I trained with Runners High again this year, and without them, I wouldn’t even have been able to focus on the run. Work has kept me so busy that I would’ve easily dropped the ball without them.

After four months of practice, we arrived on Saturday in all the various hotels as close as possible to the Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary which is where our running trail starts.

Saturday night, we had a suer-fun dinner with many Runners High folks in the same hotel. It reminded me again on how many good friends and inspiring people I have met through running.

Woke up at 4am, got my gear in place like clockwork – a cap, a fuel belt with water and badam pieces, fully charged phone with earphones, nike shoes. Ready.

We reached the trail at around 6:15am and unfortunately missed the full marathoners being flagged off.

6:45am was when the half marathoners were to start. Set.

Go!

I started off my run at a good pace for me. I did the first 8km at a 7:30 min/km pace which I was happy with. I was having a steady stride and enjoying the beautiful trail.

I reached the midway mark, turned around and continued. I stopped at the 17km mark water point and was doing a 8:20 min/km stride. Roughly 17 km in 2:30 hours. Not bad for me.

And then the problems began.

The sun suddenly started blazing and the heat and the killer “last 4 km” got to me. I struggled slowly, probably covering 10+ min/km. It was those intense pains, trying to push your body beyond what is reasonable.

I finished in 3 hr 11 min. I was happy that I finished and had a mostly-good run but at the same time I was disappointed that I wasn’t close to my last year’s pace of 2 hr 49 min, but it was inevitable due to my weight gain this year.

That brings me to another aspect of my running. I am quite disappointed that I haven’t been able to improve upon my running in the past 3 years, mainly because my weight holds me back. I am tired of getting too hungry and nauseous (because of gas) by the time the race gets over and end up puking.

So I’ve decided to hang up my boots and will probably get back to running half marathons only after I gain some reasonable fitness and lose significant weight.

Losing weight is a challenge of a different kind where a brute force determination won’t work like in running. So let’s see how that goes.

I’m never going to run this again.

— Grete Waitz after winning her first of nine New York City marathons

As I like to say, “You’ve not really explored a city until you’ve run in it.” And true to that, I got to see a good part of the city including the Kelageri lake and the beautiful Karnataka University campus. And it is truly a city of educational institutions.

As usual, the first half of the run went strong and well, and I struggled a bit in the latter half of the run. Nevertheless, I made it a point to consistently refuel myself with electral water, figs and badam. And that did the trick. Despite the severe elevation, I had a good run and saw the city like never before. My only regret is that I should’ve taken some photos of the beautiful route.

The run was pleasant because of the wide roads and still-lush greenery of the city. Special thanks to my wife who was my guide and support system for today’s run.

I’m looking forward to the Kaveri Trail Marathon this year.

So what am I doing in Hubli/Dharwad? Well, that’s another story for another day.

I ran the Kaveri Trail Marathon two Sundays ago (Sep 19, 2010). It was a marathon worth remembering – the preparation, the anticipation, the great set of friends I made, the beautiful trail that we ran in, and the D-day performance.

My personal target was to finish 21KM under 3 hours. It was looking tough because I was completely out of fitness and I hadn’t run that much distance in years.

I did end up finishing strongly in 2:49 hrs and I was very very happy, but this was just an ambitious goal four months ago and seemed unlikely that I’d achieve it!

The Preparation

As I mentioned, I have done this target distance and timing before, but it has been nearly 2 years since I last did this distance, so it was a big challenge for me to get back to the same level of fitness.

On top of that, I have been avoiding KTM all these years because of the horror stories I’ve heard about the heat and humidity, so I decided that KTM was the perfect next challenge for me to take up and look forward to.

Since I had not been running in the past two years, my body had completely forgotten what it is capable of. That was the motivation for me to travel all the way to Auroville to do just a 10K run. Luckily, I had met the Runners High group in that trip. I liked the group so much that I decided to join their training for the KTM. And boy, am I glad I took that decision!

I have been part of other formal running groups before but I was put off by the elitist atmosphere. Runners High was different. Due to the coaches’ personalities and their design of the schedule, they have managed to create a *community* feeling in the group. Personally, I think the “Wednesday workouts in each local area” is a simple-yet-effective psychological trick to get people to know each other and eventually imbibe a team spirit that encourages them to push each other to achieve their targets. The training schedule should not be about showing up on a weekend morning and being told “You have to run 11KM today. Go!”

