Marathon Mania : My 3rd Appearance @ World 10 K

My third appearance at the much popular marathon (technically this is not a marathon :P ) in the Southern part of India and I had some unrealistic aims set for this event. For starters I had an aim of finishing my 10k run within the 50 min mark. Why the 50 min mark ??!!! , you can blame that on the organizers. They have segregated the runners as Category A for those having a best time of within 50 mins, Category B for those having it between 50 mins and 1hr 20 mins and Category C for anything above it. Missing the Category A by just 2 mins and being officially classified as a second class runner got me raging mad :P. So decided that no matter what I would finish within 50 mins and calm myself down.

But with the total show of strength being close to 23,000 pair of legs and growing exponentially over the last few years, I somehow knew that this is going to be one tough job. For starters the initial pain of overtaking innumerable slow runners/walkers makes matters worse. There were a lot of slow runners/walkers since the corporate participants were let into the track before us. But on the other hand weather was superb thanks to heavy rains the previous day and the overcast sky. Were let into the track at around 7.20 am @ Kanteerva Stadium. The run again goes through the traditional route followed the previous years comprising of Kasturba Road, MG Road, Cubbon Road, Vidhana Soudha and finally Cubbon Park before ending back at Kanteerva Stadium. Maintained a constant pace of around 11.5 kmph and finished my race strong with a final sprint with a timing of 52:46 mins, 6s slower than my best :). Over the previous 3 editions my timing has improved from 59:57 mins(2010) to 55:40 mins(2011) to 52:46 mins(2013). Atleast was satisfied bettering my event record :P.

But one thing I learned was never to have a timing goals at this event. Just run for the love of running, enjoying the company of the fellow runners and absorbing the whole festive spirit. My overall ranking was 593 and surprisingly my gender ranking was 585. That means only 8 females in the whole of Bangalore have a better timing than myself ?????!!!!!!!....(out of that I saw 2 western ladies overtaking me :P ) This ratio is definitely skewed and I guess more females should be encouraged to take up running as a sport.

The organizers have announced that this year too the top 850 male runners would get the Nike Finishers T-shirt (THE t-shirt which cant be bought but earned ;) ), down from 1500 given the last few years. The number of participants are increasing, but these guys are reducing the number, looks like they need some basic lessons in ratios. Anyway, hopefully they are increasing the quality of the t-shirts. Still working hard for the coveted Category A :).

OFFICIAL STATS:
Name: Nithin Uliyar
Bib No : 1808
Net Time : 52:46 mins
Overall Rank : 593
Gender Rank : 585

Update (30 June 2013)
Got my finisher T-shirt :)

Ek Aur Phunny Bideo !!!!!

Run Fatboy Run !!!!!!

"Running is equivalent to meditation !!!!!"
Have any of you heard this above statement ??? This is in fact true in my case.

How do you define meditation?
According to me meditation is something where you live in the present moment, not worrying about the past or the future and simultaneously keeping your mind at peace. To achieve this concept of  living in the present, meditation involves concentrating on each and every breath inhaled and exhaled. And finally the awareness and feeling of each and every part of the body.

For me running is everything the above definition states and more. While running your whole concentration is on moving the body forward one step at a time, taking deep breaths of air in order to fuel that motion, feeling each and every part of the body, especially via the sensation of pain which makes you live at the present moment. This is of-course somewhat different from a traditional sense of meditation. Its like trying to find peace in midst of absolute chaos. There is literally no scope to get distracted with any other thoughts creeping regarding the past or the future. In other words the mind is totally void of any unnecessary thoughts, in short a calm and peaceful mind.

It has been nearly 5 years since I started running. So it was high time I ranted something in favor of it :P.  It was more of a necessity back then and this necessity was triggered by a lifestyle of just working for 7 months in the corporate world. 7 months of corporate world and my triglyceride level was 171 mg/dL, which exceeded the normal value in unison with its other cholesterol cousins. So what solution comes to my mind???? RUNNING OF-COURSE and in one of the most unlikely places to do it. Initially was running within my house, up-down in the terrace and so on. I was way too shy to run on the streets or scared of  being chased by dogs because I didn't want to end up as an object of ridicule to someone , since I couldn't run for more than a couple of minutes altogether.

