ahead, she said 'excuse me'. Then almost coming to stop, she repeated second time – 'excuse me'. And third time before she had to move to grasses to cross the guy. Next 'excuse me' was from me and I got no reaction from the guy in his own world. And then I realized that he his ears are plugged and probably getting bombarded with music. I aped the girl and crossed him same way. I doubt if he is even aware that people were asking him for way. When you are going slow, please hear and give respect to those said and unsaid 'excuse me'. Folks will always pass you with a smile with thanks – said or unsaid.
Make new friends – You will never find events other than running, where competitors are more helpful to each other. We don't compete, we celebrate our training with running events. And running is more fun if you have more friends at event. So, why not make more friends on track. Now, nobody is going to even try talking to you if you have ear plugged with music. Well, then unplug and make new friends.
Hear to motivating stories – Each runner has different story of themselves or somebody else how they did previous run, how they overcome last hurdle they faced, how they lost 30 pounds from their body or about a motivating book they read recently. Well, why listen to music for motivation when you have better things to get motivated.
Enjoy the route, track, trail – Lots of run events are conducted in very scenic tracks. And if you are busy with music, you are missing the beautiful tracks. Now, do you want to miss that? Forget the music track, enjoy your running track.
Listen to your body – You want to believe it or not but music does stop you from hearing to your body. Without music you will be in better control of your rythm, breathing and foot steps. You will better know when you must speed up or slow down and not just speed up based on music tempo.

Many running events actually ban use of music players but not all. I believe, we in 'our' own interest should not be listening to music while running. Well, you chose to run an event because you want to enjoy the run. Then, why dilute the enjoyment with music which you could hear at your home too. Say, no to your iPod or any other music player. Enjoy the Run.

Runkeeper to Dailymile

2010-11-07T00:01:00.001+05:30

I started running in January this year. As, I have been always fond of numbers, I wanted to keep track of all my runs. That's when I chose runkeeper for same. They had a no nonsense GPS based iphone application which I could use to track my run. It could automatically upload my runs to their website runkeeper.com. Runkeeper website also gives some very nice charts and reports which made running more interesting to me.

Then in July, convinced by a friend, I started dual entry of my runs by entering my activities in dailymile.com along with runkeeper.com. They didn't have a GPS based iphone app. They didn't have charting as good as runkeeper but where they scored over dailymile.com was socialIf you find any problem, please let me know. I will glad to help. Please feel free to mail me at tachniki@gmail.com networking. And that matters a lot in running. We run more when we are in group. We run faster when are in group. Yes, motivating each other is best part of any running community. And dailymile.com enables that through their social networking.

Lately, it was getting difficult for me to use runkeeper application on iphone as iphone battery didn't last more than two hours with GPS enabled. Also, Iphone GPS may be good for basic use but it was not accurate enough. I could often see corners getting cut. Iphone GPS is quite unreliable at times. And lately have been seeing runkeeper crashing regularly. Thats when i decided to invest in Garmin forerunner 305. Although runkeeper and dailymile both had interface to upload activities from Garmin forerunner, I didn't want to continue to making dual entry. I still liked dailymile.com but had no real motivation left for using runkeeper.com.

So, finally decided to use dailymile.com, I exported all my data from runkeeper.com to csv file and then imported to dailymile.com. Thanks to dailymile.com for providing APIs to do this easily. Please read here to find more on how to do this.

Running Mantra - Do It Right

2010-08-01T16:15:00.000+05:30

“Hey, thats great. But please make sure you don't overdo it”. I heard this almost each time I told somebody that I am practicing for long runs. I could never understood that. I need to run more week after week if I have to run long. My obvious replies were “Don't worry. I know what I am doing” or “I am able to do it. It is not overdone”. Now, when I think more, I believe they should have instead told me – Do It Right. Run, please run but do it right way and do it right away.

So, how do we do it right? Here are various aspects about running, I learnt, on my way, some through research and other hard ways.

Breathing – If your high school teacher taught you to breathe through your nose while running, forget it right now. Somebody told me, breathing through nose is like breathing through straw. Air inhaled through nose is insufficient to supply enough oxygen as required for your running. It is important to breathe through your mouth while running. One of my friend complained about head ache and it was corrected when he started breathing through mouth. You should also set rhythm for your breath. An ideal breathe will be one inhale for every two steps and one exhale for next two steps.
Running Gears – Your feet and your legs are most important part of your runs. Isn't it? There are plenty of materials on net to find a good shoes for your foot. Make sure you get a good running shoes. Another important gear is t-shirt. Do you still run in cotton t-shirts for running. Make it a history now. Dry-fit running t-shirt is lighter in weight, helps your body to breathe better, sweat efficiently and doesn't get as heavier when soaked in sweat as it moves moisture away quickly when compared to cotton t-shirt. Similar to dry-fit tee, synthetic-material socks helps in moving moisture away quicker. If you haven't got right gears, make sure you get now.
Hydration – No less important then any of I talked earlier, is keeping yourself hydrated. Not just while running but also when you are not running. You must always drink adequate water / liquid to keep yourself hydrated. While running, you must drink water / energy drink every 15-20 minutes. The key is to kill thirst before it kills you.
Pace – One of the dilemma, I had when I started running, was how fast should I practice. Not that I could keep running at great speed, but how should I decide what is good pace for me which can help me to practice well and I don't burn myself. The rule of thumb to find optimum pace is the maximum pace at which You can talk comfortably. It might be good idea to run with a fellow runner, with whom you can talk on way.
Warm up and Stretching – It is important to warm and cool down after and before running. Warm up gradually raises your heart beat rate to minimize stress when you start running. It also makes your muscle optimally flexible and efficient. Warm up should include a slow pace run and some dynamic exercises. You should cool down by running slow. Running must be followed by static stretching. It is important to not just stretch your legs but also neck, back, arms which are passively part of your running.
Rest days and recovery – As important is running to you, as important should be recovery. Recovery from your previous training is required to adapt to a higher level of training stress and thus make you better runner. Recovery time varies based on training level. For beginners, you must run only 3-4 days a week. One recovery day a week can be used for cross training like cycling or swimming.