At the start of the training course, the coaches conducted a 2 mile time trial and informed each of us on what is the target timing we should expect based on our level of fitness. I was told that I could finish the half-marathon (21 km) in 3:07 hrs ⇒ 8:55 min/km. The race day performance, as I mentioned, was 2:49 hrs ⇒ 8:05 min/km. 18 minutes is a really big deal for a runner – it’s the difference between a ~8 min/km run and a ~9 min/km run!. It may sound trivial but probably a non-runner can never internalize the significance of 18 minutes – just one of the life lessons that I have learned in the past few months. More on that later.

Our gruelling training schedule began around four months behind the race day. The schedule was similar to what you would expect of a marathon training chart. One of the tricks that the coaches employed is to do a long run on Saturday and an even longer run on Sunday. I didn’t think much of it at the start, but in hindsight, it’s a brilliant idea – it built up our stamina because you’re doing a run on Sunday when you’re already tired because of the previous day’s run. I could feel the impact of that on the race day because I felt I had so much more energy and stamina than I normally did on the regular weekend runs, because I had not run on the day before the race day (a Sunday). Although they’re switching back to the traditional “long run on Saturday, short run on Sunday” from now on.

The Roadblock

I was sufficiently occupied with worries about my fitness and managing the KTM heat when something new started affecting me.

After the first Agara lake run, I threw up after the run was over. I thought this was a one-off thing, but it happened again after the next Sunday long run.

I was even more worried now.

I called up Santhosh and asked for advice, he said “Eat one hour before the run.” Coach Murthy also advised the same. I had never eaten before runs before, so this was something new I had to get used to.

After that, the next 12 km run I did great because I had oats an hour before the run.

Eating is the easy part, getting used to running with a full stomach was something else! But nutrition is as important as physical fitness, so I stuck on with it.

Eventually, this was my nutrition plan for the long runs:

• Eat oats or muesli one hour before the run. Use milk and honey liberally.
• Carry a fuel belt and drink electral water every 20 min. “If you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already late in drinking water.”
• Eat figs and badam (kept in sachets in the fuel belt) every 40 min. They release energy slowly, just the right kind of food during a run.

Phew! Sounds like a lot of work? It was, but it helped me run strongly, and I would do anything to run strongly.

What foods to eat is specific to each person. For example, bananas have adverse effect on me because I start getting cramps, compared to bananas being the staple diet of almost every runner!

Special thanks to “Vibram” Ramkumar, a fellow runner, for all his advice to me on which foods to try, and for the words of encouragement!

The Community

I would be wrong to not make special mention of the community of Runners High. Yes, we are paying to be part of this programme, but sharing that camaraderie is a privilege.

We have discussed everything from race strategies (yes, strategies) to perspectives on life to startups. Your motivation to run increases when you can look forward to meeting new people, and more importantly, meeting new interesting and positive-minded people.

Race Day

Finally, the anticipated race day (Sep 19, 2010) came near. After a rigorous training schedule that we were enjoying, being forced to not run in that last week before the race day seemed more torturous than the runs themselves!

The most enticing part of KTM is the trail that we run. The beauty of that trail cannot be expressed enough ¹. The trail starts right near the gate of the Ranganathitu Bird Sanctuary in Srirangapatna (near Mysore, Karnataka, India).

The race started, I put on my headphones, switched on the RunKeeper app on my iPhone and my specially crafted music playlist and I got started. Everything was smooth sailing afterwards. There was intense heat, but we have had sufficient heat training and we were geared for it.

I was surprised to find myself at the 10.5KM mark within 1:15 hours. You know you’re having a good run when you’re just “gliding” and you’re racking up kilometres without even noticing.

One of the highlights of running on the race day is that runners spur each other to keep on going and have a good run. The smiles and clapping and words of encouragement for each other, it is a great feeling.

Towards the end of the run, I saw a familiar face, Ajay Gupta, encouraging me to sprint the last few hundred metres. I would have never imagined I would have had energy for that, but his encouragement egged me on, and I actually did sprint and finished strongly.

A great run, a beautiful green (paddy fields), blue (Kaveri river canal) and brown (mud) trail, a wonderful set of friends, and achieving a personal ambition to boot. I had a smile on my face for weeks, and I proudly hung the “KTM Finisher” medal on my wall.

I had tracked the entire run using RunKeeper app, which kept me regularly informed on how my pace and how much distance I had covered:

On the same note, congratulations to Gopal for doing his first full marathon!

