10K

हाय, Pune Marathon - what a yo-yo -- the highs came in the running part, the lows in all the organization and logistics. True to form, the 22nd edition was no better organized than its predecessors - water, the usual problem was not present till 8K, the race started with about 30K people trying to squeeze past the podium onto Lakdi Pul all at once, traffic was not at all stopped well or held back...... but let me start at the beginning.

Woke up early at 5:15 AM, had my ritual cup of tea, half a banana and a couple of biscuits. I was still undecided about whether I was running in my New Balance or my new Adidas. After mentally hemming and hawing for about 15 minutes, I decided on the new Adidas. 10K seemed like a good distance to try them out over a longer length. I laced up and sms'd my running buddies - Ravi who was running his first event in a long while and Rajesh for whom this was a 2nd showing at Pune.

We all walked to Good Luck Chowk at around 6:40 AM where a set of desks were laid out haphazardly.. apparently the assembly point for some Group 5. We walked ahead towards an extremely crowded Garware bridge - everyone just wandering here and there trying to figure out what the procedure was. We were lucky to find a wayward official who stamped our bibs with a rubber stamp indicating 10K and took our entry cards (go figure). As we waited, I started my usual warm up routine waiting for the flagoff. In the background, there were speeches.. most of which I did not pay any attention to. It was a lot of fun to be among some practiced runners - I saw some familar faces, a lot of NDA/Army Cadets - most all the regiments had a contingent there

They flagged off all the runners at once - barring the "elite" runners who started about 15 minutes earlier (I think). All - the general 10K crowd, under 17, under 19, full marathon, boys, men, women, charity run .. what have you. One would think they could have at the very least staggered these start times by 15 minutes. Most of the first minute was spent passing the podium where people whipped out their mobiles and took pictures of the celebrities - Sunil Gavaskar, Salman Khan, Sagarika Ghatge, Vidya Malavade, (the last two of Chak De India fame) and some starlet who was unidentifiable to me.

Anyway I started my stopwatch and managed to make it out of Lakdi Pul without being trampled upon. Ravi and I got a good pace going running within myself, not yet huffing and puffing terribly. I did not check my time till before Modern Bakery Chowk, where I was clocking around 18 minutes. Not bad, I said to myself. After I turned off Laxmi Road, I started looking for the KM markers. Did not find one till the 4K mark. I clocked 27:46 here...at this point it did not register that I was doing 7 min/KM

At the bottom of the Seven Loves/Shankarsheth Road bridge, as I headed onto the climb towards Golibar Maidan, I had 35:26 on my stopwatch. I turned the corner onto Main Street at 37:26. I had heard this was a downhill run, but this was my first time on it. I paced very well on Main Street, sort of competing with this one other guy till the 7K marker at Budhani Wafers. I was showing 48:26 at this point and it finally registered ... I was running at 7 min/KM mark. This was a great boost as I reached the 8K marker going towards the Police Commissioner's office. As I passed Blue Nile, I saw a diminutive lady in a uniform - she was a an ambulance officer and I realized that the few others I had seen in the same uniform were also keepers of our good health.

I went past INOX at 1 hour and at the 9K mark, I clocked 61:26. A small hill near Wadia and I was home free was what I was telling myself. By now, I was grinning at other runners as I passed them, exhorting them ...it's almost over. I was certain I was going to clock around 68 minutes. I think the course calliberation was off, and perhaps the 10K finish line was set about 500 m beyond the actual 10K mark. Anyways, I kept runnning till I crossed the finish line. My stopwatch showed 71:14:55

I stretched a little, finished my Electral fortified water and set off in search of Rajesh and Ravi. Ravi's timing was 64 minutes and Rajesh's was 61 minutes. At the finish line, there was a chaotic scene as officials tried to write down our bib numbers etc. After we collected Rajesh's brother, we walked down Bund Garden Road in search of a rickshaw, ended up in Madhuban for an upma and coffee.

If only the Pune Marathon organizers think of the runners and general organization, perhaps it could have been truly be a memorable event for all the participants. First, water every KM or even 1.5KM would not hurt, traffic management with roads being shut at least for 4 hours if not more, simplified registration processes (in this day and age, I am surprised this event does nothing to leverage the Internet), staggered start times and distances, ... I could go on.

I am quite happy with my run. 10K in 71 minutes at a consistent pace of 7 minutes a kilometer, that is a personal best for me. Today is a rest day and tomorrow I start chasing the dream of a 140 minute half marathon in Mumbai

Two good runs

A 30 minute tempo run was on the training plan yesterday. A tempo run is continuous with a fast middle. I divided the 30 minutes into 3 parts - the first 10 minutes or so to be easy, the middle 10 minutes when I would start building up pace and the last 10 minutes to be easy again.

I was quite excited about this run - my first. I went to KNP at 7:30 and warmed up. I planned to run the first 5 laps easy, accelerate in the 6th and 7th laps and run the 8th lap hard, slowing up in lap 9 and 10. My first lap was a decent 3:19, and I went on to lap 5 in around 17 minutes. Lap 6 was around 3:30, lap 7 was 3:10 and lap 8 was 2:49. I was huffing/puffing during laps 9 and 10, but eventually managed to complete in 33:59:30, my best time for this distance ever. I was quite happy since typically I will start out strong and slow down towards the end running 3:50 - 4:00 laps. I was happy that I was able to accelerate right bang in the middle of my distance.
I did change my plan, but as Hal Higdon maintains - "Improvisation is the heart of doing a Tempo Run correctly" :-) . I dropped off my kid to school and took the other kid to Vaishali for a well earned upma and sada dosa.