The first month was the toughest. You could not run for more than 5 mins, hence the motivation was low , and on top of that there were pains at all the unimaginable places post the run. But something kept on inspiring me to keep on running and surprisingly I did. Gradually over a period of time I started to become better and better. And when someone starts to improve in something there is a constant urge to keep on bettering that. Finally I had a sustainable motivation which has been driving me for the past 5 years. It does surprise me when I reach a goal which I thought to be impossible a year back.... bringing out the fact that with necessary dedication anything is possible with the human body and more importantly the human mind.

The first official run I took part was in the Sunfeast Bangalore 10K 2010 , clocking a time of 59:57 mins. The subsequent year it was 55:40. Of late my official fastest time in 10K is 52:40 min and my BHAG for this year (Big-Hairy-Audacious-Goal!!!!) is a timing of under 45 mins. Hopefully would be able to do that in TCS Bangalore 10K on May 19. Keeping my fingers crossed. Apart from the countless 10K's I have run , I have run only 1 half-marathon (2:18:26 hrs) and 1 full-marathon(5:29:05 hrs). The later 2 were done in quick successions in order to strike out an entry in my bucket list :P. Moving on I plan to concentrate only on 10K's and half marathons, bettering my personal records. Eventhough I dont have plans of running full marathons frequently, considering that it takes a toll on the legs and the overall physical well being, pushing the body to the extremes, I do plan to run that distance for some special occasions like my bada-BHAG (Biggest-Hairiest-Audacious-Goal !!!!) of becoming an Ironman triathlete :) (3.9 km swim, 180 km cycling, 42.2 km run to be done within 17hrs ), hopefully would be one before I turn 40 :P.

Another reason for taking up running is that now I eat whatever I want -totally bindass. No Dieting, Not bothering abt calories-  running pretty much compensates everything. It might be because of the same reason that I have not lost weight in the past 3 years and have the perfect weight for my height. Neither less nor more :). And this is one the cheapest sports out there, just slip into your favorite sneakers and run your heart out on the endless roads, churning out mile after mile. If there is one sport which signifies freedom, running would surely be at the top of that list :). Freedom from capitalist society with minimal or no gear required, freedom from dependence on an other individual, freedom from time of the run, freedom from competing with other individual (everyone is running their own races) which leads to freedom from worries, strategy and probably backstabbing  and finally freedom from unnecessary thoughts.

But apart from the good side there is an ugly side to running too. Run very frequently without a break and you end up with a busted knee. So I do keep in mind not to run more than twice in a week. Further I plan to participate in just 2-3 events in a year so that they are distributed over the entire year and providing sufficient motivation to train in sun, rain or cold.  And in order to supplement my running i have taken up cycling, kickboxing and planning to be a regular swimmer too :). So in short I can be termed as a pakka fitness freak :P.

So end of the day what is my present triglyceride count? which started it all in the first place.... it has come down to 94 mg/dL :).

"Pain is just temporary, Victory is forever !!!!!"

P.S.-->The title is shamelessly hijacked from a movie of a same name starring Simon Pegg, where his character runs a full marathon. A rather hilarious take on it :).

Image Courtesy: Navy Running.

A Coastal Sojourn: Drive, Dive and Run !!!!!

"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF"(Darth Vader Style) "GURGGGGGLE"!!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!

This is pretty much the only thing you hear while Scuba Diving.
 "हर एक सांस  का एहसास" (u get to feel every breath) gushes the beautiful Katrina Kaif in 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. And for once I do agree with what they say in movies. You become aware of every breath you take, sucking in air through a tube and releasing it in form of millions of bubbles, which is pretty much the only thing that is keeping you alive. And the views you get to see is just "WOAAAHHH!!!!", its much-much better experiencing it than what is shown in the idiot box by the channels like Discovery and NGC. A must-try for the adventure loving people. Became such a huge fan of this sport that even planning to become a certified diver sometime next year :).

