SCMM 2015

These are some really long notes about SCMM and running.

Sometimes I think in my perfect world I would never register for races. Nor would I travel to different places just to be able to run in an organized fashion. Its not my perfect world, and hence for above reasons I take decisions from time to time to register for racing events and train for them with experts. 

Before every outstation event I go through this :
i. make travel plans a month/15 days in advance
ii.  plan my clothes (its a big part of how you fare at any run!) well in advance. Shop if required and practice in them.
iii. Excitement starts building up in the race week.
iv. The Friday before the race is full of travel anxiety.No productive work gets done. I still go to office (Must thank my stars that no one bothers me with important work on such fridays!)
v. Dream about things that may go wrong. For eg. What if I do not reach the venue on time and they disqualify me. Such positive thinking makes me full of nerves. I am *this* short of outbirsts.
vi. Travel. Travel. Travel.
vii. Meet friends to keep mind off d-day. If possible shop, eat out.
viii. Try to get minimum 6 hours of sleep. Though my brain clock wakes me up at ungodly hours like 2.30 am, 3.30 am and then finally 4.30 am.

Till now (this was my 4th half marathon), I have not missed out on showing up at any event. Things haven't gone as worse as I play the what-if scenarios in my head. But all this has somewhere made me a better human being. 
I look at the positives. I make plan A-G to be executed during any run. My failover scenarios are ready. And I feel as if I am raring to go. Exactly 2 years ago when I started running, I would not have been able to say a single word about all this, of course for lack of experience. These stretch-your-limits experiences have taught me to be prepared and not prepared for elements of life. I am also not sure if I am conveying any meaning out of the words I just typed. 

Anywho, the point is this is my way of tackling pointlessness which loves making its presence felt in my head from time to time. After every race pointlessness takes a backseat and I gain one point. You see the point I am making ?

So if you are a runner in India then SCMM marks the official end of running season here. Its one of the oldest, well organized and prestigious events here! 
I signed up for SCMM to nicely seal off my training plan for the year and later to serve as a marker to analyze running performance over the year. I had a good amount of rest in the race week, showed up well before flag off at start point, clicked selfies with friends, ate almonds, calmed my nerves by remembering favorite bollywood songs. Somewhere I was not feeling that strong, but I had following goals laid out :
A. Target the 2.15 hour bus, wherever the pacers were. Run my own race as all the 5 pacers of the 2.15 bus had weird pacing strategies. If I finished 9.5 km in one hour then I would be able to finish in 2.15 hours by staying strong in the last segment i.e. post 18km.
B. Do a personal best.
C. Run my own race. Did I say this already ?

I started really slow as planned, gained pace over the majestic worli sea link, got steady with every passing kilometer. Surprisingly, I did not have to take a single walking break till 17th km, even for drinking water. Even during the infamous steep Pedder Road incline. *humble brag* I could not run a single kilometer without walking breaks 2 years ago and in my last half marathon I took 10 seconds walking breaks just to gulp water. A huge shoutout to RP and their training!

I was taking 2-3 sips of water every 5-7 minutes to compensate for the humidity in Mumbai. My body showed first sign of weakness in the form of salt loss at 16 km with cramps in lower left abdomen. I immediately switched to sipping enerzal from a nearby aid station. They went away fairly quickly. The next event happened post 17km. Lower right abdomen started cramping. This time I walked for 10 seconds, sipped good amount of enerzal and water. Willed it to go away. Bugger did not. It kept on making its presence felt even if my body took a slight bend or tried to do something different to steer my brain away from the pain. I let the body take over the brain which was in such a good controlling position till now. In a way I knew my race was over specially goal A. I walked a bit more. Let time slip by. Post the 18th km marker, I decided I would walk every 20 seconds. But. But. But. The mumbai crowd and excellent support system in the form of bands playing live music, dance troupes, motivational songs, showed up. Damn! How could I even imagine to walk when so many unknown faces were cheering all of us weirdos for no particular reason to keep going. So I kept going. At a slow and steady pace. The pain went away. I crossed the finish line with a timing of 2:21:25. And fainted. This is what real electrolyte loss feels like, I told myself. I steadied and made way to the amazing and special recovery area for women athletes (if I may call myself so without any pretense). 

