Running Experience 2: My first Half-Marathon

Dear Friends,

Happy Deepavali!

I could see more than 80 hits to my previous post in which I shared my experiences of my first venture running a 10K event. Thank you for your encouraging response!

Running 10K had brought a different kind of confidence in me. I started believing in myself and in my own stamina. I could relate to a swimmer who has learnt his art in swimming pool suddenly crossing a good depth stream/river swimming from one end to another. Similar kind of feeling was there in other runners also in my running group. We continued our daily routine of practice sessions. After that event in Oct 2012 we got another chance in Mar 2013 to participate in another 10K which helped us in building further confidence. But by this time few of us - Prabhu, Sahana and myself started thinking about trying out a Half-Marathon (HM) in the 2013 edition of Celebration Mysore Run. 

Preparation: Running a HM (21.1K) means more than doubling the level of bar. You need to run 11.1K more and if you are running at my pace (around 6 minutes per km), you need to run 67 minutes more continuously! The numbers themselves speak about the complexity of task in hand. At that time, I didn't have anyone to guide how to prepare for a HM. Before that my running practices were only on weekday evenings. With HM firmly in mind, I thought I needed to put extra effort, hence I started practicing on weekends (either Saturday or Sunday). I used the famous Kukkarahalli Lake of Mysuru as my practice spot. The lake has a circumference measuring 3.6K and the road is wide enough to run in good pace. I used to do 2-3 rounds with proper stretching exercises before and after each run. On weekdays I continued my routine of running 4-5K every day. Topping up I also did some medicine ball exercises, lunge walks and parallel bar exercises to build stamina. In Aug 2013, I bought my first smart phone and got introduced to the world of mobile apps. As per my friend Yaju's suggestion, I got the app MyTracks installed on my phone and started tracking my workouts. 

Injury scare: Because of the increased running on weekends I started getting pain in my right knee. The pain persisted for more than a week and it forced me to go to Physiotherapist. As per my physio's guidance I did few simple stretches for couple of weeks and I could overcome the pain. Also I hit gym to do some leg strengthening exercises. Also I took a Protein supplement for a month.

Run up to the race: As time passed and when it was just a month away from the race, I stepped up my weekend practice sessions from 10K to 12K to 14K. A week before the race I went for 40 rounds on my athletic track running on different numbered tracks. MyTracks app showed 18K after 40th round and after running for nearly 2 hours. I was very happy with my practice though I was a bit worried as my hairs went complete dry after the race. It was due to excessive dehydration, I was OK after having a good serving of fluids. The confidence grew after that practice session, with which I could set myself the completion target of 2 hours 30 minutes for my first HM.

Race day: At the lineup I was a bit nervous but I had made up my mind that I would try to run without stopping as long as possible may be the complete race itself and achieve the target set for myself. By that time, I was used to running with a water bottle and a small hand towel in hand. On the race day also I had got the bottle filled with water mixed with the ORS (Oral Re-hydration Salts) powder. I also wore a head band to prevent the sweat flowing from head into eyes. After the flag off I started running steadily and after a km picked up my regular pace. Since I was running with bottle in hand, I could avoid taking breaks at water points. I took minimal breaks, I remember at one water point I quickly grabbed a piece of banana and in another a piece of biscuit. After 14K I started getting some negative thoughts like - Why am I running? Why shouldn't the organizers keep category of 15K (so that I could stop after a km :D)? Is it worth? People say Long distance running is more about mind ruling body. But at that juncture for me it was Body over Mind. Despite getting these thoughts my body was not giving up, I kept on running and after passing 15K all those thoughts went off my mind. The route was amazing with its share of elevations and downs and comprised a 5K long stretch of trail run on Kukkarahalli lake. After 18K I started experiencing tiredness but I told myself not to give up and kept on encouraging myself saying"Just 3K", "Just 2K", "10 more minutes", "5 more minutes"... The last 300 meters stretch was an elevation but somehow I gathered all the energy, ran fast and crossed the finish line to get myself honored with a Finisher medal from one of the designated volunteers.

It was like all the energy of my body had got seeped out, I was finding it difficult to stand also. After having some water and relaxing with the help of friends I could come back to normalcy in 5-10 minutes. I had kept track of my run and it was showing 2 hours 16 minutes. As I did it in my first 10K I had beaten my set target in HM also, this time by 14 minutes. I was really overwhelmed with my performance. In our running group, as mentioned earlier, Prabhu and Sahana also participated in HM and completed strongly. Many others took part in 10K category and everyone had finished strong.

Left (with runner friend Prabhu) ; Right (At the finish line)

Also on that day I met an amazing runner named Umang Kamra who later became one of my buddies. But that day I didn't have any idea on how much this man could influence me and few others in coming years to take up the long distance running from hobby level to serious amateur level. I will tell more about Umang in my next post.

After getting back to home I got severe headache because of strain and I slept off. After a couple of hours rest I was fine with little heaviness in legs. The heaviness stayed for another day and I was back to my normal practice sessions. With great pride, I posted my photos on Facebook. I remember tagging Rajesh (my senior colleague and friend who ran HM in 2011 and had encouraged me to take up long distance running) in one of my posts and requesting him not to suggest me to try a marathon (by that time he had already completed 2-3 full marathons)! Because of the tiredness I had experienced post race, I had told myself not to venture for a full marathon! But the destiny had a different plan...(more will follow).

Thank you for reading,

Regards,
Chetan