I keep saying that “running is more mental than physical” and as a testament to that, I thought I’d share some of my “life lessons learned” during this journey:

Nervous Energy

I have a theory that people are in a default state of “nervous energy”. You are experiencing this when you are multitasking or when you’re fidgeting or you’re compulsively checking your Facebook stream.

If you shake off your “nervous energy”, that is when your “productive energy” is unleashed. You are experiencing “productive energy” when you’re fully focused on an activity, when you’re experiencing “the flow” or you’re in a very creative frame of mind and you have output to show.

My hypothesis is that the most practical and easiest way of shaking off your “nervous energy” is by doing a physical activity like a walk or running or sports or even a simple mechanical act as cleaning your room/work environment. High productivity isn’t about doing, it’s about being.

Deep enjoyment

The first thing that running helped me internalize was “crossing the valley” or “the dip” (in Seth Godin’s words).

For example, consider one of my weekend runs: First 20 min, I start slow and enjoy my run. 20-30 min is the low phase where I want to stop and take a break but I know that the break will actually break my rhythm and I won’t continue. After 30 min, I get back into the groove where I really start to enjoy the run and I have that familiar “gliding” feeling w.r.t. my pace and my knees.

It’s amazing how much this applies to life in general as well – most of the times, we don’t cross “the dip” and don’t ever get to really enjoy something deeply.

Running helped me internalize that there exists something as deep enjoyment, and how to get to it.

Deep enjoyment includes obsessing over figuring out how something works (which I used to give up if I didn’t figure it out in 10 min) – which is important for a programmer. It even includes things like taking the time to understand a news article which is not even close to my spheres of interest. As your knowledge and understanding increases breadth-wise, your life will become interesting!

Fitness

Equally important is to note that running itself has made me fitter (although, sadly, not thinner) and my energy to do things has greatly increased. This has been noted well in this Hacker News discussion.

Being fit means you have more energy in general. But to be fit, you need to follow the basic health principles religiously. For example, I had an awesome run on July 25th – I ran 10.5 km in 1 hr 19 min. Without a single break. And I ran my 6th km faster than my 2nd km, and I even sprinted the last 500m. This kind of energy hasn’t happened in years, literally. All because I ate in the morning, thanks to following the coach’s advice. I was again reminded of the value of elders’ advice, which I have often not heeded as much as I should have.

Being Driven

Being part of Runners High, I am astounded on how many fellow runners are the “driven” kind – more than half of the people are in three categories – startuppers (including incubation at IIMB), wannabe-startuppers and CEOs / MBAs-from-prestigious-school.

So does that HN comment on how having fitness gives you more energy to do things apply here? Or is it the people who are already driven, naturally, the kind of people who take up running? I don’t know the cause, but there is a big correlation there for sure.

Your Thoughts?

This was my simple journey to a simple 21KM run. This journey is the best thing about sports.

If you are into sports, especially running, I am curious to know what are the life lessons that you have learned?

Dedicated to the song “Fear is the Mind Killer” by Adam Freeland.

¹ I wish I had taken more photos, but here are some photos from previous KTM editions that will give you an idea of how serene the place is.

Forget what shoes to buy, forget what fancy GPS devices you want to buy, forget about monitoring your heart rate, forget about tracking sites. You don’t need those to START RUNNING.

If you want to run, there are only 2 steps. First, go to HalHigdon.com and “Select your training”, select among the Novice, Intermediate, Advanced Charts. Second, religiously follow the chart you chose, don’t skip even a single run. That’s it.

Once you reach your target distance, THEN you can go for all those fancy stuff mentioned above.

There are two things that motivate me to get to regular running – first, is to have something to look forward to, so I end up doing good running only when there is a marathon to look forward to. Here are the list of marathons upcoming in the rest of 2010 that I could find online:

• 08 Aug 2010 – Gurgaon – Gurgaon Running-and-Living Half Marathon
• 29 Aug 2010 – Chennai – Chennai International GiveLife Charity Marathon
• 19 Sep 2010 – Bangalore – Kaveri Trail Marathon
• 03 Oct 2010 – Shimla – Shimla Running-and-Living Half Marathon
• 14 Nov 2010 – Bangalore – Bangalore Ultra Marathon
• 21 Nov 2010 (date not confirmed) – Delhi – Airtel Delhi Half Marathon
• 28 Nov 2010 – Hyderabad – Hyderabad Half Marathon

If I have missed any confirmed marathons, please let me know, I’ll add it to the list.

