Running the TCS 10k for the first time

Runners are generally an excited lot – full of energy and always looking forward to the next thing on their list. There are three premier running events in India at this time – the Airtel Delhi Marathon, Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon and TCS 10k Bangalore. Just yesterday, 19th May 2013 saw over 20,000 participants from Namma Bengaluru city coming together for the much awaited TCS 10k event at Bangalore. The run had the city alive and buzzing in the wee hours of the morning which would have affected the Saturday night business quite a bit from where I see it, but I digress.

This event is much awaited by most people in our city and most runners around the country. The TCS 10k is a day of celebration of the sport of running in our city. The build-up to the actual event day starts a good month or so before the actual event. People start training for the event. The runners get out there, purchase their new running gear, get their friends together, form groups and a support system to achieve this benchmark of running their first 10k or 5.5k. For this one month, even the corporates get their teams together and have them all out and about, getting them trained up for the impending 10K gala.

My journey started 4 weeks before the actual run. My training schedule was far from ideal, but at the end of the day at least, I had my fair share of tempo, interval, hill and long runs – a decent mix. There was a lot of mental psyching involved for this race. I was watching a lot of movies, documentaries, doing a lot of reading and research about some running greats and was generally completely immersed in the sport, not just from a runner’s perspective, but also as a child who finally had the time to wander through the unexplored galactic library of information there is about this sport and the people who are part of it.

When you have a goal you are working towards, when you have a deadline and when you have an event day, with only 4 weeks in tow – somehow, time just seems to fly by and before you know it, it is the day before the event. Honestly, it also makes for having a party by yourself which includes carbohydrate loading the day before, so bring on the pasta and the bread. It also makes for a good excuse to go easy on the workouts and get enough “rest”.

Also, in case you feel like a princess, you are free to treat yourself and go for a heavenly massage and generally spoil yourself silly. But, tell you what – no matter how you want to distract yourself, it never works. No amount of massages or stretches or general relaxation makes the night before any easier or any less tense. You always end up visualising the run over and over in your head – where exactly will you be at any point in the race, mentally, physically and how you should be feeling. You can be doing anything – having a conversation, checking on your race day attire, trying to force down the meal at the required time, or tossing and turning in bed – but all that actually would going through your head are exactly those thoughts that I mentioned above.

On race day, waking up is the easiest part. You go through your motions, slip into race gear, jump into the car and drive straight to the venue; in my case, I am lucky since my super-awesome and supportive family drives me there. My brother is a runner himself, my dad used to be a sportsperson when he was younger and mom is a very enthusiastic and energetic individual – I am really blessed.

Compared to the night before the run, I feel a strange sense of calm on the actual morning of the run – it’s a feeling of complete zone-out and being in the moment for me. From feeling the cool air on my face, to looking at the traffic police throw their weight around, it’s all a very objective experience. The beauty about having an early morning event is that you never really get caught in traffic (especially in India) and your commute to the actual venue is a relatively painless affair. Parking on the other hand is a different ball game altogether.

Anyway, Ankush and me are dropped off at the venue and as soon as I jump out of the car, I have a few running friends waving out to me – going, “Hey Tim! good luck”. I flash a smile, make way to the warm-up arena. As I am walking, I meet another really sweet, relatively new runner friend of mine who is attempting her first ever 10k. We walk together, exchanging notes on how we are feeling on the morning of D-day.

As the 3 of us walk together, we start meeting a lot more familiar faces, friendly smiles and cheery good mornings. And here we are, at the Archery ground. It’s 6:20 am – exactly an hour and 2 minutes before flag off. As I stand there, waiting for the Nike warm up session to start with German trainer Martin Klein in the lead, I look around and see quite a few runners warming up and doing their warm-up routine around the track. I am intimidated! But this is now a feeling I am comfortable with. I tell myself the usual – “You are as prepared as you can be, now it’s time to go run your race, have fun while doing so and do the best you can.”

Next on stage is the awesomely adorable off-the-field but extremely vicious on-field Sunil Chettri, sharing with all the runners his emotional condition before his first ever 10k. Finally, we have Martin and his very attractive team on stage at 6:30. They get us into a nice and easy, yet entertaining warm-up routine to some upbeat house tracks. The routine includes some great stretches, strength cardio movements and final few stretches and some tips which will keep us warm until the actual start of the race.

We now all proceed to our respective corrals. I am in Corral A but have been lucky enough to enter as a Nike runner from the grandstand. So we all walk towards the grandstand. This is where all the celebrities are – Puneeth RajKumar, Rahul Bose, Maria Mutola and a whole bunch of others. I could see everyone was excited and raring to go. Soon, the Chief Minister came in and flagged off the race. I saw some of my friends in Corral A whoosh right ahead and the bunch of us were still on the other side of the barricade! We all pushed through the barricade and joined the crowd. Each runner was now on their own.