#scmm2015 memories

SCMM is a really well organized event. Water and aid stations are plenty and well placed. If you have studied your race route well, you would find water/aid stations exactly where you were supposed to find them. In addition locals setup stalls to help poor, thirsty and hungry runners. 
But this year's race felt too crowded for my taste. There was not a stretch where you could have the patch of a street to yourself. That's my only grouch. I can imagine how tough it can be to organize an event on such a massive scale so my only plea to the organizers is to cut down on entries. Pretty please!

So what am I up to now ?
I am still recovering from the race. I have showed up at work. I have achieved my personal best timing. And I have learnt to run my own race and enjoy what I can by planning what I can plan for during a run. I am also grateful to the support my friends and family give and sometimes plan their life around my running schedule. I am now going through marathon events in India this year and listing down interesting ones. I'll plan a part of my year around them. Because as I mentioned at the beginning, in my perfect world I would never register for or run races.

Satara hill marathon 2014

I can see this blog is slowly becoming a place to document running events. But as long as I keep on writing here, no one's loss right ?

The Satara Hill Marathon is an elite ultra marathon event in Maharashtra, which only in its 3rd year has already become famous for some superlative arrangements for runners and gorgeous and tough route. I ran the 10 k race there yesterday and immediately made a plan to run the half marathon next year.

I and P reached Satara, (1.5 hours drive, 2 hours by bus and 3 hours by train, away from Pune) a day before, collected* our stuff (kit consisting of bib, running tee, route map and other goodies)  from the expo and set about exploring Satara. 
* Great story about the managing team here: They sent a wrong text message regarding the bib number and race category to a bunch of participants. I was one of them. My immediate thought was to get this resolved at the expo itself. To my surprise, I received an email the next day, where they admitted their mistake and gave instructions about what should be done by these participants. I think this was a pretty good corrective measure in what could have been a management disaster, where I could picture participants arguing and fighting with the marathon staff.

Satara has a distinct small town feel to it. There is not much to do in the city itself, except some amazing foodie treats. But around the city are some great escapades like, Sajjangad, thoseghar falls, kass valley (smaller version of valley of flowers) which are 30-40 minutes drive away from the city. So if you are the adventurous kind and would not mind exploring these instead of resting it off, these are a must visit. Of course, we did not do any of this as we were quite anxious about the run the next day.

We hit the sack early and got up at 4.30 am on race day. Owing to the fact that our hotel had some cleanliness and water issues. Runner tip: If possible get an idea about where you will be staying in advance to avoid such issues.

We reached the start point when the half marathon was about to start. After cheering the amazing elite and non elite runners for the half marathon and some warm up, we queued up for the 10k race. The 10 k race, starts in the city, takes one to the sahyadri ghaats upto 5km and then one returns to the start point having gained an elevation of 2034 ft. 
I clicked this picture during one of the water breaks -> 

<3

Needless to say I had not run on a route which is outside the city limits and is surrounded by luscious green hills. I was mesmerized by the views on my way upto the 5k mark. The return was even more beautiful with view of Satara city covered by fog and mist in the early morning hours and the sun penetrating the cover. I did not click any pictures on the way down from the ghaats as I was busy capturing the beauty for my own sake. I will go back to these images in my head over and over, is the only thing I can say right now.

The live traditional dhol-tutari played by local troupes welcomed the runners back in the arena on completion. That along with some astounding ground support all along the route made this one of the most well managed events I have attended since I started running.

I wish to come back over and over again to this wonderful city and these amazing people, just to run with nature and take it all in. If you are a runner anywhere and reading this, then I also urge you to visit the Satar Hill Marathon. You will not be disappointed!

Distracting the distracted

New work has the most chilling air-conditioning. 
New work also has a very good espresso machine. The 2 go well together. When the cold takes over me, I just go and get myself some nice, hot coffee.
Of course, normally this is not an issue.

who made these chocolates!!!

But I am allergic to coffee. As I am allergic to many random things, I go on a sneeze fest.
Plus among the variety of liquids that go inside my system over the day, milk, tea, water, juice, also this ----------------------------->
I thought an intervention will do me some good.
As if the stars were waiting for me to think about this, I came across this (through a friend's tweet).