Second, make this a group activity and it’ll be more fun. I was able to sustain my interest in running purely because of great friends / training group two-in-one. Since I don’t have a group any more, I’ve joined the Runners High training, and in just a few weeks, I seem to be back already w.r.t. my running ways – 57 km in the month of June.

Run and Become!

So, we decided to register for the 10K at Auroville Marathon as an incentive to get back to running shape, and, boy,  did it work. In the last one month, I had become fairly regular at weekday runs, it took a long time to shake off the laziness that had set in the last 8 months. I was back doing 6km weekday runs.

Finally, it was time to do the 10K yesterday. And I did well.

The worst part of any run is the wait before it starts, it’s just so unsettling. You can look at each others’ faces and almost read “Just start the goddamn run!”

There were surprisingly less number of people for the 10K, about 100 people or so. Comparatively, there were 400+ people for the half marathon (21K)!

The run started. As usual, seeing people run past you really gets to you. I had to be conscious about not burning too much fuel at the start, so I kept myself under check.

As per expectations, the trail was really beautiful, straight into the forest.

I started off listening to Raghu Dixit‘s  “Yello Jhinugiruva” song from “Just Math Mathalli” movie (Side note: I was kicking myself because I had to miss their MahaShivratri night performance because I had to travel to Auroville). That song set the pace for me. Soon, I was listening to “Going out of my mind” by Fatboy Slim and other awesome songs in my running playlists.

Another entertaining factor was the names of the places in/around Auroville such as “Transformation” (see below) and our favorite sign said – left goes to “Surrender”, right goes to “Vikas”

Around the 3 km mark, I started settling down into a pace, through the patches of uphill and patches of heavy sunlight amidst the countless trees.

The one thing that kept me going steady was RunKeeper. RunKeeper’s voice would tell me, every 5 min, on how much distance and time I had covered and what was my average pace so far. This was an amazing motivator for me. Every time I started feeling slow, the every-5-min voice would kick in and tell me whether I’m doing well or not, and I would increase my pace automatically. The best advantage it gave me was that it was mentally preparing me on how much more distance I have to cover.

I also remembered some old tricks I used to use – like consciously having longer strides to cover more distance. Another trick was to alternatively run fast and slow every kilometre, this helps keep it fun as well as increases the average speed.

It was around the 8km mark, that I started experiencing fatigue. RunKeeper was telling me that I was maintaining 7 min 30 secs per km, and I made a quick calculation that I’m just 15 min away from the finish line. I said to myself “Forget the fatigue, the finish line is so close.” And I started running faster – that would’ve never happened without RunKeeper.

Towards the finish line, a new friend I had made in this trip, Ajay, goaded me in the last 300m, and made me both happy and nervous.

At the finish line, the Auroville volunteers did a nice touch – they immediately put a medal on you for finishing. That makes you feel so good!

I was smiling at the end of the run, because I had maintained an average pace of 7 min 24 sec per km – I had run 10 km in 1 hr 14 min. This timing is nowhere close to the other runners, but I had improved my timing from an average pace of 7 min 45 sec in the past few weeks (that too over a longer distance, remember that the difference in average pace adds up for every kilometre), so I was happy. More importantly, I had a strong run and did only 1-2 stops or walking. That was critically important to me, so I was most happy about that.

After a full marathon, 3 half marathons, a 10K and a duathlon, I’m back struggling to do a 10K. I guess that’s what “muscle memory” is all about – if you’re not regular, your muscles forget what they’re capable of. It always reminds me of a quote:

“Running is the greatest metaphor for life.” — Oprah Winfrey

The secret to a good run is:

I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart. — Mike Fanelli

I had a wonderful trip and a good run, all thanks to my running partner and my new friends at the Runners High club.

Side note: I’ve heard that the latest mass trend in Bangalore is cycling, but I think I’ll stick to running[1] because:

“I always loved running – it was something you could do by yourself and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.” — Jesse Owens

If you really want to exercise, please don’t wait to buy a 25,000 rupees cycle (I have seen so many people in this thought process). All you need for running is just yourself and a pair of good shoes. And then off you go!

[1] Although I have cycled to work, for > 3 years (since 2006), and no longer cycle because my current workplace is too far. So does that make me ahead of the trend?

I did the 10 km running + 20 km cycling thing.

I was the last-but-one guy to finish and I did take twice the amount of time as the first guy to finish.

