Sunfeast 10k Run update!

I am happy to announce that i participated and completed the Sunfeast Bangalore 10K run, my timer says i completed it in 1 hour and 22 minutes (which is by no means big achievement, considering the fact that some of them completed in under an hour!). Anyway, this is a big thing for me as i was determined to finish the race under 1.5 hours (being my first attempt at long distance run, without much practice)! The entire event was quite well organized, things were in place and there weren't any major hiccups.


I completed the Registration process yesterday, which was quite simple and straightforward. After collecting the bib and goody bag,I also collected a timing chip, which would get me a official timing certificate. Based on the advice provided by Manipal hospital folks, i consumed mainly carbohydrates, avoided proteins or fats on the day before the race day. Coffee was supposed to be avoided but i couldn't control that :)

Race day was quite exciting! By the time i reached the Kanteerava Stadium at around 7.45 AM, some of the Kenyans and Ethiopians had already finished the race(their run started at 7 AM). My running gear consisted of a good pair of running shoes, sunscreen lotion, sun glasses and a music player. It was quite nice too see lot of oldies and kids participate in the race. I also met some of my colleagues who had signed up for the race. At around 8.45 AM, we were asked to assemble near the Start line and there was so much cheer in the stadium. The race started sharp at 9 AM and the fun began! There was this usual media crowd (NDTV, CNN IBN, Times etc) who had lined themselves up near the start to broadcast the start live (i might have come live on TV, but at 9 AM, none of the folks i knew watched these news channels, so that's now history :).

For the first kilometer, everyone ran with lot of enthusiasm and after that, some of them where losing steam! There was also a collision incident involving a young lad and an old uncle. By the end of third kilometer, almost 50% of the crowd had resorted to walking and some of them even stopped. I continued running till about 4 Km and after that i started walking fast. My only aim in this race was to finish within 1.5 hours, so i was determined not to stop anywhere in the middle.

The route selection was awesome, it covered some of the historic spots of Bangalore. There was crowd on both sides of the road, cheering us as we crossed them. I also noticed that there were lot of old men and women (well beyond 50's) who were quite active and running for some distance.

By the time i touched 5Kms, my body was showing signs of slowing down, especially with scorching sun above! By then, i was near Ulsoor lake and suddenly, there was this cool breeze from nowhere! Almost all participants enjoyed the comfort and slowed down a bit. I slowed down initially, but then i knew i had to speed up, so i sprinted for a while, overtaking an entire bunch of crowd. I was eagerly awaiting to see the 6 Km mark and i couldn't see it anywhere! But after some distance, i spotted a marker which said 7Km! After that, i noticed that the crowd was slowly picking up the pace and i joined the bandwagon.

By the time i reached 9 Km, i was determined to accelerate, but unfortunately, the route for the 5.5Km run also merged in the same road and there was so much crowd, preventing the 10K participants from accelerating in the last leg. By the time i crossed the finish line (well, there was not even a banner called "Finish", we just had to cross an arch and we were stopped by officials saying the race is over), i noticed that i had made it under 1.5 hours! I guess i covered 6 Km in the first hour and 4 kms in the next 22 mins.

I was happy to see lot of crowd support for this run, right from a small kid holding a banner saying "Run Papa run" to two old ladies who were sitting on the median and clapping hands, cheering the runners saying "Bravo". There were also people from high rise apartments, who came outside withstanding the scorching sun and cheering the runners.

Finally, coming to the big question, why did i participate in the 10k Run? Well, very rarely we software folks get time (a lie here!) or motivation to participate in some events like these, our socialization is predominantly restricted to gmail, orkut and facebook. I took this as an opportunity to go out, meet folks, see people and have some fun. Seeing a huge crowd (nearly 20,000 in number) on a Sunday early morning definetely gives a lot of energy!

One last thing i realized during this run, long distance run is not about age! Its all about the stamina that comes from one's mental strength. I saw a lot of folks, who looked in good shape, but couldn't complete even 4 Km's. On the contrary, i saw an old man, probably in his 50's, running barefoot, who crossed most of us ( i hear that he finished within an hour!)

I am already looking forward to the next edition of this run. I would strongly suggest everyone to take part in these long distance runs, its fun!