The race was already not going as per plan, and as every runner knows – no amount of preparation can prepare you for the race day. You have to feel your race as you go. And that is just what I did. The first thing to do was get out of the crowd – easier said than done. There was a lot of zig-zagging involved, a few lunges even, lots of “excuse me” and about 1.5 km into the race was when I actually felt I was in a comfortable position.

There were volunteers and cheerleaders spread through the route, dense at a few places and sparse at other. Their presence in itself was a huge energy booster. I finally started catching up to some of the runners that I usually interact with – Brojen, Gajendra, Siddesha, Pani Sir – it’s such a pleasure to see them on the track, doing what they do best. It gives me a high just to meet them and say hello as we run.

Around the 2K mark was where I see a girl running ahead of me – time to have some fun. Now she was going at a full gallop with lovely long strides and looking rather stunning while at it, so I go start running next to her, chipping at her heel. For the record, I have never seen her run before and in my head, I start thinking – if she continues at this pace, and I keep up with her right through, I am guaranteed a 42 minute 10k. Obviously, she was not too pleased with my idea of piggy backing off her pace. So she suddenly increased her pace, trying to put up a fight! I caught up with her in the next 4-5 strides. She powered up again and took off. I did a slower, steadier acceleration and caught up to her in the next 300 metres, but this power up had cost her and she started slowing down. I slowly moved up ahead of her.

We had reached the 3.5k mark and that is when I saw her. The lady in the lead, she was a good 600 metres ahead of me and pounding away at a steady pace, much like a gazelle. Oh, how she ran! I continued moving at my regular pace. As I ran, I heard all my fabulous running buddies cheering me on and bringing a smile to my face. It felt amazing! I may not have smiled back, but if you looked hard enough, there was a bounce in my stride for sure. Sudhir sir’s familiar voice, Ankush’s awesome cheer and throw of the sponge across the road – I was home, where I belonged, doing what I loved best – running.

And this is how it continued until 5k. This is where the humidity started taking its toll. Everyone had advised me to run later during the day. I found it hard to breathe and started gasping for air. In my head, the only thing going was – this is not it, too many training hours for you to not give it a go, too many people cheering you on.

As I slowed down, I heard Brojen catch up to me, he was gasping as well, so yes, everyone was suffering from the effects of the humidity. Pani sir came by and said, “TimTim, going strong, you are halfway there, just keep up the pace.” I was gasping though and it was hard for me to keep up my pace. It was already 6k and the crowd was back in sight. They started cheering and there I got my energy booster again. 6 to 7 was a cruise, thanks to the crowd and their lingering presence as we continued down the stretch.

When I reached 7k, I gasped again. At this point, I figured I will not be able to get the goal I was chasing. This was where I was meant to start picking up my pace and flooring it and I was in no condition to do that. But there was a pleasant surprise in store for me. The lady who had been a good 600 metres ahead of me, I had managed to catch up to her, a small relief in that accomplishment.

I was just mulling over this as she went into overdrive and picked up her pace, swooshing right past me and moving on ahead – and there went first place. I continued my pace and ran at the same slower pace for the next 2k, hoping to recover and floor it in the final 1k. Then, before I knew it, there it was – the final 1K. I started picking up my pace as best as I could. It wasn’t what I hoped for and imagined a steady, gradual and elegant increase every 200 metres. Instead, it was in spurts of energy like a dying battery – but hell, I gave it a good shot. I also realised where I lacked and what I needed to change in my training. And the final 100 metres was just lovely, downhill with the end in sight – an automatic smile in place.

There, you have it. First TCS 10k done, 45.45 mins, finishing 152 amongst 11,000 odd competitors, 2nd among 1500 odd women – 9 months into running – not too bad I say. Is there a first place on the cards next year? I sure hope so – but is there a sub 40 for me – I believe there is.

I had some of the faster buddies of mine waiting for me at the finish line to give me a high five. I ran into the Nike lounge, gave an update to the crew, grabbed some water, ran back out and there I stayed for the next few hours, cheering my buddies on in their element, doing what they do best – running.

A big shout out to Mum, Dad, Ankush, Shreyas, Gajendra, Brojen, Sudhir Sir, Rahul MV, Shuveshek, for all your inputs - a big rawwrr to the protons - and everyone of my runner friends that shouts out to me – Thank You and each person who did the run – PB, no PB, first time, 6th time who cares – you ran your run, you rocked it and each one is a rockstar.

To register for the TCS World 10K 2014, which is scheduled to be held on 18th May 2014, click here: TCS World 10K 2014.