But I didn’t care about that. I expected to finish in 3 hours and I completed before that. And I finished strongly, not crawling to the end as I used to. I enjoyed the run, I enjoyed the cycling and I was satisfied.

Photos by Vikram:

It reminded me of the book “What I talk about when I talk about running” by Haruki Murakami that I read recently (borrowed from Varun).

I really liked the book, because Murakami puts into words the things I have felt as a runner but is almost impossible to truly explain it to somebody else.

Just to put things into perspective – Murakami started running in 1982 at the age of 30, running everyday since then for nearly 23 years. He has run at least one marathon every year, i.e., 23 marathons till date [when the book was published], and many more long-distance runs.

Some of my favorite passages from the book are below.

About the rhythm:

As long as I can run a certain distance, that’s all I care about. Sometimes I run fast when I feel like it, but if I increase the pace I shorten the amount of time I run, the point being to let the exhilaration I feel at the end of each run carry over to the next day. This is the same sort of tack I find necessary when writing a novel. I stop every day right at the ponit where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day’s work goes surprisingly smoothly. I think Ernest Hemingway did something like that. To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm. This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed – and to get to that point takes as much concentration and effort as you can manage.

About why we run:

Most ordinary runners are motivated by an individual goal, more than anything: namely, a time they want to beat. As long as he can beat that time, a runner will feel he’s accomplished what he set out to do, and if he can’t, then he’ll feel he hasn’t. Even if he doesn’t break the time he’d hoped for, as long as he has the sense of satisfaction at having done his very best – and, possibly, having made some significant discovery about himself in the process – then that in itself is an accomplishment, a positive feeling he can carry over to the next race.

… Marathon runners will understand what I mean. We don’t really care whether we beat any other particular runner. World-class runners, of course, want to outdo their closest rivals, but for your average, everyday runner, individual rivalry isn’t a major issue. I’m sure there are garden-variety runners whose desire to beat a particular rival spurs them on to train harder. But what happens if their rival, for whatever reason, drops out of the competition? Their motivation for running would disappear or at least diminish, and it’d be hard for them to remain runners for long.

For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself. At least that’s why I’ve put in the effort day after day: to raise my own level. I’m no great runner, by any means. I’m at an ordinary – or perhaps more like mediocre – level. But that’s not the point. The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.

About running as an outlet:

When I’m criticized unjustly (from my viewpoint, at least), or when someone I’m sure will understand me doesn’t, I go running for a little longer than usual. By running longer it’s like I can physically exhaust that portion of my discontent. It also makes me realize again how weak I am, how limited by abilities are. I become aware, physically, of these low points. And one of the results of running a little farther than usual is that I become that much stronger. If I’m angry, I direct that anger towards myself. If I have a frustrating experience, I used that to improve myself. That’s the way I’ve always lived. I quietly absorb the things I’m able to, releasing them later, and in as changed a form as possible, as part of the story line in a novel.

What do we think about when we run:

… The hour or so I spend running, maintaining my own silent, private time, is important to help me keep my mental well-being. When I’m running I don’t have to talk to anybody and don’t have to listen to anybody. All I need to do is gaze at the scenery passing by. This is a part of my day I can’t do without.

I’m often asked what I think about as I run. Usually the people who ask this have never run long distances themselves. I always ponder the question. What exactly do I think about when I’m running? I don’t have a clue.

On cold days I guess I think a little about how cold it is. And about the heat on hot days. When I’m sad I think a little about sadness. When I’m happy I think a little about happiness. As I mentioned before, random memories come to me too. And occasionally, hardly ever, really, I get an idea to use in a novel. But really as I run, I don’t think much of anything worth mentioning.

I just run. I run in a void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void. But as you might expect, an occasional thought will slip into this void. People’s minds can’t be a complete blank. Human beings’ emotions are not strong or consistent enough to sustain a vacuum. What I mean is, the kinds of thoughts and ideas that invade my emotions as I run remain subordinate to that void. Lacking content, they are just random thoughts that gather around that central void.

The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky as always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky. They sky both exists and doesn’t exist. It has substance and at the same time doesn’t. And we merely accept that vast expanse and drink it in.

