They say the journey of thousand miles begins with One Step, This has been one such journey for me to say the least
Prior to the start
I have always considered myself to be a workaholic, I found pride in my work and believed reaching the goal to the top would give me ultimate happiness. I worked really hard ranging from 12 to 14hrs daily with utmost commitment.
Hence my justification was that I would need to enjoy the limited time I had to satisfy my senses. This would mean streaming Netflix and enjoying junk food on Weekends , especially Friday night. I would guard my Friday night and would watch Netflix late into the night consuming almost half a liter of coke and almost a quarter kilo of Potato Chips and then wake up late into Saturday morning and repeat the same.
While I did consume alcohol socially, I made sure that on every occasion I drank I took it to the limits and had immense pride, That I could enjoy, hold my alcohol and even talk Business if required.
I was obscenely obese, no doubt, and did not care for what folks commented, My philosophy in life was, “One Life Live It “.My wife, who is super fit and maintains the same body weight for the past 11 years tried to persuade me, but I brushed it off and Prided myself by saying a Big stomach shows prosperity …
I was weighing almost 100 kilos and was literally proud of it
It all comes crashing down
COVID-19 impacted everyone, but for my transformation, I really need to thank COVID-19, especially the Omicron variant. I was the third person in Karnataka state to be diagnosed with Omicron and made the front page news. I caught this during my travel to South Africa and post my arrival, I was taken to Omicron ward for 2 weeks in Bowring Hospital in Bangalore.
While my symptoms were quite normal, My BP was always very high ( In the range of 160/100) . Once during my stay , on a routine checkup my BP went to ( 180/110) by which time I had to take tablets to bring my BP Down
Post-discharge, I did go to my family physician, who said that I did have BP and I need to take medications daily and if I do not rectify this, then this would lead to cardiac issues.
I was shocked, as a 34-year-old to take BP tablets daily was not something I ever thought and the Doctor mentioned I was quite obese and that reducing my weight would reduce my BP. I had to buy a monitor and check my BP every day.
This was in Jan 2022, when I had to follow this every day of taking tablets and measuring BP, I was getting advice from Family members to at least start walking, Friends saying that should start going to the Gym etc. I was devastated, I never thought this day would come by.
I then decided , never in my life again should someone call me Fat and unhealthy. But what should I do now? was the question,
I was never interested in going to Gym, cycling, Running was simply out of the question,
But my Wife suggested I walk at least 5K every day and that should be fine . I should let go of all my unhealthy habits such as avoiding carbonated drinks, Completely stopping of Rice, and also No Junk food at all.
It was extremely hard, but I took it up as a challenge and started my daily walk at 6 AM.
Catching the Running bug
For 2 Months, from Jan to Feb I was doing my walking routine , i.e Walk daily for 5K on weekdays, and on Weekends was to walk 10K.
Due to my diet and the walks, there was some reduction in weight by about 3 kgs. During one of my walks, I did see a couple of folks running and tried to run, I was able to run for 100 mtrs and my heart beat went to 180 bpm and I almost felt like collapsing.
I did frequently travel to South Africa for Business and my colleague and friend Duncan Pie was into running ultra marathons and had done 3 comrades ( A 90 Km ultra marathon between Pietermaritzburg to Durban ) in less than 11 hrs. I always thought these guys to be crazy and of course, Genetically blessed.
During one of my visits in March 2022 , I accompanied Duncan on his run in the morning in Johannesburg and was able to run 300 meters after which my Heart rate went to 185 bpm, and got scared, but unlike last time, I didn't feel like collapsing, but actually stopped because I thought my heart rate was too high also I enjoyed the rush. I then decided that I will target to run at least for a km if Possible.
Duncan also suggested I register for a race to keep me motivated, I looked around and found TCS 10K , which was being organized in Bangalore, registered for it, and started to prepare for that. The race was on May 15th 2022 and I had 2 months to make sure I finish 10 K before 1 hr 30 mins. At this time I used to take around 1hr 45 mins to finish 10K
I started to run only downhills during my run and found it easy on Flats I could run for 500 meter without stopping and my timing reduced from 10 K to 1hr 45 mins to 1hr 30 mins By end of March.
I then decided to push the needle and run for 1 km irrespective of elevation and then walk for 1 Km , with alternate run/walk. I was finding success in running near my house which had a high elevation.
