My run for a cause! - 2011 Mumbai Marathon

Hi there,

As many of you may recall, I developed this hobby of participating in the Mumbai Marathon since 2008 and through my participation, raised a small amount of money every year for a charity called Dream A Dream in Bangalore that helps underprivileged children get a better education & a more cheerful childhood. Now the 2010 edition of the Mumbai marathon came and went and I couldn't participate and also couldn't raise any funds for this charity. As disappointing as it was, I decided early in the year that I would attempt a tougher run this year and use it to raise funds as well. I signed up for something called the Bangalore Ultra marathon where I had planned to run 50 kilometres instead of the customary marathon distance of 42 Kms. But of course as we all might have experienced, life got in the way. This big run was scheduled for November. I didn't train well, didn't prepare well and as a result I didn't think I'd participate. Worse still, I decided not to raise awareness about my cause through this run because I felt unsure whether I'd participate or not! I felt I'd let down the organization I support as well.

But after a few weeks in October of mulling it over, I decided to at least participate in this event and see how it went. I ran the 50 Km distance last Sunday outside Bangalore and just about managed to limp over the finish line in 7 hours and 38 minutes. It was the longest I have ever run and by far the toughest physical activity I've indulged in. What I've decided now is to participate in the 2011 Mumbai Marathon which is just 2 months away and use this event as I have in previous years to raise funds for Dream A Dream. Personally, this is a huge challenge physically. Running 2 marathons within a gap of just 2 months is not going to be easy but I am determined to participate and complete because it's a great way to raise awareness about my cause and also seek your contributions for it!

I sincerely hope you will contribute generously to my run for a cause. Remember, NO CONTRIBUTION IS TOO SMALL!  You can contribute as little as Rs. 1000 or $12 USD or as much more as you feel comfortable doing. If you are donating with an Indian credit card, please use this link below:

http://www.giveindia.org/give/pledgepage/abhijeet

If you are contributing with a credit card not issued in India or if you wish to pay via pay pal, click below:

http://www.ammado.com/nonprofit/dream-a-dream

OR
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/empowering-vulnerable-children-through-life-skills/   

If you want to give me an Indian bank cheque, please make it out in favour of "Dream A Dream". If you want to give me cash, I can take that too but you won't get a tax deductable receipt for cash donations.


I hope to raise a total of Rs. 100,000 or $2500 USD. I can guarantee that every rupee and dollar will be used correctly and transparently by Dream A Dream. You can read all about their great work at www.dreamadream.org. I have personally volunteered with them for over 3 years now and I can say with complete confidence that their work DOES impact the lives of thousands of children who would otherwise not have had a childhood you and I consider normal. Please also consider forwarding this request to your friends and family!

Thanks for your help as always and wish me luck as I try to finish the marathon in a time under 4 hrs and 30 minutes!

Abhi

+91 98803 30381

Ultra

I finished. That's about all I can boast of, after my first Ultra Marathon experience. Like from the Mumbai Marathon in 2009, there are many lessons that I have now learned, many factors which I didn't factor in and many reasons why you never, ever cram and skimp training schedules. Marathons are serious. But it was also testimony to the bloody-mindedness that has often been claimed as the sole domain of the English but is I believe a trait more attributable to the human species. You can walk through the valley of death and come out alive. The ultra experience to me was testimony to this fact. 

Getting to the venue of the Ultra was a task in itself. The venue was the beautiful grassland around an eco-resort called Our Native Village near Hessaraghata town outside Bangalore. Race flag off for the 50 K Ultra distance was 6:00 AM. This meant that I had to wake up at 3 AM after a few fitful hours of tossing and turning as is normal before a race of this significance and stature. I was out of the house by 3:45 and reached the venue at 4:40 AM. Thankfully I was among the first to arrive and I witnessed the flag off for the 100 and 75 K categories. I sat quietly in a corner while I saw the participants limber up and finally start off on an 8 to 11 hour run. Unbelievable. I really felt that I didn't belong here watching these  people not so much because of ability but because I felt that I had betrayed the magnificence of this sort of event by being overwhelmingly under prepared, under trained and over weight. 

