“When
you make yourself as your role model, nothing is impossible for you, especially
when you are putting your efforts 100%.”
It all started with my
participation in Dream Run of SCMM 10 and later in SCMM 11. I was amazed to see
the whole Mumbai coming on roads and running their respective category runs.
Though I was upset that I didn’t go for Half Marathons in these two seasons, I
was determined to participate in HMs in future runs. The year went by and as
determined, I registered for SCMM Half Marathon 2012 through my then employer. I
promised to train myself but it never happened except few (2-3) practice runs
of 5-7 kms. I managed a net finish time of 02:50:20 hrs without any preparation.
I didn’t know if I should be happy or pat myself on my achievement. The next
two days was horrible for me; my calves and legs were paining.
The next run happened at
Airtel Hyderabad Marathon on Aug 26, 2012 with a net finish time near to SCMM Half
Marathon 12. Life went on and my passion for running grew stronger. I did few
practice runs but not any serious runs. In 2013, I registered for SCMM HM 13, Hiranandani
Thane Half Marathon 13, Airtel Hyd Marathon 2013, Vasai-Virar National Mayor’s
Marathon 2013, Pune International Marathon 2013 and Zendurance Nashik 2013.
With marathon after marathon and few practice runs, I managed to finish 2013
with the best timing of 02:14:42 hrs in Zendurance Nashik 2013. It was a major
boost up for me as I managed to improve my timing significantly after 7 HMs and
2 Dream Runs by almost 35 mins.
At the end of 2013, I joined
a running group, Navi Mumbai Runners
(also known as NMRs) at Navi Mumbai and became an active runner with no
proper focus on training. I just kept on running and running. Meanwhile I
realized that running changed my life, my thinking and my perspectives towards
the world. From an aggressive person, I became a calm person, a good listener
and started giving other people their space and time. In nutshell, running
became the biggest detoxifier in my life.
The target was set for 2014,
nothing less than sub 2 hours for Half Marathon. Though many fellow runners
asked me to upgrade to Full Marathon, I never thought to give it a try without
achieving my sub 2 hours in Half Marathon.
Year 2014 started with SCMM
Half Marathon 2014 on Jan 19, 2014. Though I didn’t have any fixed target, I
had a soft target of finishing in 02:10 hours. I started my run with my fellow
runner Sweta Jayaram and ran together till 12 km after that she gave up with my
pace. I managed to finish the run in 02:11:34 hrs. Though I missed my own target,
it was a real booster in my running career. Yes, you heard it right, somehow
running became an important career of my life. I can not imagine my life
without running. It made me disciplined; it allowed setting my target and
achieving it with proper planning and training. I became so addictive to
running that I started looking for event runs wherever I visited – be it a
personal or an official visit.
The office was planning an
offsite in Jaipur in 1st week of Feb 14 and it happened to coincide
with Ambuja Jaipur Marathon 2014 on Feb 02, 2014. And to my surprise, I managed
to finish it in 02:07:42 hrs, my personal best (PB) and better than SCMM 2014.
The addiction to running became so strong that I carried my running gears
wherever I travelled. My target of sub 2 was still not achieved. I kept on
participating; added Hiranandani Thane Half Marathon 2014, Durshet Forest
Marathon 2014, Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2014, Satara Hill Marathon 2014,
Mussoorie Half Marathon 2014. All above mentioned marathons of 2014 have their
own stories, deadlines and beautiful moments. I would make a special mention of
Mussoorie Half Marathon 2014. It was the toughest hill half marathon so far in
my life, even tougher than Satara Hill Marathon; I struggled for breathing at
8,000 ft but managed to finish it in 02:21 hrs. I still could not finish sub 2
in any of these marathons. So, my hunger still remained on.
Meanwhile, in Aug 14, I
changed my training plans. I started doing stairs, joined Kick Boxing and
concentrated on core exercises apart from routine practice runs. I followed a
tough training plan, did lot of Abs, Planks and Hill runs. I controlled my diet
and avoided overeating; brought down sugar intake to almost nil. I started
practicing a lot on stairs; increased the nos from 1000 to 2000 to 5000 to 8000
to 11,111 to 15,555 all at one go individually. Believe me stairs’ training
brought wonders in my life. It made me so confident that my dream of sub 2
looked not too far as I had been eagerly waiting for Airtel Delhi Half Marathon
2014. Since I had become an active runner, I had been aware of runs – easy and
tough both happening across the country. Bangalore Ultra was one of them where
there were categories like 12.5k, 25k, 50k, 75k, 100k and 24 Hours run; heard
many good stories about it. I was very clear that I didn’t want to go for 12.5k
and 25k and I never ran beyond 21k in my life. So going for minimum 50k was out
of my sight. But I decided to plunge in the sea and registered for Bangalore
Ultra 2014 under 50k category two weeks before the run date. I didn’t have any
training and strategy in my mind but I decided to go for it as I was mentally
prepared. On Nov 08, 2014, I ran. The first 10k, I did in 59 mins, 21k in 1:59
hrs, 25k in 2:27 hrs, 42k in 04:35 hrs and 50k in 05:45 hrs. I struggled a lot
in the last 10k; I thought, had my training been fine, I would have achieved it
easily. Nonetheless, I managed to finish 50k in a comfortable time of 05:45
hrs, a feat which I dedicate to my commitments to hard training and strict diet.