Then pushed to running 2 Km continuously and then walking for 1Km , every week I kept pushing myself by gradually pushing from 2km to 2.5km, and then by End of April I was able to run for 3K without stopping and then walk for 500 meters and resume running, I could repeat this and finished a 10K near my father's farm house in 1hr 11 mins.
I was enjoying this and now could plan to target 1hr 10 mins for TCS 10K which was 2 weeks away
Then on TCS 10K, I was nervous this was the first I had entered a race, I was amazed by so many runners and all the preparation going on before the race. To be honest I was a little intimidated by them. I was placed in Coral F ( A holding gate, faster runners based on previous race time, get Lower Alphabet, A for the fastest, and F for guys like me who had not run previous races ).
I crossed the starting line and made my way, I was surprised that I was able to run at an average of 6.1min/Km and ran for 4 km without stopping( This was the longest I had run without stopping ). I reached the finish line to see I had completed my run in 1hr 4 mins. That was a huge difference compared to what I was targeting which was just under 1hr 10 mins.
I was literally overjoyed, my wife and my mom both ran 5K and it became a Family event as well. The best thing was I was feeling absolutely fine, there was no tiredness or Pain.
On that day, I decided that i will run a Half Marathon (21.1 km).
And few days post the event, I registered for Hyderabad Half Marathon.
Runners High
Post my registration for Hyderabad Half Marathon, I had no clue where to begin. I was running 8 to 10k daily and taking 2 days off running. My pace was always comfortable at 6:20 to 6:40 mins/km.
I started getting pains in my ankle and also in my foot. In late May, The pain was so severe that when I tried to run for 5kms, I could not due to pain. I was worried that my running dream had come to an end. I continued to do a slow jog in pain, it did subside a bit but it was always there
In that time I had traveled to Johannesburg for work and during a dinner conversation with Duncan and Ewan ( who is the husband of the Chief Human Capital officer in inq. , an ironman triathlete) , I did bring this issue with them and both of them looked at the shoes I was using for running and asked me to throw that away as they were not proper running shoes, but rather just walking shoes.
The next day Ewan took me to a store and made me get my first proper running shoes ( New Balance vongo v12) and then he said he will give me a training plan for my half marathon.
I was thrilled, I ran a couple of times in Johannesburg with the new shoes, and Boy!! It did make an incredible difference, slowly the pain vanished as well and my speed improved.
The plan was quite intense and it required me to run variations between 8k to 18k with a gradual buildup of mileage weekly.
I followed this plan as much as possible but still colored outside the lines, if the plan said to run 8k, I did 9K. It was just the rebel in me saying that I can run more ( quite silly !!, but when you have come from a place of being called fat all the time, just having the ability to run and proving to yourself was my justification ). On July 10th I attempted the first Half marathon Distance in cape town. With all the stoppages in between, I finally finished the run in 2hr 35 mins.
It was a great achievement, I could not believe that I had run for this long it gave me confidence that I can do my half marathon. My Coach Ewan was not happy as he was worried that I would get injured in this process.
Once I came back from Capetown, I did attempt another half marathon which I completed in 2hrs 17 mins. Now I was quite confident that I would be able to finish the half marathon.
My pace was still hovering between 6:20 min/km to 6:40 min/km and now I could run for 8km continuously and then had to walk for 500 meters after which I could run for another 6 or 7 km and it went on.
I then attempted a 25Km on 30th July, which took almost 3 hrs to complete, these experimental runs were not recommended by anyone, It was me playing around ( Not recommended at all !!! ) but thankfully scraped through without any injury,
I was as ready as I can be for the Hyderabad half marathon until I looked at the route and its elevation. It was a very hard route and estimated to be about 300 meters in elevation with multiple uphills and flyovers.
I planned to stick with the 2hrs 15 mins Bus so that, which would mean a speed of 6.15min/km. Once again my family decided to accompany me, my mom would run 5K, and my wife doing 10K .
The half marathon was quite challenging, I stuck with the pacer till 13th Km, post which the heat got to me and I started to walk and dropped out off the bus, I summoned all my energy and started running again for another 3kms to walk again and finally again at a horrible 18th Km Flyover. Then I managed to run from there till I finished 21, finishing the run at 2hr 20 mins, Missed my PR by 3 minutes, but I was happy to have run in that elevation.
