Team Asha Marathon 2008

It has been a while since I posted on my blog. We have started our official Team Asha Dallas Marathon program on 12th July. We are training with Dallas Running Club (DRC) this year and we plan to run the Dallas Whiterock Marathon on 14th Dec 2008. We have been running unofficially with a bunch of people for the last 2 months and the response has been great. We got ~10-15 new runners and we already have ~30 runners doing the Asha marathon program this year. It is very encouraging to see new and enthusiastic runners. I have a feeling that we will have a very successful program this year, the second year in Dallas. I shall keep posting my progress and also that of our team in the blog from time to time.
On a personal note, my wife Sravanthi has also registered with Team Asha to be part of relay marathon and help the cause. Also, I want to train well this year and break the 4-hr barrier and get a PR for myself, all the while raising much needed funds for children in India.
Go Team Asha!

Running in the Holy Land: May 2007

I was on a business trip to Israel between May14-23, 2007. I was put up at the Daniel Hotel on the shores of the beautiful Herzliyya Accadia beach. I did not get a chance to do any running for the first 2 days as I returned from work after it is dark around 9pm. On the 17th, a Thursday I returned at 8pm and it was not entirely dark and I decided to go for a run on the beach. It was
an amazing run. I have never run on a beach before, let alone on the shores of Mediterranean. I really like the cool breeze on the beach and there were many people even at that hour walking and running on the beach. I ended up doing a 4 miler that day.

I did not get a chance to run the next day(18th) as I was out visiting Dead sea and also some ancient ruins of Masada, near Dead sea. I was able to float in the Dead sea, was an awesome experience. I was happy to have been to the lowest point on earth, Dead sea at -1371 ft (-411m). The next day, Saturday the 19th, I went on a one day tour of the very historic city of Jerusalem. On my return at 6pm , I could not wait to go for another run on the beach. All in all, I was able to run 5 out of the 9 days I was in Israel for a total of ~26.2miles :)

Big-D Half: My best race to date

I got my PR today and beat my old time by a mile, literally! I shaved off ~8mins from 1:53 to 1:44:40. It was an interesting day with a few ups and downs. The "up" was the fact that I could a few PRs for 5K, 10K and Half. The "down" was all the mess that was created due to the traffic jam at the start and also due to the fact that my car battery died soon after the race. Also, my official race time is ~2:20. as there was no chip timing anymore at the start when we started, approx 35mins late.

It all started when I woke up at 6:06am. I set the alarm but somehow forgot to turn it on, duh! I quickly got ready and went to pick up Avani and Viswanath. We almost reach the Cotton Bowl area at 6:50am and about 1/2 mile from the exit to the race area, there was a big traffic jam and we were stuck. We saw people walking off the freeway and I followed as the Half start is at 7:30. I came to know that many of the other ADR folks and also Asha Austin folks were also stuck in the other direction of I-30. The race was officially delayed by15mins and we waited for all the folks to show up and started finally at 8:20am. We were all disappointed to find out that the chip timing system at the start line was switched off by the time we started, which means that our chip times won't be accurate and will be the same as gun time, which is the official clock. We started Half roughly 35mins behind the official start. I am not sure when the 5Kers started.

There were about 10 of us who started the Half, 3 from Dallas and the rest from Austin. Ramesh and myself started off at a good pace and took off. I was pacing and before I knew it, the first mile marker came by and we were on a blazing pace of 7:45, wow! I felt good but at the same time was worried whether I can sustain that pace. I slowed a little but was still doing roughly 8 min pace. I saw that Ramesh was taking it a little easy, but I did not want to change my pace as I felt a good rhythm. I maintained that pace and 5K went by in 24:50 (which is a PR since I never ran a 5K) and then next up was 10K in 49:52 (another PR by 3 mins!). I still felt good and was decently confident that I can maintain that pace for the second half as well. Then I realized, that if I maintain an even split, I have a shot at 1:45!! (5 mins faster than my stretch goal of 1:50). I was drinking at every aid station and was pouring water on myself which felt so good. Miles 9-11 had the best scenery as we were passing through the multi-million dollar homes of Highland park, which is the most expensive area in Dallas. To my surprise, I was still doing better than 8:00min pace and I was on pace for a 1:45 finish. In mile 13, about quarter mile from the finish I saw ADR folks, including Deepa, Kavitha, Viswanath et al and I just took off and before I knew it the saw the finish line and finished strong which is something I always love in a race. When I stopped my watch at the finish line, it read 1:44:40!! yes, I did it, it was an amazing feeling. I believe this is the first time I not only met my time goal but indeed beat it. I guess it helps to be ~6-7 lbs lighter :)

I got my medal and got some fluids and came back to see others finish. Ramesh had a strong finish and did 1:51, which is the same as his PR. I saw few of the Austin folks finish the next 10-15 mins. Then I met up with other ADR folks and we were cheering and waiting for the rest of folks to showup. Ravi had a strong finish and made it in 2:32. The whole group took some pictures and it was fun. All the 5Kers had a good race and some even did 10K as they were lost on the course:) Many of us decided to have lunch and just when you think the day has gotten better, I realize that my car battery was down and it does not start. Luckily, there was a gentleman in his truck who helped us out and we reached Roti Grill and had good food. It was almost 3pm by the time we reached home. In effect, it was a mixed day for me, but I had a great race, in fact the best race to date! I cannot wait for my next race, which may not happen for another couple of months.

I am off to India for couple of months, on business. I will be working from Bangalore and hopefully I can do couple of races over there. I am hoping that I will have some running experiences in B'lore that I would write here, from time to time. I shall write the next time from India in about a week's time.

Asha Dallas Runners

In Nov'06 after I moved to Dallas, I was looking for running partners and I thought I can meet a few from the Asha Dallas marathon group. I was surprised to find out that Asha Dallas did not have a marathon group yet and I was determined that I should try to change that, especially Dallas being such a big desi community. In Feb'07 few of the volunteers from Asha Dallas had the opportunity to cheer and support Asha Austin at Austin Marathon. There was some good motivation out of that experience and Asha Dallas had its first few runners.

I thought it is a good time to start a running group and start training for 5Km/10Km as a first step. I created a Yahoo group, Asha Dallas Runners. The main objective of this group is to enable runners to train together and also educate them about Asha Marathon program and eventually get some of them, if not all to run a marathon while raising funds for Asha. The group was started in Feb'07 and we have 21 members so far and the interest had been very encouraging. We are planning to run a 5Km on April 1st at Big D Texas Marathon. A few of the us will be doing the half marathon (13.1miles) instead. I will be writing about the progress of the group from time-to-time. If you happen to know someone in Dallas area who might be interested in running, please refer them to our ADR Yahoo Groups. Anyone is welcome to join us and they do not need to be associated with Asha.