This boosted my confidence so high that I was sure to finish ADHM 2014 scheduled
on Nov 23, 2014 within sub 2. I took the next few practice runs easily, focused
more on core training and practiced few sprint runs.
Delhi on Nov 23, 2014 had a
wonderful weather, perfect for any runner. The gun was shot and runners set
their pace at their respective speeds. I managed to finish it in 01:52 hrs, my
first sub 2 Half Marathon after a year wait. I was so happy that I started
crying at the finish line.
It would have been unfair if
I would not have finished 2014 in style. I participated in Skyscraper Dash
Everest Stairs Challenge (involving 1 lakh plus stairs in a team of 4-6
members) on Dec 21, 2014. Our team, “The Unstoppables” did a remarkable job of
completing the challenge in an average time of 3:00 hrs per person beating
Bangalore record by 13 mins. The total stairs climbed were 109,000 out of which
mine contribution was 18,750 stairs. Hindustan Times acknowledged our effort
and put a congratulatory note on their newspaper on Dec 25, 2014. Dec 25, 2014
was another running day; I participated in EMIDAR Navi Mumbai Half Marathon.
The management was horrible with no active support. Most of the runners ended
up stopping early or ran more; I ran 22.63 km more than my scheduled 21 km.
Though I got my PB (1:50 hrs), I was upset with their poor management.
Now the focus has shifted to
few other Half Marathons like SCMM 2015 (scheduled on Jan 18, 2015), Thane
Hiranandani Half Marathon (schedule on Feb 15, 2015) and two biggies Ultras –
RuntheRann Ultra, Kutchh (100 km, scheduled on Feb 06-09, 2015 at one of the
most hottest and toughest conditions of Kutchh) and Twilight Ultra Challenge,
Singapore (scheduled on Mar 29, 2015). I hope to do better and much better than
my past runs. For the moment, my target for sub 2 is 100 mins and I hope to
achieve it in 2015 along with two ultras which I am determined to finish it
strongly.
My earnings over the last 3
years, most of them in the last 1.5 years – 18 Half Marathons and 2 Ultras. I
don’t know where this madness will stop but I plan to make it 100 over the next
few years.
1)
SCMM
2012 – Half Marathon – 02:50:20 – Jan 15, 2012
2)
Airtel
Hyd Marathon 2012 – Half Marathon – 02:50:58 – Aug 26, 2012
3)
SCMM
2013 – Half Marathon – 02:45:03 – Jan 20, 2013
4)
Hiranandani
Thane Half Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 03:15:45 – Feb 24, 2013
5)
Airtel
Hyd Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:29:25 – Aug 25, 2013
6)
Vasai-Virar
National Mayor’s Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:32:16 – Oct 27, 2013
7)
Zendurance
Nashik 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:14:42 – Nov 17, 2013
8)
Pune
International Marathon 2013 – Half Marathon – 02:16:07 – Dec 01, 2013
9)
SCMM
2014 – Half Marathon – 02:11:34 – Jan 19, 2014
10)
Ambuja
Jaipur Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:07:42 – Feb 02, 2014
11)
Hiranandani
Thane Half Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:15:40 – Feb 16, 2014
12)
Durshet
Forest Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:07:35 – Aug 10, 2014
13)
Mumbai
Ultra 12 Hours Run 2014 – Ultra Marathon (65 Km) – 09:30:30 – Aug 15, 2014
14)
Airtel
Hyd Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:10:46 – Aug 24, 2014
15)
Satara
Hill Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:07:34 – Sep 14, 2014
16)
Mussoorie
Half Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 02:21:25 – Nov 01, 2014
17)
Perfomax
Bangalore Utlra 2014 – Ultra Marathon (50 Km) – 05:48:34 – Nov 08, 2014
18)
Airtel
Delhi Half Marathon 2014 – Half Marathon – 01:52:38 – Nov 23, 2014
19)
Skyscraper
Dash Everest Challenge 2014 (109,000 stairs in a team of 6) – 3:01 hrs per
person – Dec 21, 2014
20)
Emidar
Navi Mumbai Marathon 2014 – 1:50:21 – Dec 25, 2014
21)
Powai
Run 2015 - 02:21 - Jan 04, 2015 (Paced my
friend, Dr Bhavana Diyora to get her PB)
22)
SCMM
2015 – Half Marathon – 01:46:02 - Jan 18, 2015
Life changed very fast in
the last two years, especially in the last one year; everything looked positive
to me, personally met so many wonderful and determined people, most of them
runners of different ages. I am blessed that I am surrounded by positive people,
friends and bosses who always supported me in my dreams. God bless everyone!
Happy Running!