Group Shot

With a free weekend and Raghu's marriage falling on the same we decided to go for a trip. Shashi had prior plans of running 10K @ Nitte-Mangalore Marathon, hence resulting in combining all the individual events into a grand plan of ours. First was to attend wedding @Sirsi, Second was to go for Scuba Diving @Netrani Island and third was to participate in the 10K run @ Mlore. Got myself registered for the 10K run, reason being to give company to Shashi in particular and for my love of running in general :). Contacted Dreamz Diving Centre  and booked our slots for Saturday (23 Feb 2012), with the fee being 4.5k/head. Since this island is a restricted island one has to get permission from the Navy beforehand itself which is part of the diving package.

5 of us(Vineeth, Manju,Harsha, Shashi and Myself) left Bangalore on 22 Feb @ an unearthly hour of 4.15 am in Shashi's brand new Chevy Sail hatchback. Since the car was new it couldn't be driven at speeds exceeding 90kmph and this tested our patience when driving in the 4 laned Pune highway.  So much so that I was eager to get off the Golden Quadrilateral and ride in the 2 laned state highways, which was much more fun at these speeds. We got into a State highway near Harihara and from there it was smooth drive till Sirsi. We reached just in time to attend the marriage, enjoyed a sumptuous lunch and it was time to drive all the way to Murudeshwara in a highway kissing the coastline. Reached the place by dusk booked a room in a secluded place called 'Sea Side View Resort'. Roamed around Murudehswar for the rest of evening, chilling out.

Netrani Island

Got up pretty late next day since we had to report to the dive centre only by 9am. After reaching the venue on time we got to know that "9am" was the time mentioned only so that people make an effort to come early. One by one everyone of the 19 people registered for the "Discover Scuba Diving" program showed up and we started to our destination only by 10.30 am. The 1.5 hrs boat ride to Netrani Island which is 18kms from the coast is pretty boring, with nothing much to do. But one of the Hungarian dive instructor gave an introductory talk about underwater sign languages, the gear, adjusting body to the depth etc during this time, but unfortunately that lasted only for about 30 mins. Reached the totally desolate Netrani Island , a small hillock in middle of nowhere. In fact this island is used by the Navy for target practice, and hence taking their permission is an absolute necessity. The sun was bright and up , the water was still,clear and dark aqua green, hence making it an ideal condition for diving. Eventhough the water was not totally transparent as in Lakshadweep (within the lagoons), this would do for our first diving session without having to travel great distances.

Plan was dive to a maximum depth of 12m(40ft) and the duration of the dive being around 40 mins. Each novice diver is accompanied by an expert diver and one doesn't need to know swimming for this program, with the buoyancy control inbuilt in the diver's jacket making one float effortlessly at a particular depth. For obvious reasons everyone cant dive at the same time since there are only around 5 expert divers, the others were left to do snorkeling which looks like a big joke after scuba diving :D. They called for the first 3 divers and it was vineeth, shashi and myself volunteering within no time. Then started the gearing up process. Couple of fins connected to the legs, a compressed air cylinder in the back with a nozzle to the mouth, a dive mask over the face and a 20kg lead weight belt to the waist. They asked me to get up and sit on the side platform of the boat and to my utter surprise I couldnt even stand up in my first attempt due to all that weight. Finally was able to and then comes the scary part, with the tank facing water and feet inside the boat, they flip the body upside down so that the tank enters the water first. Supposedly a standard diving procedure to avoid the tank weight falling on top of the diver.

The first few minutes my instructor tried to familiarize me with breathing, clearing the face mask, adjusting the ear pressure as we went down and so on. Once I understood everything it was time to dive. Was initially a bit scared and this resulted in some heavy breathing which snowballed into me thinking that enough air is not getting pumped through the pipe :P. Call it the paradox of fear :D. But after some time got to know the problem, tried to relax and after that it was a smooth ride. Every time we dived couple of meters the ear would pain and I would have to adjust the pressure by just popping the nose :P. Then the beauty of this place started to emerge. Thousands of the fishes swimming here and there , in so many bright colors.

I never expected to see such huge schools of fishes anywhere near to the mainland. Every now and then there would be fish floating just in front of my eyes, blue, green, orange with violet stripes, brown, translucent ....pretty much an endless list with sizes varying from minuscule 0.5 inch to around 3 feet. Felt altogether in a different world, where one is totally weightless and there is no effort to keep oneself afloat. And when one looks up towards the water surface, one is easily spellbound by the rays getting refracted through the water and giving various different light patterns . Was able to descend to the max possible depth of 40ft without any problems, giving a thumbs up for any future options :).