I had ample time to check in my bags, leave a smaller bag with a counter set up just after the start/finish point for energy gels, sprays etc, pull on my shoes and time chip and wait patiently with a can of Pepsi in hand for just before the start. This was the practice of the legendary Hal Higdon whose book I regularly refer to on marathon running. One of the rules is of course to never do something on race day which you have not done before in practice but a can of pop at the start of the race seemed like a good idea with all that sugar in it. A few minutes before flag off, I again noticed my fellow male and female participants limbering up. And again I got this sinking feeling. Did I belong here? The customary announcements followed: where the aid stations were, how long the course was, thanks to the sponsors etc and then one of the two race organizers asked the 50 odd male and female participants how many were running the distance of their lives. Meaning, is this the longest distance you would have run if you finish? Almost every bar a few hands went up. That was comforting to some extent but what was not quite comforting was me recognizing a couple of people who had left me way behind in the 2009 Mumbai marathon. 

The race flagged off at 6 AM sharp and I slowly settled into my race pace. I had thought and planned the hell out of this run. I had figured that I was in very bad shape with just 2 semi-long runs before this so I could not get carried away by the early adrenaline rush at start point. I had planned to run a very slow, measured race stopping and walking frequently to ensure I didn't collapse completely and not finish. As expected, I was passed by almost all the runners by the 2nd Km but that didn't bother me. I knew now after having run a few distance races that most runners can be classified into 2 categories: 1. the serious runners who have a finish time in mind which they have trained for and who will pass you at the start anyway and whom you will not catch up with unless you run at their pacec and 2. the less experienced runners who get caught up in the adrenaline rush, the crisp morning air, the undeniable guts they have already displayed by being at the start line but also those whom runners like me will catch and probably pass in better condition by the 20 K mark. To mitigate my awful preparation before this event, I had participated  in a mock run 2 weeks prior on this same course. That was a massive help. To run a course you have never run before comes with all sorts of handicaps. But this time I knew the inclines to expect, the tough parts of the trail, the sudden appearance of tarmac where there had been dirt and trees but what I didn't know was how my body would cope with these challenges after passing 20 odd Kms. Before this race the last time I had run upwards of 30 K was in Mumbai in January 2009. This was November 2010 and I was attempting 50. My two previous long runs were 18 K and 20 K respectively. What I was doing was not wrong but totally absurd and what someone like Hal Higdon would have completely forbidden. 

