Running & Living 4th Gurgaon marathon & More

What a run ! The energy of the runners gathered was so infectious that I felt all energized inspite of no training ! Sunday runs (Only running on Sundays) with an average weekly average of 8 kms cannot count as training. But man it was good.

Wifey Sue was always helpful in getting me out of bed early in the morning to go run, and I was creative with new excuses to continue enjoying the warm bed.

Awesomely, my big bro & wife Ravi & Sheetal were there to cheer me on. Him with his Leica and she with the Tea (and holding onto my jacket, phone, car keys and Heart Monitor chest strap since the Garmin gave in. (you'll read abt it below)

The run started on time as every R & L event. About a km down when I found my pace about 6.30-6.45 min per KM by my Garmin Forerunner 210 . Of course the Garmin was not charged as there must have been a loose charger connection and the Garmin died out after 3-4 KMs. Now I have nearly always tried to pace myself with a digital assistant and now I had none. This is where Akila helped.



Akila was running an easy, fun untimed pace. My pace was around the same and hoped that her company and steady pace will pull me through. And it did. The first loop of 10.5 KMs went super smooth without noticing the multiple curves and bends in the route which we noticed only on the 2nd loop. On the way we got Sanjeev Chabara and some new inputs into our chat.




On the end of the 1st loop Akila complained of cramps and slowed down urging me to continue at my pace. Did nt make much of a difference as she caught up at nearly every water / food point. This was another good thing Rahul (founder of R & L ) did - food on the run. I had biscuits, wafers, oranges, butter & jam sandwiches on the way not counting the energy drinks & water.

Several times on the 2nd loop I was thinking, Man, I am tired let me walk a bit.. but then another thought would walk in and shout - Hey HAVE YOU USED UP YOUR WEAK ? NO- THEN KEEP RUNNING !! And just like that I was off running again.



Towards the end at 500 mins to go I started into a faster pace, and at 21 K point with 0.097 Ks to go I lauched into a full sprint. Oh it was so much fun. Fun to run, to fly and fun to know I still had some energy to sprint ! Had a good finish !

Finished in 2 hrs 23 min - 4 min faster than the ADHM 3 weeks ago.

Thanks to Running & Living for the excellent run

Running & Living Gurgaon Half Marathon

Exactly 2 weeks after the Airtel Delhi Half I ran the Gurgaon half on the 5th December. Happy to say I finished in 2 hrs 16 min 07 secs as per the timing chip. This timing is 11 mins better than the ADHM. The split timings show a constant speed which is very good, that means the stamina was spot on.

Approx speed - 6min 26 secs per km or 9.37 km/hr .

I think I could have gone faster though... In anycase I will have a chance in the Mumbai half marathon on Jan 16th !

Name / Gender / Age / Chipcode / Chip No. / Marathon / 10.55km / 21.1km / Net_time
Rishi / Male / 31 - 40 / 174100300 / 193 / half / 01:08:03 / 01:08:04 / 02:16:07
Madan

The Pearl Izumi streak worked well. This was the first race this year that I ran without my speedometer, but timed myself per km. Some pics of Sue the Volunteer at the event and me running :

Before the race, just starting warm up, sue watching on slightly amised at the sight of the crazy running people


in the process, still too cold :



I am off and sue starts her volunteer work, making certificates & recording timings :






Me during the run, the sun's just coming up !