About the last 20%:

… Rereading the article I wrote at the time of this run in Greece, I’ve discovered that after twenty-some years, and as many marathons later, the feelings I have when I run twenty-six miles are the same as back then. Even now, whenever I run a marathon my mind goes through the same exact process. Up to nineteen miles I’m sure I can run a good time, but past twenty-two miles I run out of fuel and start to get upset at everything. And at the end I feel like a car that’s run out of gas. But after I finish and some time has passed, I forget all the pain and misery and am already planning how I can run an even better time in the next race. The funny thing is, no matter how much experience I have under my belt, no matter how old I get, it’s all just a repeat of what came before.

I think certain types of processes don’t allow for any variation. If you have to be part of that process, all you can do is transform – or perhaps distort – yourself through that persistent repetition, and make that process a part of your own personality.

About pain:

… Of course it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren’t involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It’s precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive – or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself. If things go well, that is.

About the life lessons from running:

Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I push myself? How much rest is appropriate – and how much is too much? How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent? When does it become narrow-minded and inflexible? How much should I be aware of the world outside, and how much should I focus on my inner world? To what extent should I be confident in my abilities, and when should I start doubting myself? I know that if I hadn’t become a long-distance runner when I became a novelist, my work would have been vastly different. How different? Hard to say. But something would have definitely been different.

My time, the rank I attain, my outward appearance – all of these are secondary. For a runner like me, what’s really important is reaching the goal I set myself, under my own power. I give it everything I have, endure what needs enduring, and am able, in my own way, to be satisfied. From out of the failures and joys I always try to come away having grasped a concrete lesson. (It’s got to be concrete, no matter how small it is.) And I hope that, over time, as one race follows another, in the end I’ll reach a place I’m content with. Or maybe just catch a glimpse of it. (Yes, that’s a more appropriate way of putting it.)

Murakami explains beautifully on how running and life lessons are so intertwined. I like to think on the same lines too.

For example, if you find the concept of running boring – I can argue the same applies for life – get up, go to work, come back, watch TV for a few hours, repeat 5-6 times, then go out for a movie on the weekend. Most people follow the same routine every week. How boring, isn’t it?

If you find getting started with running difficult – the same applies for getting started with any new activity. Whether it is learning a new subject in school, learning a new technology or process at work, or learning how to become a good husband or wife – getting started is always difficult. But it doesn’t mean you give up, right?

If you think running is too much effort for nothing, the same applies for life – you struggle so hard to survive and keep moving forward in life… for what?

Running requires a certain rhythm to be achieved, only then you can truly enjoy it. Same applies for life. If you’re going fully strong, only then will there be a stride in your walk.

The last 20% is the really difficult part of any long-distance run. Same for any long-term project. Really taking things to completion will give you a high like nothing else will.

Running is about competing with yourself, not with others. Same applies for life. If all you care about is being in the top ten, then you’re not truly enjoying the run itself, your focus is on the finish. But every wise man has already said that it is about the journey, not the destination.

Running is most fun when you cross the finish line strongly and knowing that you could’ve done more. Same applies for life. It is depressing to have given up in life and just waiting for the end, it is much more invigorating and worthwhile to be moving strongly.

“I do not run to add days to my life — I run to add life to my days.”
– Ronald Rook

Here’s a photo essay of the trip:

When we were reaching our camp area, the entrance itself was impressive, and I was excited by such clear blue water.

We had Breakfast and “kashaya.”

A short swimming session as an icebreaker, getting used to lifejacket and basic lessons for those who don’t know to swim.

We spent most of the afternoon learning how to paddle a coracle (a fibre one for safety). It was difficult at first but this quickly became my favorite.

Scrumptious lunch by Dharma.

Resting after all that exercise.

We went to another island to get a good view of the sunset.

Explored the island a bit. It felt like we were one of the first humans to trample on some of the grass there. There were no humans on any of these islands.

Driving away bisons, apparently.

Coracling back to the camp.

Campfire at night

Sleeping in dome tents on an island next to the water with a zillion stars in the sky.

On the Second Day, we learned how to paddle the Kayak and Raft.

The kayak is easy to get started with, but once a little wind blows, it throws you off completely. It takes a while to learn how to counter this.

The raft was fun too, especially to fall off into the water whenever you felt like it.

We trekked to the top of the hill and then back to Sagar to catch the bus back to Bangalore.

I had a lot of fun thanks to the gang of people I met there:

That’s Venkat, Arun, Vinayak, Mihir, Abhishek, and Saurabh (from left to right). And, of course, I’m the one clicking the photo.