Coming back to the start, it was great weather at 6 AM, everything felt good, my feet were fine, shoes comfortable and as luck would have it the song playing on my shuffle at flag off was "long way to run" by Collective Soul. I smiled at the irony of it. I reached a comfortable race pace which I kept up. The aid stations were fantastic, positioned at the start point, then at 2.25 Km, 4.25 Km. and the 6.25 Km mark which was also the loop point with the total loop being 12.5 K. I completed my first loop in an hour 30 mins. A very reasonable time and exactly what I was hoping for. My second loop was tougher and I think my 2nd loop time was about 1 hr 50 mins which was still not bad. The 3rd loop is when things started getting tough. By this time I had already finished upwards of 25 K and the usual protests started appearing. This time though there were two huge factors working against me: the unforgiving stones, tree roots, foot holes, troughs and inclines of the trail and my complete lack of preparation. I started cramping a bit but my energy gels and forcing myself to drink at least 1 litre of water per hour out on the track helped immensely. The cramp stayed away through the entire run. What didn't was my otherwise unfit body. I felt my back stiffening up like I had never experienced while running long runs previously also because of the number of long runs I had had previously. Lack of training I told myself and carried on. By the 30 K mark, I slowed down even further to ensure I didn't hit the wall earlier than the 45 K mark. I knew that if I began becoming glycogen depleted and started getting liver pains by the 30 K mark I was done. I took a long 6 minute break around the 32nd Km, sat down in the aid station, sprayed myself liberally with anti-inflammatory meds, force-fed myself oranges and peanut butter sandwiches. I cannot explain how incredibly difficult it is to get yourself to eat solids while distance running. Your body convulses at the mere sight of solids but experience will tell you that denying your body solids will result in disaster. I carried on again very slowly. Took another break at the 6.25 K loop point and made it back for my final loop. By this time I had run 37.5 K. I then began thinking instead of trying to push myself. My back had gone from merely stiffening up to now send sharp spasms of pain through my entire body with every 3rd or 4th step. By the 42 K mark when I would have finished a marathon and collapsed I had to keep going. I don't recall now when I passed the marathon distance. I remember thinking before the race how I would look back when I did cross 42 K and savour the moment. The longest I had ever run! No such luck. My mind was too focused on getting from one aid station to the next. The last 8 K found me employing an approach of brisk walking of about 4 minutes mixed with about 2 minutes of slow jogging. This was all I could trust my body to handle. If I had put in the hard yards before I would have pushed harder at this point. But I felt I was hanging on by a very thin thread and I didn't want to face the prospect of not finishing after getting so close. I had initially set myself a time of 6 hrs 30 mins which of course I realised as completely misguided by the final loop. By the time I started on the final loop, it was around noon and the sun was hot. The trail had emptied of all but a few of us runners. The 37 K, 25 K and 12 K categories had finished. As I reached the halfway mark of the final loop I saw many driving past with their "finisher" medals, smiling and content but they also cheered me on which really helped. 

At some level for me at least after the 40 K mark, things become a bit of a haze. Your arms start to swell weirdly. Your knees are already like ostrich eggs. There's a layer of salt covering the exposed parts of your skin. Your shorts and singlet are drenched in water as you splash it liberally at every aid station. You don't think of much else other than the pain you are feeling right then. That's when a fellow runner passes you and mumbles encouragement, it helps immensely. It puts things back in perspective. You're here to finish. It doesn't matter what time you do it in. You've already done enough. When I turned for the final 6.25 K I was reduced to a walk and about 1 minute of feet dragging jogging followed again by a walk. It was not until I reached the final aid station on my return loop at 48 K did it hit home that I was on the cusp of something special. Adrenaline got me jogging for the final 2 K and I finished pretty strong to a few cheers in 7:38:35. Most of the 50 K runners had completed before me and a few 75 K runners finished soon after. A couple had lapped me on the way so we were essentially running the same final loop. No shame. None whatsoever. Sure there was the Ultra 50 K women's category winner who lapped me on the 3rd loop and finished in 5 hrs 15 mins. There were 2 in the 75K category who finished a few minutes after I did my 50. And there were the crazy 100 K runners who were still on the trail as I drove away. No shame. 

Doing an ultra I believe puts one in a somewhat elite category. Just as doing a marathon distance does. I'm glad I have both in the bag. Yesterday, as I lay in bed trying not to black out through the pain and exhaustion, I thought of the Mumbai Marathon 2 months away and felt sick at the mere thought of my feet hitting tarmac again. Today is a new day. I have walked literally (!) through the valley where only pain and despair exists and I came out with a smile. I look forward now to a week of rest. And then preparing smartly and earnestly to better my previous marathon time of 4 hrs 52 mins.

More on the prep for that soon! Till then I'll savour this finish.

Another long run completed

Following up the mock-Ultra from last Sunday where I clocked about 18 K, I followed up with another semi-decent run on Friday with about 22 K in 2:30. From the perspective of the Mumbai Marathon prep, this is good stuff and I am looking at it like that. If I sustain this intensity of workout, I should be in good shape by Jan 16th 2011 to finish and enjoy Mumbai unlike the last time where the last 8 K was pure hell. Of course it won't be easy but then what which is precious ever is?