Post celebrations, once I came back to my room, I looked at the qualification criteria for the Mumbai marathon and I saw it was 2hr 45 mins for Half Marathon, I just went ahead and registered for Mumbai Marathon on the day I completed my first official HM.
Now there was no going back and I was officially registered for my first Marathon. My simple goal was just to complete my first marathon in 5 hrs and that would be a great achievement I believed.
Second, I knew I needed professional support for this as I knew with my current condition running a marathon was out of the question, especially after reading all the scary stories of hitting the wall post 35ks and also just running a half marathon I had run out of energy, so I knew I had to improve my fitness levels to be able to complete within my target.
Enter Runners 360
My search for Running coaches began on Facebook, I joined a couple of running groups and found quite a number of running coaches. There are quite a number of big running clubs in Bangalore, but I was looking for a smaller group and then chanced upon Shreyas Karnad from Runners 360. I followed him on Facebook and found that the coaching methodology was holistic and was specifically targeted at Working athletes who have limited time in a day to devote to running.
Post conversation with him, I was introduced to Coach Deepa as part of Runners 360, and just seeing her profile blew me away. She was also a working athlete before and 3 times Boston Marathon Qualifier. Post discussion I informed my intention to run a Full marathon and informed that I had registered for Mumbai Marathon.
I wanted to run a marathon before Dec ended just as a sign of my journey, but she denied it, informing me that I would need 4 dedicated months before I ran a marathon and Post running a marathon, I would need at least 1 month of recovery so If I decided to run Mumbai Marathon, then that would be it. I gave up other aspirations and put all my focus on Mumbai.
She gave me 2 key races before TMM, One to run Bangalore Half Marathon on October 16th , in which she would target me to finish a sub 2 hr Marathon and then a hard 30K run on Dec 4th called the Thump marathon with a lot of elevation where my target would be to run in less than 3hrs.
I was simply amazed as running a sub 2 hr Marathon would mean, I had to run at less than 5:40 min/km for 21.1 kms, My last HM average was 6:30 min/km.
That would mean in a minute I would need to gain almost a minute every km. But then I trusted the coach and her expertise.
Based on the plan, I would run on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and then a small recovery of 5K on Sunday.
Tuesday would be short Tempo or fast runs ( Between 10 to 12 K) , Thursdays would be a little longer but slower ( Between 14 to 18k) and Saturdays were the long runs, mostly easy pace but (Between 21 to 25ks ). And then the 3 Non-running days would be strenght exercises which I did through Zoom sessions with the coach
I was just surprised with each passing week, I could see immense improvements. At the end of September for all my runs, I could handle between 5:40 to 6:00 mins/km, It was still a stretch but could manage.
We had a training run for the Bangalore marathon 2 weeks before the actual run, I had just landed from Johannesburg in the evening and the next day It was raining cats and dogs in Bangalore, I woke up at 4:30 am ( still feeling jet lag ) and headed to kanteerava stadium to run. We followed the same route as the Bangalore marathon and with all the challenges, I got a Nice PR of 2hr 03 mins, Which translated to a pace 5:45 min/km.
That boosted my confidence and I knew sub 2 was achievable. At this point, I could run without stopping for 16 km.
Then Bangalore marathon happened and I bagged a PR of 1hr 58 mins, ( although officially it showed 2hr 01 min) but felt happy about this run.
Post this my speed increased significantly to the point that during one of my training runs, I did 1hr 54 min HM without any effort. My pace continued to increase, during this time I had a lot of travel to South Africa, But wherever I went I ensured that I followed the running plan without fail. Running in Johannesburg was especially conducive because its at 1600 meters above sea level, whereas Bangalore is at 800 to 900 meters, which means less oxygen, hence my training had significant improvement as training at high altitudes improves how your body uses Oxygen.
But running during travels was quite nice and Duncan gave me company for most of the runs.
In my training runs, I was now able to hit Half marathon times of below 1hr 50 mins which translated ( to 5:08min/km ) . The below graph shows this significant improvement
30k and above
Now that I was able to easily do my runs and my speed had improved, there were a couple of 30 km runs and a 35 km run which was scheduled for Dec.
For Marathons, we never ever run the Full 42.2 during a training run as the impact it has on the body is too immense. Hence the longest run we do in training is 35km, which should be done roughly 3 to 4 weeks before the Marathon.
The first challenging run was the Thump 30 K run which happens on NICE Road of Bangalore, In the start, the road goes down and then 10 K of Flat and then we come back up on the same road for another 10K.