After scuba diving session tried to do some snorkeling and by then it was time to return back. This was followed by yet another boring ride. Reached the coast at around 5 pm and it was time to leave for Mangalore for the final leg. Reached Mangalore at around 8pm and went directly to Hotel Pentagon off Pumpwell circle to collect the BIB and timing chip. From here we went to have our dinner @ Mainland China nearby, thnks to a treat by Shashi. All of us were in shorts, especially me in extra short swim-shorts , attracting stares from a lot of beautiful girls :D. Kinda felt like a girl wearing a mini skirt and getting stares from guys :D :D.  Went to Hotel Woodside @ Balmatta Road and it was time to call it a day.

Me and Shashi got up early @ 5.45 am to reach the 10K run destination @ Mangala Stadium. We were just in time and sharp @ 6.40 we were flagged off. Majority of the route was through concrete roads which took bit of a toll on my legs. But the major turnoff running in this marathon is that traffic is not stopped enroute. So that leaves runners nowhere else to run but along with buses, 2 wheelers zig-zaging through traffic. I was like "WTF!!!!!" .Humidity was another factor which took some time getting used to. Apart from that the route had a lot of gradients to be negotiated, making it a pretty tough track. Finally when I was just 100 m from the finish like as per my norms I started sprinting really fast, and this was suddenly cheered by a huge crowd comprising majorly of pretty girls from some local engineering college and this further fueled my final push and I completed my run in 52 min 40 secs, my best 10k finish time. When I say my GPS reading I was really shocked seeing that the last 100m I had clocked a speed of 21.1 kmph :D, my fastest marathon finish ever and u know what some cheering from pretty girls can do :D.

Just before leaving M'lore we had a feast of sorts @ Pabba's supposedly the place for best ice-cream in Karnataka. The return drive was eventless and we reached Bangalore at around 5 pm. Looks like I have one more hobby to be interested in, but to become a certified diver I have to become an expert swimmer, which I am not at the present moment, therefore starting towards my new goal. So that I can dive at any location across the world, with the options being endless :).

Underwater Photo's Courtesy: Dreamz Diving


Official Run Timing:

Overall Rank	Bib	Name	Category	Category Rank	Split @6.5	Net Time / Gross Time
55/160	2052	NITHIN ULIYAR	OPEN	46/126	00:34:02	00:52:40 / 00:52:48

Route Map:


View Larger Map

"TvaRun": The IIM-B Community Run

Tvarun means acceleration in sanskrit language and this was the name given to the first edition of the annual IIM-B run with participants varying from alumni, students, professors and kids of any of these. Kind-off a IIM-B family get-together. All the participants were called to assemble at exactly  6.45 am on a lazy and a chilly Sunday morning of 17 Feb 2013. Since running 10k was part of my regular training regime didnt do anything special for this race. The 10k run started at exactly 7 am and so we started running through the awesome shade filled streets of IIM-B.  There were close to a 100 participants for the 10k run. The sun was pretty much out in glory but couldnt penetrate the thick foliage. Within the first 100m of the race the groups were formed with me part of the leading group. Shocking !!!!! In any of the marathons I have run so far I have never been a part of the leading group , let alone 3rd place :). I was running with a constant pace of around 12kmph , my usual speed for my weekly runs for the first 2.5km. 

But as soon as I crossed the 3km mark my speed dropped to 11kmph and then to 10kmph and then I was overtaken by a lot of people. Really a lot of runners with the number being 10 :(. Since there were no timing chips the organizers had come up with a unique concept of collecting colored rubber-bands at strategic places, which somehow felt like taking part in some competition in school :). Enjoyed that part too. Anyway finished the race strong with a final sprint and with my career best timing of around 53 mins for 10k. Not bad, even though I couldnt even make it to the top 10 finishers. But having seen the competition have a new goal of having a podium finish sometime soon, since non of the competitors are professional athletes and neither am I :).

Photo Courtesy : IIM-B Volunteers

Update Oct 2, 2014

Finished 7th after a last minute nail biting overtaking of an exchange student :)