Monday, June 29, 2015

Run free

My running has run into a halt due to a variety of reasons. Thankfully injury is not one of them. With race fees running out of reach, I decided that I will not be running any paid events in this calendar year.

Practice has also stopped due to not participating in any events. I still put an effort to run atleast every Sunday. Coming to free events, they are rare but there. Some running groups celebrate an anniversary and create an event with voluntary contribution. I have run 5-6 such runs this year contributing 100/- like a cheap ass.

With the new people I meet, I get introduced to new groups and their runs. These runs happen in very beautiful surroundings. One such run lead me to an all expenses paid stay and run at Atul, Gujarat. I never thought I would travel to another state for a 10K. Turns out I would, if it is free with accommodation. It was my fastest 10K till date. I went there with a target to achieve a sub 60 10k timing. The route was all flat and all green. I finished in 53 minutes.

One of my friends qualified for the Boston Marathon. He wanted to run the hills in the last 3 months of his training. This lead me to Kharghar hills. The hills are beautiful and tough. It is 5.5 KM uphill and then back. I did about 3 half marathons in three months.

Then a friend organised a 6Hr midnight marathon, where you run a 5 KM loop for 6 hours starting at 12 in the night to 6 in the morning. I survived is all I can say about the run. Being out of touch, running distances above 25K was tough. I realised I have lost the core strength in this run. However with boiled potatoes being fed every 3K I completed about 40K in those 6 hours.

Now being monsoon, Matheran road via Nere is really green, wet and empty. This is not the main road to Matheran and hence we runners are exploiting the road. We will be running here for 3 months on every Sunday. I hope to get about 100KM per month upto September.

Running has been free, this year, so far
Your's truly is in the front for a change. The laugh is not a laugh. I am in too much pain and sleep deprived. I am not sure about anything anymore. I am not sure how I traveled back home for an hour in local train. 

These are from the beautiful Nere-Matheran road. 
Hiding behind. The camera scares me.



The camera is alright. Not that scary after all

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