Its extremely challenging because of the uphill which comes at 22kms to 28 kms.
This was a nice run before the planned 35K in the last week of december. I ran this successfully to complete 30K in 2hrs 48 mins and My half marathon time in this was 1hr 52 mins. I was quite happy with the progression and was able to achieve a solid run in spite of the hills. I did walk a bit for 100 meters after 25ks and then was able to resume running.
I had my 35 k runs scheduled on Dec 17th as I was going to be on vacation in the last week. I went to Lalbagh to run the 1-mile loop , I was nervous as I had not done this with many km in one stretch and also no one would be there to accompany me.
Thankfully from our running club Srini, was supposed to do 25 kms , hence I thought to tag with him during the run. That helped quite a bit, we both started at different times and I was doing a good speed of 5:15 to 5:20 pace for 20 km and then started running with Srini to reduce my pace to about 5:40 to 5:50 till 31 ks and then the last 4 pushed for 5:20 to get a strong finish.
I did not walk at all for this entire 35ks and was quite comfortable and was happy to look at my pace of 5:25 ( 35ks in 3hr 10 mins ) I was over the top and joyed that I could finish my 35ks and now was possibly looking at a Sub 4 marathon.
My coach also targeted me for sub 4 and the plan was set for Mumbai Marathon.
TMM…
After all the prep, I was quite nervous, I knew that I could probably finish the marathon, But doing sub 4, I was not really sure. The week before the marathon, it was hard to concentrate on work, I kept looking at elevation and route maps, planning my splits etc.
My colleague and friend Duncan pie had also registered for the marathon and he would be coming with his wife 1 day before the marathon. I was quite excited, but in the middle had a work emergency so had to spend some time on deliverables which kept me occupied till 13th Jan, 15th was the marathon. But overall I was sure till 35ks but for the remaining 7, I had read horror stories, and even experienced runners had issues hitting the wall post 35 kms , It was quite a mental agony. I was scared if I run too hard would I bonk ( run out of Energy !! ) , how would my body feel at 38th km etc.
And then there was Mumbai's weather, Bangaloreans are blessed with solid weather throughout the year with less humidity, which was not the case in Mumbai. I was also thinking if I should do salt tablets, and what happens if I cramp. The last thing I would want is a DNF ( Did not finish !! ).
There is always a saying that when running a marathon you prepare for 3 plans. My plans were
Plan 1: Finish the marathon in 3hr:50 mins
Plan 2: Target sub 4
Plan 3: Finish before 4hrs 10 mins.
We arrived in Mumbai, received my colleague, visited the expo to collect the Bib , and met some of our fellow runners from the running club. On Saturday I just relaxed and strictly told my wife that I would not be going anywhere using my foot :)
D Day, I and Duncan started at 3:30 am we reached Azad Maidan grounds at 4:15 am and behold so many runners. I was just thrilled and I just could not believe that I had made it this far. Just remembering the journey, I could not believe that last year if anyone would have told me that I would run a Marathon the next year, I would have laughed and asked him to go see a psychiatrist.
We were in Coral C, I probably could have gone to Coral A, but I had forgotten to submit my Bangalore marathon timings to update my coral, Hence they had used my Hyderabad marathon timings to put me in Coral C.
None of the pacers were part of Coral C as most of the pacers with the timing I wanted were in Coral A (3hrs :45, 3hrs 55 ,and 4hrs ) .
My coach had given me a pacing strategy of running the first 15 at 5:30mins/km, The next 20 at 5:20 to 5:25mins/km and finally the last 7 to go all out.
And at 5:19 AM , I finally got through the starting line to begin my first marathon.
Duncan was pacing me, we were doing 5:35, which was slightly above the pace set, After 6 ks I started to get nervous, But Duncan was reminding me that there was still 36k to go. We hit 10 k @ 55 mins, Which was good, and was feeling quite confident, enjoying the Mumbai crowd, the run, and also the weather which was beautiful, It was as if that day Mumbai turned into Bangalore.
We then started up Mumbai’s iconic Sealink bridge, but I was starting to notice, that there was almost 200 meters difference between my watch and the KM marking on the road. Here I started to get quite nervous as I knew this difference would continue to grow with each Km passing.