Today's run started out differently. I went off to KNP and after my walking lap, I decided to head back home to help with the kid. I eventually ended up dropping her off to her school across Chittaranjan Vatika. I headed over to the Vatika and warmed up. I planned to run 10 laps here, each lap is approximately 600m, so a total of around 6K.
My first lap was a blistering 3:49 which was great. I have done this lap in around 4 minutes before, this is the first sub 4. Each subsequent lap added some seconds :( and I finished lap 6 in 25:15. I continued running till lap 8 which I finished in around 34 minutes. I stopped to take a breather, and continued to finish the next 2 laps. My overall time was 42:40 minutes. This is the first time I have run 10 laps in the Vatika.

The Pune International Marathon is this Sunday. I am running in the 10K. I got my complimentary red T shirt (Vodafone colours) and my sachet of Quaker Oats. My running number is 3789.

The route is the usual.
It starts at Lakdi Pul, goes up Laxmi Road, turns off towards Seven Loves Chowk, up the Shankarseth Road bridge, turns onto M.G Road at Golibar Maidan, down M.G. Road, towards the Police Commissioner's office, turn at Blue Nile, up and down the bridge near Wadia College and ends on Bund Garden Road at Sun-n-Sand. There is one water station marked out at 7.5K at the end of M.G. Road. Hopefully they will have water when one plodder gets there :-)

Ganapati Bappa Morya

First the runs.
Today, September 18th 2007 , I ran 7 laps (4.48K) in 25:46 mins. After my usual stretch, my first lap was an easy 3:36; managed to stay on pace and not compete with a couple of PYTs running laps at twice my speed. Feeling some strain in my left calf. This is sounding like a nag now.

Monday September 17th 2007 , I ran an easy 6 laps (3.84K) in KNP. Started out smoothly after warm-up, clocking 3:36 for the first lap and stayed on pace to complete 6 laps in 21:27.

Sunday September 16th 2007
I ran 7.05K, starting out at 7:00 AM. This was a lovely run. The route was exactly the same as the last road run I went on: "The run is a loop from Roopali hotel on FC Road, up BMCC Road, up Senapati Bapat Road, turn at the University signal, past ESquare, down Ganeshkhind Road, turn into Ferguson College Road, and all the way to Good Luck Chowk, up Bhandarkar Road and stop at IIPM". Reached all my milestones earlier than the last run which was gratifying:
Pyramid Store on Senapati Bapat Road: 18:30 mins (19 mins last run)
Far End of Senapati Bapat Road: 27:30 mins (27 mins last run)
ESquare: 30:30 mins (31:30 mins last run)
Far end of FC Road: 39:30 mins (40:30 mins last run)
Roopali Hotel on FC Road: 49:36 mins (52:19 mins last run)
End: 52:31:84 mins (54:19:46 mins last run)

The only difference was I avoided the bridge opposite ESquare this time. Very satisfied. 10K next weekend.

On Saturday, my favourite diety, Ganapati Bappa came visiting. We got the idol on Friday evening. I did the prana pratishta puja on Saturday amid the sonorous rendition of सुखःकर्ता दुखःहर्ता. सकाळ संध्याकाळची पूजा, विसर्लेल्या आर्तिंचे पुन्हा आठ्वने , नैवेद्य प्रसाद, घर भर्लेले -- मन प्रसन्न झाले.

The नैवेद्य was twenty-one उक्ड़िचे मोदक which is Ganapati's favourite food (and mine). Oh, to bite into a steaming morsel of rice flour covered coconut and jaggery filling, to slurp surreptitously the juices as you drool a little, the lovely balace of the sweet (filling) and bland (cover) and finally the explosion of sweet as it tingles your palate...mmmm..
Sunday late afternoon was the goodbye - the ceremonial विसर्जन, amid the cries of "गणपति बाप्पा मोरया ... पुड्च्या वर्षी लवकर या "

Karma bhoomi aka Kamala Nehru Park

First the run. Ran 11 laps (7.04KM) today in 39:40 minutes.. Had only one kid to drop off to school. Started at 7:40 AM. My usual warm-up of one lap walk plus the usual stretching took about 10 minutes. My first lap was fast 2:59 minutes, the next 3:11 minutes and then I slowed down for a couple of reasons - one: haven't run for the past 4 days and two: got winded...Pant pant... the next two laps were slow .. around 3:45/4:00 each, speeded up again to 3:30 to set my self very nicely for a sub 40. My timing at lap 10 was 36:16. A sub 40 was now definitely ON. My first sub 40 7K and I am very satisfied.

I have been running regularly at Kamala Nehru Park for a couple of years now. This mini green lung boasts a good track recently put in, a smallish fountain right in the centre, and green lawns. It is maintained by the Kalyani Group of Industries. There is a tiny Datta Mandir (the original) which later moved to one side and now has its own separate entrance right next to the park's main entrance.


Located off Bhandarkar Road, this park is a green patch convenient for folks in the Deccan Gymkhana area. It is not big, but does have a decent enough children's play area. The park does have nicely maintained bottle palms that line the green lawns, Ashoka trees and many others that I can't label. All in all, a very pleasant verdant area.

Every morning (and evening), its shaded tracks transform themselves into high traffic areas with the usual morning/evening walkers/amblers - groups of men, women, kids who have been coming here, every day for the last many many years, interspersed with the few runners (like me)weaving through the slow moving masses. Overheard conversations often vary from the last night's soap opera update to strong opinions on the local issues to काय ही अजची पीढ़ी...

A great good morning start to my day....