Special appreciation for Sampath and the whole organization for organizing this as well as doing it for the right reasons:

We anticipate your continued active support and blessings to improve the activities further. Our aim is to expand the direct rural employment further and there by contributing to rural household economy. Our One more greatest achievement is that, we were able to convert small time timber smugglers in to force which is fighting against the tree cutters in the Sharavathi Backwaters by providing the alternate livelihood for them. We promise to work for the over all rural development and nature conservation. Also to serve the true nature lovers with renewed vigor.

To know when is the next activity weekend, join the sharavathy-valley-trekking list. Highly recommended.

Note: All the photos shown above are from:

• Me
• Vinayak Hegde
• Arun
• Abhishek Sahai

Had to get up at 3AM in order to reach Cubbon Park at 4:30AM for the buses to take us to ‘Our Native Village’ resort in Hesaraghatta. We reached early at 6AM and were waiting for the day to begin.

The 37.5, 50, 75, 100KM runners started off at 6:30AM, and everyone were cheering them on. There was one person Santhosh who was running from 6PM on the previous day doing a target of 24 hours or 200KM. Phew.

On a random whim, I decided to tweet during the marathon.

6:59 AM: Waiting for the 25K run to start at 730, it sucks to wait for an hour after the 50+ K #ultra runners

7:30 AM: Start!

I decide to run without music for the first 20 min.

After a while, I started listening to a talk by David Heinemeier Hansson on ‘The Great Surplus’ which is a really good talk that I recommend any dev should listen to. After that was over, I didn’t have the mental processing energy to listen to more podcasts, so I switched to listening to music.

I think the majority of runners here were either listening to music or running in groups.

Life Lesson learned: Do whatever it takes to keep your motivation high.

9:00 AM: Finished first loop of 12.5 km in exactly 1.5 hours. Not sure if I can complete within my target time of 3 hours.

9:25 AM: Body begs to stop. Mind says hell no.

Life Lesson learned: It’s all in the mind.

9:37 AM: Starting to feel that good pain in the knees.

Life Lesson learned: You need to cross a certain threshold of activity before you start feeling positive and energized. Activity precedes motivation.

9:52 AM: Reached 3/4th mark. 2 hours 23 minutes. There are a few people retired hurt on the mats and doctor is treating them… Getting some electral.

Life Lesson learned: I strangely found tweeting through the marathon actually helped me being more positive. It had the same effect as journaling. In this case, I got to vent my pain and frustration. After that, I felt lighter, felt like I had a fresh start and felt the need to do something more/better that is worth tweeting about.

9:55 AM: This is one beautiful location. Green everywhere.

Life Lesson learned: The right environment matters.

10:04 AM: 50+km runners whizzing by. How do they do that.

Life Lesson learned: There will always be people better than you but you shouldn’t get bogged down. As Bob Parsons says “Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.”

10:40 AM: 2km to go. Signs of cramps.

Life Lesson learned: As Bob Parsons says “When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think. There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: ‘The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.’”

10:55 AM: Finished. 25 km in 3 hours 24 minutes. More than I wished. But ran better than expected. So happy.

11:04 AM: Nothing like pushing yourself beyond what you think you can. Amazing what the human mind and body can do.

Life Lesson learned: Life is more meaningful and fun when you have big hairy audacious goals.

The best part was that my timing had improved significantly from last time where I finished in 3 hr 52 min – an improvement of nearly half an hour! I usually berate myself on not performing well, but this was something even I was happy about especially because I finished strongly and not limping to the finish line as I had experienced in previous marathons.

Life Lesson learned: (Again) As Bob Parsons says: “Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.”

Life Lesson learned: It’s tough. Are you?

You’re running on guts. On fumes. Your muscles twitch. You throw up. You’re delirious. But you keep running because there’s no way out of this hell you’re in, because there’s no way you’re not crossing the finish line. It’s a misery that non-runners don’t understand.

– Martine Costello

Update: Santhosh finally completed 156KM! Also, Tanvir has compiled a list of blog posts by various Ultra runners.

What was interesting was that nearly 35-40 people had shown up, which was quite unexpected.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes/trailer of the movie:

Rohan Kini and gang are basically running this cycle shop on Saturdays to encourage cycling and to help people buy and maintain their bikes. If you are interested in taking up cycling, you know whom to contact.

I had taken some photos of their “Bike shop on the Roof Top” the last time I visited:

including Rohan Kini unpacking and assembling a 40,000 rupees worth Trek 6000-series cycle!

Thanks to Bums on the Saddle for hosting the screening of the movie.