Ever since I started running last year, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about it by my friends. One of the prominent questions being ‘Do you run alone?’ Heck, no!! I run with a lot of people but not more than one at the same time. All of them are peculiar in the sense that they all insist on singing rather than talking. Yep, my best running buddies are MDR, MMI, SSI, KVN et al.

M.D.Ramanathan accompanies me on most of my runs. His vilamba kala singing suits my slow pace and I can run for hours without tiring when he sings. His elaborate renditions and his varnams are the best. Those runs to the tunes of Chakkani Raja, Nannu palimpa, O Rangasayee are some of my best runs.

Madurai Mani Iyer is who I choose when I want to go for a brisk run. The problem with him is that I find myself nodding in appreciation and running side to side sometimes. Semmangudi is very good for speed training with his superfast swaras. Sanjay is a great guy to run with. I usually listen to whole concerts of his and enjoy the variety he dishes out. KVN and S.Kalyanaraman are very good for the hills though I haven’t understood why. Maybe it’s because I’m more consciously listening to them and they keep me quite busy. I sometimes take Alathur Brothers, GNB, Ariyakudi along too but they don’t make such great running buddies or probably they run at a different pace than me.

I’m open to recommendations for other running buddies though!!

Miles – 13.1

Goal – 2 hours 05 minutes or less

Actual Time – 2 hours 12 minutes 32 seconds

10 excuses for not meeting my goal.

1. I did not run faster.

2. I should have trained in hot weather more.

3. I should not have been stupid and should have drunk water at mile 22.

4. I was listening to PMI’s explosive Thani for Koniyadina too attentively and forgot that I was in a race.

5. I shouldn’t try to be too much of a Gentleman and say ‘Ladies first’ in a race.

6. I remembered that I had to take my Bib only after I had go into my car in the morning and as a result I was terribly nervous.

7. I had only one pin for the Bib (lost the other three) and was worried that my photos wouldn’t come through.

8. I started wondering midway “Sripathi, why the heck are you doing this?”.

9. I was too busy ogling at the chicks running alongside me.

10. I took the story of the hare and the tortoise too literally.

In all seriousness, I’m pretty happy with my performance. It was a bit difficult to run harder in the heat and I sagged towards the end. I could have probably saved a few minutes here and there and by running the last mile more aggresively but there are always reasons.

I have started training harder to prepare myself to run a full marathon. I’ve been running long distances the past week. Last Saturday I managed to run 16 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes with a total running time of 3 hours and 10 minutes. It was very tough though and I recovered fairly well the next day. This week my preparation hasn’t been all that great so far with only a 6 mile run yesterday. I’m hoping to compensate during this weekend by doing atleast 10 miles on both Saturday and Sunday.

I also realized that I need to strengthen my core and have been doing some exercises regularly. Having a weak core makes your shoulders drop and the body language becomes poor. I ran a few miles yesterday keeping my core and shoulders tight and found that I was able to run faster than my usual pace. Apart from these things, I also did some biking at the gym last week to do some cross-training. Biking for a long time was tough and you don’t lose a lot of calories. But it does train your quads well.

If you are wondering why I’m so obsessed with running and why I make a big deal out of it, well, I’m wondering too. I have certainly transformed from the average slouch on the couch to someone who cannot live without exercise. The key to the transformation was the embarassment of having trained poorly for the Relay. I was stung by my poor performance and started to train for the next year’s Relay a week after it. I have managed to set a few goals and kept myself motivated. It also helps that you get to be alone while running and it’s a great time to collect your thoughts, do some introspection and solve problems without any intrusion. But the motivation to get the better of yourself, to challenge yourself to do something that the mind thinks it cannot, is the best part and I love to do that day every time I run.

I’d like to write more on how running is helping me in life, how to stay motivated and how you can get started. I’m a novice at this wonderful sport but I’ve already come into contact with some wonderful atheletes in this sport and they continue to inspire me each time my mind wants to give up.

Let’s see how 26.2 goes!!

-Sri

During my training runs on Shoreline Park, I come across many people who are either running, walking or just enjoying the scenery. As a runner, I’m a beginner who is not yet aware of the rules of smiling and greeting. I try to make eye contact with everyone I meet and if I managed to make eye contact, I either smile or greet depending on how tired I’m or how fast I’m running. But making this eye contact is difficult and is not reciprocated by most people I come across. People either don’t make eye contact or look away, even if they aren’t running. I can understand the runners being tired or trying to focus.

In India, we are not used to smiling at strangers and greeting them. If you did so, you were either assumed to be a thief or a bit out of whack. When I came to this country, it was a pleasant culture shock to be greeted or smiled at on the road. This has become second nature to me over the past few years. After moving to the Bay Area, I’ve noticed that Buffalonians are much friendlier than their Bay Area counterparts. I have been experiencing this on my morning runs and it’s making me uncomfortable for whatever reason. I’m not sure if I’m making a mistake by smiling. Probably, you just get on with your business? Then I might as well run on the treadmill.

I’ve also started running with sunglasses on, recently and it’s making things worse. Hmm, maybe it has to do with the fact that I listen to music while running. Well, it’s not so loud that I can’t hear a Good Morning or Good Evening. So to all Californians, smile. Don’t earn your state a bad reputation. I’m just trying to be nice.

My obsession with running continues. I signed up for the San Francisco Half Marathon (2nd half). I had been dilly-dallying on whether to run it or not. I finally decided to give it a go and have been praticising assiduously. I logged 36 miles last week including a 12 or 13 mile run with no bad side-effects. This week started with a rather hard run in the midday sun on Sunday (pun unintended). I skipped training today after being dehydrated by yesterday’s run with a long run planned for tommorow.

I mostly run on Shoreline Park in Mountain View since it’s close to my house. I recently started running from the San Antonio Road entrance through the Palo Alto Bay lands to the Sailing station. It’s a nice 7.5 – 8 mile run on a gravel path that’s not too hard on your legs. In the evenings, the wind is a little strong and the sun is directly in your eyes since you are mostly running west and north west.

I killed my trusted companion who used to accompany me on my runs. Yes, I’m talking about my Palm Zire PDA that I had been using to listen to music on my runs. I broke the LCD Screen while trying to stuff my phone in the same pocket where I had put the PDA. When I do something stupid, I do it big. I’m really annoyed that I did this but accidents happen. I’m going to try running without music, as suggested by a lot of veteran runners, tommorow and hopefully it’ll not be too much of a problem. If it turns out to be, then I have the Creative Zen Nano Plus in mind.

God save my stuff from me!!

–Sripathi

P.S: I bet no one listens to MDR while running except me.