So, the new running mantra - Do it Right!!!

Five Hundred Kilometers Logged

2010-07-11T18:32:00.000+05:30

It was four clock in morning when my alarm woke me up. I was actually waiting for it to wake me up. And every time when I wait for alarm to wake me, I know how passionately, I am waiting for my run. Twenty Kms was all I wanted to run this morning. I had never run that distance till now. I was certainly excited about it. I knew I can do it. And what could have been better choice than running in RFL (Runners For Life) long run at Bellandur It is always exciting and encouraging to run with group of highly motivated runners. And RFL long runs always have that.

Oh my god, I could hear the rain beating outside the windows. It wasn’t that heavy. But certainly enough to kill my plans to travel to running destination. I was not ready to give up. I got into my running gears. At five o clock, I walked outside apartment to see if I can ride my avenger in the rain. And then I gave up. I meant I gave up on traveling to Sarjapur road. Definitely, didn’t give up today’s run. At 6:30, after rain stopped, I decided to start my run. Run like I will never get to run again. Rain discouraged, clouds were demotivating. Sun came out of clouds for small time when I was totally dipped in sweat. GPS fell apart as it does often in cloudy weather. I ended running 18.85 KM, little less than what I planned. Thanks to Saurabh Kumar to give company at the end of run. When I ended I was filled with satisfaction – Runner’s satisfaction. Those endrophins produced must be responsible for part of that satisfaction. There was another reason too. I completed my 500 Kms of recorded running today. And I am proud that I did it.

I started running this January. My growing tummy was major reason. Another reason was dream to run a marathon. And I thought that it will be a dream forever. I was never in sports. In school, I could hardly run. I remember I used to finish my 100 meters in 19-20 seconds. And even failed in P.E. Exam. I always used my flat foot as excuse for that. At under-graduation level, I tried running, but that was far too rare than often. In spite of it, I was never overweight except once before this. (I will thanks my beautiful genes for this.) Being overweight at this time was very scary for me. I couldn’t have imagined myself with that fat binded body. I decided to take on running.

My pursuit of running in January didn’t last very long. Just few runs on consecutive days, including a six KM RFL run (which I called long run at that time) and totaling less than 22 KMs, were enough to cause knee injury. I wasn’t discouraged with that. Certainly, there must be some mistake. Well, if millions of people can run across the world, why can’t I. I was not ready to use my old excuse this time. It took me almost month and half to recover from injury and I spent time to read more and more about running. Thanks that I am born in this age of free information.Runnersworld.com and Coolrunning.com were awesome resource. And discussions in Runnersforlife.com forum were informational and inspiring. I knew that these people in RFL forum are real people around me in Bangalore. And I have to be like them.

I restarted my running journey in March end. I had all rules set this time. I am going to run not more than four days a week. I will listen to my body. I will give enough time for recovery when required. I will try different running workouts like interval training, easy run, long run, speed work and not just keep pushing me to run more every run. And certainly, I will do good stretching after run. And this time, I was able to keep running injury free.

I was liking running. I was enjoying running. But I needed more people to run with me. Certainly, It is not boring for me to run alone as it gives me enough time with myself. But I believed, it might be more encouraging to run with a group of runners. Also, I wanted to be bombarded with advices from experienced runners. I had known about Nike Run Club from RFL website. They organize running and stretching exercises every Saturday in Kanteerava Stadium. I had doubts about going approximately 10 Kms to seek runners. Only when I attended session once, I realize that this was what I needed. In fact, club has what every beginner requires – Star coach and Supportive runners.

I was soon able to run longer, better and definitely injury free. I finished my first 10 K run in May. And now I am preparing for my first half marathon run – Kaveri Trail Marathon in September. Today, I finished running my first 500 Kilometers, spread mainly over last fifteen weeks. I will like to thanks few of those who helped me in reaching milestone. Firstly, I will like to thank my companion on all runs – Runkeeper.com, an iphone / android based on application, which helps me in keeping track of all my runs. They have been doing awesome work in making app better and improving user experience. I will like to thank Runners for life for conducting those nice runs and hosting the website and forum which helped me in my learning about running. I will thank Nike Run Club for organizing training session. Recommended for both beginners and experienced. And I will like to thank all my friends on facebook.com, dailymile.com, runkeeper.com and in non digital world for all their encouragements.