Monday, March 12, 2012

My First 30K Run!

It was one of those crazy ideas that I "HAD" to execute. With plans of doing Full Marathons and Ultras soon, I felt it was high time the body saw/felt how a 30K looked like especially considering my previous longest distance was only 23K. On hearing my idea, few well wishers were concerned especially because it just a week after the back breaking 9 Hrs/39 Kms walkathon. Heeded to their concern and promised that I would take it slow and stop enroute if I felt even an iota of pain/injury starting up.

Friends chipped in with GU Gels and salt tablets and quite a few agreed to join me as well in this craziness. Have been plagued with a niggling pain in the right thigh muscle but thankfully that went off once the body was warmed up (need to figure out the cause of this pain). It was nice and chatty between 6 and 14Kms with Rajesh Bung who gave me company inspite of my slow pace. On the return the set of hills after the 26K mark had me really irritated and the Sun wasn't helping things either. But the thought of back to back "DNF"s wasn't exactly pleasing and all those youtube video's of ultra marathoners finishing the course inspite of all the pain kept me going. I wasn't going to throw in the towel however long it took.

Initial target of 3:30 Hrs was first revised to 3:45 and then to 4 hours but thankfully completed within that. Post finish I have been told that my timing will improve quite a bit if I do these 30K+ distances as part of a training schedule and been rebuked not to try such a stunt. So it will be sometime before I see a 30K again but I promise to return stronger and faster.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank the people who make the Hyderabad Runners. They not only fire up your imagination for crazy things but also help you achieve them with support. Thanks guys (and gals)!

More details here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/156697164

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