Faridabad Cross Country Race and a 10K

My running life has been spectacular lately, though it’s paused right now for health reasons. I’ve had two great runs recently that are totally worth talking about. The first one was the Faridabad Cross Country…

My running life has been spectacular lately, though it’s on hold right now for health reasons. I’ve had two great runs that are totally worth talking about. The first one was the Faridabad Cross Country Race on March 22nd. Souvik convinced me to run this one and I signed up for the 5 miles race (8 km or so). Souvik picked me up from my place around 0415 and we reached the venue at 0500. We were the first people there apart from the organizers. Over the course of the next hour, people slowly started trickling in and it was becoming light as well. I had only restarted running that week so I wasn’t fully in control of my pace. As soon as the race started, I rushed off a bit too fast. I knew what I was doing wrong, but the conditioning to slow down wasn’t just there. I need to race more often and particularly practice running by feel. The route was very scenic, especially as the run was rising as we started our run. We’d been warned of a drop at the end of the course, but the warning didn’t really prepare me for the real thing.

That was really steep!

It was impossible to run down and I struggled to run back up. I tried, but failed. My legs were too fatigued., I walked quite a bit on the way back and when I finally reached the finish point, the person who was the winner of the 10-mile race finished just ahead of me! Despite all this, at an average of 7:59 min/km, it was my best 5K+ pace. This is a route I’d like to go back on my own or with friends and run again. The route is very pretty and the climb is a nice challenge. If it weren’t so far away, I’d even think of doing hill repeats there.

Nearly at the finish line!

On April 5, I did a 10K with Souvik and Bhavya. This run was during the end of Week 6 of C25K and Day 3 involves running continuously for 20 minutes. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I ran for 20 minutes without stopping and then alternated between running and walking. It was glorious. Bhavya is fairly fast and I nearly kept up with him for 20 full minutes after which I gave it a break and then alternated between running and walking. I read a few conversations on r/c25k about the 20-minute stretch of running and they were very encouraging. Everyone who had finished it pointed out that while it’s scary to think about, it’s not very scary to actually do. After having done that, I can confirm that it is true. I finished the entire run with a pace of 7:33 min/km, a new personal record! Speed isn’t one of my goals at the moment, but it’s nice to see that I can indeed do a pretty decent speed compared to what I used to do a year ago.

Delhi roads are pretty with no traffic

Sadly, I have to stop running for a bit. I had a repeat episode of seizure recently and my meds have been changed. Until that is all settled in, I’ve been advised to avoid running due to the risk of having a repeat seizure while my old meds are tapered off. Another 4 weeks and I’ll be back to running. It’s become something I look forward to every week.

A Successful Running Week

It’s been a long time since I had a week like this week. I make excuses for

It’s been a long time since I had a week like this week. I make excuses for delaying my workouts and eventually not doing them. This week, I managed to have a break through, run 3 days of the week, and hit my modest weekly goal of 10 km. This is a spectacular feeling!

I haven’t run a 5K in such a long time that I’ve decided to start the C25K program yet again. I keep going to somewhere around 4 weeks and break it for one reason or the other. This time too, I see travel scheduled right around then. I hoping to beat it this time.

The long run – Delhi

The idea was born out of a picture from Reddit that I posted on Twitter during the week. On Sunday morning, I found myself wearing my running gear, all set..

The idea was born out of a picture from Reddit that I tweeted during the week. On Sunday morning, I found myself wearing my running gear, all set for a 13K run with Souvik, Bhavya, and Sumit . I’ve been doing the C25K since early this year and still haven’t finished it for various reasons. I’ve done two 5K races in Bangalore since then and this was my first really long run.

I stepped out of the house at 0545 and headed towards the Hauz Khaz metro station. The plan was to start from there head to Central Secretariat, towards India gate, and then towards Lodi Gardens. I did a warm walk + run to the metro station and we started the “official” run from there (Part 1 and Part 2). I finished a 10K when we reached Central Secretariat because I started my warm up earlier. I didn’t run the whole way, clearly don’t have enough stamina for that, but hell, I got there. Alive. After a few minutes of rest while we waited for Bhavya to catch up, we went on Rajpath towards India gate, turned off, went towards Lodi garden, and ended the run at India Habitat Centre.

Along the route

The run on Rajpath towards India Gate was hell because of the sun. I ran about as fast as I could to get out of the direct sunlight. I had to stop running a little after that because my feet hurt too much. Eventually, when I reached American Diner, I’d finished 15K, a personal best. We spent a few hours at American Diner eating breakfast and re-hydrating and headed home elated.

This run has given me a huge motivation boost. Running isn’t easy and every step of the way, you have to talk yourself into not giving up. My goal this year was to set a habit of running, I haven’t achieved a habit yet, but I’m finding running enjoyable rather than a chore and that is a victory.