I use stairs everyday and don't really need any sugar reduction (because guess what I DONT like sweets much!), so I picked a combination of these two:
1. No liquids other than water (in my case milk, juices) for a month
2. 100 stairs everyday (that's just climbing up) for a month


So starting March 1st, I am going on a month long abstinence from coffee, alcohol, carbonated liquids (of any kind, in any form) and will be taking only stairs wherever possible. The second one comes naturally to me. The first errmm. It will need some restraint. Considering there will be a lot of outings happening this month, I can see my prospects at the parties, as being the not-fun one. Also, the Espresso machine! I know it is going to miss me. 
But hey, guess what, I HAVE to start somewhere to be more healthy!


In conjunction with these, I am going to practice Katakana everyday (I havent practiced for more than a month now!). And also not going to skip breakfast. Even if it means eating alone.


A very big step for an already distracted girl. I am telling you.


~nightflier


P.S. I have skipped tea because, when I catch an allergic cold, it is the *only* sane option.

Luring oneself into action by giving an Oscar

So I have been suffering from procrastination and lack of self discipline for a long time now. So much that I was not even doing my regular bit of yoga regularly [I think if while going to sleep any body part aches/feels pain one is not fit. (I also read similar such thing on Tanvii's blog some time back and completely nodded with a vigorous head shake) So stick to at least 20 minutes of exercise everyday]
So things needed to be straightened big time. First things first to start a good day one needs to wake up in time to have timely tea/coffee, breakfast and then daily chores. So I lured myself into this trap of watching Oscars, which started airing here at 6 am. Like a good girl got up by throwing away all impulses to snooze the alarm and go back to sleep [I went to sleep at 12 you see, after watching that GREAT match of cricket. What nonsense!] While aishwarya and abhishek gabbed about how they accidentally were in LA, I started my day on a resounding note. Successful yoga mixed with stretching exercises for 30 minutes without tiring myself out. And then I was left to nothing but watch the show. Instead of tweeting with a hashtag, I compiled all my reactions (140 characters or not) and thought would attach as an adage to the post (Again!!). 


To put it succinctly if you want to skip my tweets :D 
"The show was a sham. The hosting was really mediocre. I brightened up only when Billy Crystal, Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law were on the stage (all three are personal favorites)"


# and they start the show with a fabulous montage of all the best picture nominees


# Alec Baldwin touch is EPIC. I like Alec Baldwin FYI.


# howmuchever one criticizes the writer's sense of humor, having Anne Hathaway and James Franco up there presenting the show is refreshing for the eyes!


# the art director winner guy is actually trembling!!!


# James Franco really looks bored out of his wits!!!


# did not know Kirk Douglas was Michael's father! :0


# though toy story 3 is amazing, I had loved how to train your dragon more! but one more for steve jobs and his enterprise! (His good health features in my prayers these days)


# I will be a late bloomer - David seidler (the original screenplay winner guy) :)


# Russel Brand and Helen Mirren should have hosted, no ?


# Reese witherspoon OMG. All dolled up but pretty nonetheless!


# Had a little patriotic moment with AR Rehman's name being announced


# Now Social Network's soundtrack was really really AWESOME. Well Deserved.


# Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. Drooooooool. (I recently watched a Jude Law, Natalie Portman gem Closer and cannot get that starting shot out of my head!)


# And Anne Hathaway is looking like lady gaga (love her voice and few songs) look-a-like in that blue dress.


# I have no favorites as such. Just clearing the airs. (I have watched only toy story 3, Inception and social network amongst the best picture nominees)


# and now Anne Hathaway has turned into an eye sore. Such a pretty face and what a bad dress. 


# James Franco looked horribly bored and looked as if all this was a gag.


# Why does Steven Spielberg always present best picture award ? (or his face looks really common or I have a bad memory. Last I saw oscars was some 3-4 years ago.)


# So my twitter timeline is all sad and mourning as King's Speech won instead of Social Network.


Anyways, as I finish (check for spelling mistakes) the post, our finance minister has finished producing the budget. Baba points out price rise of branded clothes. I promptly message my brother who I am sure will indulge in some shopping before things get implemented.  
I personally care about my jeans brand (Have a strange connection between the make of a jeans and its fitting in my head). And sadly I dont need any new jeans. So there! Budget wraps up for me.


~nightflier