My rough calculation said that with my current pace, I would be targeting 3 hrs 55 mins, which means I only had 5 mins of buffer and I had just crossed the halfway point at 1hr 58 mins. This was an eye opener that I probably had become too conservative and thinking about the last 7 k, That I had run too slow to conserve my energy, My average was hovering around 5:36min/km.
I became nervous that I would miss my Sub 4, if I didn't pick up the speed. My Plan A was already out of the window. From the 22nd Km, I increased my pace, and pushed it to 5:15 to 5:22 mins/km dug deep as much as possible and was able to hold the pace till I reached 31 km, I then noticed my watch beeped, I had run 31 kms, But I could not find KM marking and It was now almost 400 meters away and my heart rate had peaked to 180, which was above my threshold and I still had 11.5 kms to go. I knew that I would not able to hold on to this pace for long and would burn out.
I slowed down walked a bit and then ran till I hit Peddar road( The only point in the route with good elevation ) walked a bit there and continued. In all this, I had forgotten to take my carb gel @ 35 km ( which I had to take every 7 kms) and I was afraid to try anything new such as salt and oranges which were being given in the stands. At 39th my right leg started to cramp very badly basically turning into a piece of wood, stopped for a bit and looked at my watch, Basically, I had 3.2 km to go according to my watch and I had literally 18 mins left to hit sub 4, But I knew that the officially it was still 600 meters more than that, meaning, official timing of sub 4 was out of the picture, But the least I could do was target the completion on my watch,
With immense pain I started running it was hard to run anything faster than 6:00 min/km, At this juncture, I could see an ambulance rushing through, People puking on the sides, people sitting on the sidewalk with ice packs, It was literally like a battlefield and you start to wonder why would you put yourself in this position.
With all my might I pushed myself and exactly at 3:59:44, my watch beeped that I had run 42.35 kms and I just stopped was literally about to collapse, But I saw now that there were still 600 meters to officially complete,my leg was shot I tried running but my brain, my legs just said “NO” , I walked for a bit and then when it said 100 meters and I could see the finish line, I ran and crossed the finish line, I was surprised to find my Daughter and Mother at the finish line, waiting and I just sat down, the finish line looked like a hospital
I was just emotional and could not believe that I had run 42.2 kms in 4 hrs ( Officially it was a bit above 4 ) , but I couldn't care less. I sat down, my right leg still feeling solid and like a log. I limped for a bit but at that moment seeing my wife, daughter, and my parents all showing up, the pain just evaporated.
I was a little disappointed that I did not have a strong finish and rued for some time thinking where all did I go wrong, But then my coach said “ If you get everything right in the first marathon, what would you look for in the next one”
I then realized what I had done was indeed awesome and it was time to enjoy this journey rather than think about what could have been better. As someone who could not run 100 meters an year back, Running a marathon in 4 hrs , You just pat on your back and aim to come back stronger.
Onwards and Upwards
This entire journey does not end at the finish line of a marathon, but rather starts a new beginning. The first marathon is always special, irrespective of the time, Putting your body and mind to run 42.2 kms is not for the faint of heart. It is said that only 0.01% of world's population has completed a marathon and probably a quarter of them probably completes in 4hrs.
But then again, while Races are important milestones, a true runner always enjoys the journey, the training, and just the ability to wake up every morning, lace up and head out. That's what it finally boils down to.
They always call runners a crazy bunch of people and especially you get asked questions such as what makes you do this to yourself, what makes you sacrifice weekend parties, late night parties, and also do the same even on vacations. But the answer to that is only known to the runner and it just cannot be explained.
As I finished my first marathon and with my timings, I qualified for Two oceans Ultra Marathon in Cape town in April. It's a 56 km Ultra, which we have to finish in 7hrs. That is my next target and already looking forward to the next event and more importantly the training that goes along with it.
I do thank my wife (also a runner ) and my daughter wholeheartedly for this journey, they have made multiple sacrifices to make sure my running schedules are not interrupted. I am happy to see my parents both my Mom and Dad joining this running madness at their age it's commendable and also in my community who are starting their running journey.
But foremost I do thank Duncan, without whom running would be a distant dream and probably would never have got introduced to this wonderful activity. Ewan for training me for my first marathon( and helping me get my first proper running shoes )
I do thank god, for guiding me in the right direction throughout, my Coach Deepa and Shreyas from Runners 360 without whom I would not have made it this far, and also the Runners360 family for all the support and advice I got during my runs with them.
Kristin Armstrong has rightly put this across
