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Running & Me

Introduction

I am Srinivas, having 23+ years of IT professional experience. Apart from the professional development, my outlook towards fitness, health, nature & sustainable living has evolved significantly too.

In one form or the another, we have all experienced the negative effects of unhealthy lifestyle. This post is all about how I have found solace, and in the process also made small contribution towards the greater good of the society. Beginning with one adventure trip lead to many such and finally gave rise to multi-day treks into the remote corners of Himalayas. This became an annual pilgrimage. Visiting the fresh, heavenly natural ambiance turned into an obsession, this also demanded the need for a healthy and strong self to sustain such travel.

Around 2009, thanks to my extended family, I got introduced to distance running. After a handful of 10 km running events, it was in 2014 that I successfully completed a half-marathon (21.1 km). By then, the benefits of running were impactful – reduced stress and this directly led to better personal & professional life. For the greater good, running also brought together a few friends in the neighbourhood, this exponentially grew to a 1500+ member strong RunAddicts group. A non-commercial, non-political, non-religious informal group with a focus on improving health, fitness, and social causes in the vicinity.

The rest is, as they say is history. RunAddicts imparted much needed motivation and structured planning into my training. Result is not surprising: First Bangalore Full Marathon (42.2 km) in 2017. Same year, in December, I completed my first Ultra Marathon (50 km) too. The following year, 2018, was marked by successful completion of Malnad Ultra (50 km) in the beautiful hilly coffee estates, apart from a few half and full marathon events.

At the Mumbai Marathon in January 2019, I managed to break the 4-hour barrier for a Full Marathon, completing in 3:59hrs, my personal best. In May, TCS 10k saw another personal best, 45mins 10s. That gave enough courage to now pursue training for La Ultra (55 km), my first attempt at a high altitude ultra, conducted around Leh, Jammu & Kashmir.

La Ultra – The High

La Ultra is a high altitude run – which I believe is one of the toughest – with categories of 555km (347mi), 333km (208mi), 222km (139mi), 111km (70mi) and 55km (34.3mi).

In February 2019, along with my RunAddicts family (Mahesh, Ravi, Sai and Saritha), I registered for 55km. I was fully aware of the challenging weather combined with extreme elevations around Leh, the venue for the race. 55km route began at an altitude of 12,514ft, went all the way to Wari La pass at 17,362ft!! Initial 31.5km (19.6mi) is all uphill gaining around 4,848ft. Temperature varies from 25 deg C  (77 F) to -5 deg C (22 F), while the Oxygen levels hover around less than 50% of what we breath at the sea level.

After a few months of training, the final journey began with acclimatization at Leh, starting from 11-Aug. Our high-altitude acclimatization training runs had to be curtailed, as except for one day, marred by frequent rains and snow. We spent most of our time indoors. We managed to go to South Pullu (for an 8km run), Khardungla Pass & Wari La (for a couple of km of walking) and Pangong lake.

19 August – the race day – forecasted reports of heavy snow in the high passes, forcing a minor change in the route. Along with my RunAddicts friends, the run started strong. As we progressed uphill, the run became extremely challenging, in addition to uphill, snowing accompanied. We (Mahesh, Ravi, Sai and I) were together till the 18.25 k mark (15371ft elevation) and then Sai slowed down. Due to heavy snow, there was a minor change in route, we were made to take a U-Turn at 27.5K. During the return, to my misery, neck and left shoulder started aching. This was at around 30km mark. The thoughts of quitting crossed my mind, but Mahesh and Ravi pushed me to continue.

We reached Wari La High camp (36.75Km) and still needed to cover 18.25 km in 4 hrs 25 mins. Although, I had completed the toughest part of the race, I decided to quit as pain shot up and venturing any risk at such altitude was unwarranted. Mahesh and Ravi continued, and completed the race in 9 hrs 6 mins and Sai completed in around 9 hrs 20 mins. congrats to #RunAddicts La Ultra runners for their strong finish and we are all happy and proud of you. I was disappointed for dropping off early, but as the race tag line goes “Failing is not a Crime, Lack of effort is…” summed up the feelings. There is always a next time.

Once back to Bangalore, thinking about La Ultra, I realized that I need to continue challenging myself to get better.  When Malnad Ultra run was announced, I promptly registered to run the 80km (50mi) category!!

Malnad Ultra 2019

This was my first Ultra Marathon in 80km (50mi) category. An experience of a lifetime!!! With well-planned training over 3 months including 60km long runs on 3 weekends, I figured I was ready. The elevation profile of this year’s new course indicated the challenge was only going to get tougher. It was a tough new course. Heavy rains in the region over the preceding 10 days made the course even tougher, with trails turning all muddy & slippery, elevation exceeded 2500m (8250ft). For me, this ultra-saw two firsts. First 80km (50mi) run and first experience running in the night.

With ever reliable Mahesh Rajnikanth (My running partner in almost all runs) by my side, the run started well at 6:45 am. I was doing fine till 32km. Conditions forced a rethink, and I was thinking of quitting at around 36km mark. Mahesh never allowed that doubt to last long… and around 40km mark, couple more RunAddicts friends joined and motivated me to keep on. I was feeling better and got back to enjoying the run as I descended the downhills post 43km.

At 50km mark, we had a light lunch and little rest. I was feeling comfortable and regained my confidence!! Mahesh and I were back on trails post 15 mins rest. Last 30km was the toughest part considering our tired legs / body and the final 14km was about running in the complete darkness. Running in night in a plantation / forest type surroundings was kind of fun yet risky due to muddy & slippery trails (I slipped couple of times 😊). After 13 hours and 40 mins (cut-off: 15hrs), at around 8:25pm, we successfully crossed the finish line. This was one of the highlights of my running career and getting the finisher medal reflected my running journey from a casual 10K runner to a mentally tough ultra-runner.

During the run, I was thinking that there would be no more ultra runs. But a week following the return, we were discussing about the next ultra to register! I probably do not have to explain the reason behind our group name – The RunAddicts.

Year – 2020 (Pandemic Year):

 My spirt was high and I was ready for next big run after a successful Malnad Ultra. Plan was to improve my pace and achieve a personal best in Delhi Marathon. That event was set for 23-Feb-2020. I trained quite well with few of my RunAddicts family. NEB Sports, organizers of the Delhi Marathon, give us a chance of a lifetime; They arranged a meetup with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar for RunAddicts! It was exciting to meet and get a photo op with him.

On the race day, my running mate Mahesh and I started very strong. We were progressing around 5 min 20 sec a km pace till 25 kms. Cramps hit me around 26th km. I asked Mahesh to continue, took a minute-long rest, did some massaging and stretching. On any other day, I would have probably stopped right there and quit the race. But memories of La Ultra and Malnad Ultra made me stronger. I continue but a bit slowly and after couple of kms, managed to improve to sub 5 min 50 sec pace. Finally, I was able to complete the race with personal best of 3hrs 56 mins. Even though I wanted to finish around 3hrs 45 mins, I was quite happy the way things unfolded, in the end, which resulted in a Personal Best.

After Delhi Marathon, the pandemic stuck, and this resulted in complete lock down. Result – no runs for a couple months. We were back on the streets in around the month of May. Our RunAddicts virtual run challenge was a blessing during these tough times. Without any live running event, it was tough for us to focus and train. Recently, we started training together and this marks the start of exciting times ahead.

I am Hoping for an exhilarating 2021 for my fitness journey, as always, with my RunAddicts Family!!!!

 

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