I am not thinking too much about next Sunday when I'll attempt the half Ultra. I am just going to take it as it comes and accept whatever the result, that is if I finish or not. I cramped pretty badly yesterday but could have gone on for another 10 K or so. I am confident, barring injury, of hitting 30 - 32 K but there will still be 18 K more which translates into about 2 hours 30 minutes of being on my feet which is daunting to say the least. But I know what to expect now. I know the pains, the feeling of faintness, of collapse, of your face muscles twitching involuntarily and of spurts of speed as fellow runners encourage you on the course. One week of careful taper and good eating. Then the Ultra. Then back to preparing for Mumbai.

Ultra Mock Run

After what seemed an eternity, I finally got my house in order and made it to one of the numerous Runners for Life "long runs" that are organised by the good folks at RFL. It's been a disappointing 3 odd months for me personally. Several times I had enough motivation, the right conditions and no excuses for not hitting my peak fitness levels but every time I got close I fell off the wagon. Badly. I indulged too much. Too often. I went out. I slept late. I became afraid of the gym. Laziness became fear. Fear of what my peers at the gym would say. What Mani my fitness instructor would throw at me. Fear of trying to hit that 5 K mark in 28 minutes and failing. Fear turned into apathy. And it could have gotten worse but I came back from the abyss. The last 3 months were a painful reminder of how easy it is for us to settle into our decadent, comfortable and meaningless lives. When life holds less and less meaning, the more blunt we become to it's wonders and possibilities. Our senses dull, our attitudes wither and all our negativity is bubbling forth. Each of us finds meaning from different sources, different ways to connect to that part within us that gives us energy and true happiness. For me, this is it. I am more sure of it than I ever was, more certain than anything else in my short existence thus far. I peered into the abyss, dangling from a very frayed and thin rope and managed to cling on. Else the climb would have been steeper still, perhaps I would have lost this forever.

Anyhow, here I am. I made it to the Mock Ultra run and if before I was determined to get back into good running nick, I am now comfortable. Comfortable in the knowledge reaffirmed that this is the one single thing I love most above all else. I am secure now that I will never let this sensation slip away and drown in glasses of whisky or beer or anything else. The run was organised at "our native village", an eco resort outside Bangalore amongst what are apparently the last remaining grasslands and nesting grounds around here for migratory birds. The landscape at 6:30 AM was stark, dull, gloomy and spectacular all at once. The trail was tough, strewn with loose stones the size of tennis balls. Hit one on the flush and you had a major ankle problem. It was a difficult trail. I went in determined to get a feel for it and run a long distance. After the first 3 K I really settled in and ran a good 18 K. I probably could have hit 30 K if I pushed myself but the pushing will have to be done on the 14th November when we return to this trail for the Ultra. I've signed up for the 50 K category and while I am still in terrible running form and shape for such a demanding run, I feel better now. Not because I think I can complete it. That will be decided on the day. But more because I feel more honest now. Trying to attempt something like this without sacrifice and hard work would be betraying the purity of the endevour. Like trying to climb a mountain with improper training. Or showing disrespect to the effort in question, by thought, word or actions. Yes I am old fashioned that way. The one great thing about distance running is that bluster gets you nowhere. In most sports, there is plenty of room for bluster. If you have the skill you can get away with it all. In distance running, the road doesn't understand any language except for the rhythmic pat-pat of your feet and your panting to go with it. The road or trail goes on. There is no opponent here. No one goading you or heckling you. But I digress. 

It felt good getting in a nice 2 hour 18 K run. I can only get stronger from here. My goal of a 4:15 Mumbai Marathon looms ominously ahead but I have the best teacher there is on my side this time: experience. However, that can wait. For now, I intend to mentally and physically prepare as well as I can over the next 14 days for the Ultra. Come what may, I know I'll emerge from that run stronger. Not because I may finish but because what's going into it now is pure.