Why I love running

Well, running started as another activity to keep fit & healthy. And with increasing length of the runs, I began looking at crossing the next limit of endurance. But this was not all…

Initially, I had to slink out of bed, move around quietly (in the dark) while getting ready & sneaked out of the house quickly. Lest the wife’s sleep (even the daughter’s, but she sleeps more soundly) was disturbed. You surely know how it is. One would prefer distracting a tigress when she is just sitting down for the meal. Yes, running is a tough task. And as dangerous as a daru party in Gujarat.

But getting back drenched in sweat makes one ready to face the storm that awaits once we get back to the den. The sympathy factor helped too, for a true warrior never attacks a tired, drained out foe. Also, by the time I returned the kid would be getting to leave for school & I could avoid any backlash for the offences of the morning. There’s more to this – bragging rights each time I returned from an event with a medal. Even though it was only the finisher’s medal, it made them look up in awe at the achievement.

But the bad times (like the good ones) never last. Wife had a friend who wished to start walking for fitness (you can guess what type)s reasons. So, the two of them began going for post-dinner walks. But there was no improvement. On studying their routine, it was discovered that the culprit was the pani-puri wala who kept his stall open till late! Not that I was minded this, for I was now able to watch Govinda movies & football matches on the TV. But they did. And came to me for help (I never knew I was considered a fitness guru!). Which was when we zeroed down to the culprit after some RCA. I offered them 2 suggestions – switch to morning walks & take up running. They ignored both, for the ladies have the same affinity to pani-puri wala as bhakts have for a chai-wala.

Coming back to the point, we went to Kochi (Nov. 2015), where the wife ran the 5K (more about it here: A Spicy Run Along A Spicy Coast). And liked the festive atmosphere that defines a running event. Coming back, she shared her experience with her friend. They tried a 5K at Daman Wind Marathon next year (Dec. 2016) & decided they could run longer distances. I gave them a gradual progression programme so that they could do a HM at VIM 2017. Which marked a turning point in my running life.

While she still was a Ms. Know-it-all, but I was the expert on running. I was the one who would help her get through her 1^st HM. If I missed an alarm (after a late night out), she would wake me up. I was now boldly getting out of the house at wee hours for a run. And returned to a cup of tea prepared by the wife while she got ready for her run. And no lectures too!! Each time things appeared tricky, I just had to bring up her running & my mistakes would be history. I was no longer a Rahul Dravid at home, but a Virendra Sehwag.

But not for long. Having run two HM’s in successive months (VIM & SoleFest), she considered herself a veteran. At least, this was the equation in the household. While not a Sachin to my Viru, but definitely a Yuvi in relation to MSD. And then as another running season approaches, a tussle began for the prime running slot. Who leaves earlier & who gets to stay behind while the kid is still sleeping?

I realized that the post-demonetization world was transformed in more ways than one. Not one to give up easily (well, I am a runner), I tried all sorts of arguments but all were doomed. With threats of no tiffin for the office (met with a helicopter shot of packed lunches) & the kid going hungry to school (an unplayable Malinga yorker), she now decides the running schedules.

Hey, don’t feel sorry. Actually, I now get to sleep longer. And that’s something I like as much as running or a daru party. Now you know why I love running!!

How The Events Stack Up (Rounding Up)

Continuing where I left off in the previous post, I will briefly touch upon the “Overall Experience”. This covers the intangibles of an event, you may as well call it the X-Factor. It is what will make you come back again to the event. Like the beer which GRM so thoughtfully offers at the end of the run. On the other end of the scale we have RunGandhinagarRun. The route was quite flat most of the distance. The weather was pretty cool. There was no traffic whatsoever. And it was the fastest I had ever run over this distance. Add the company of Dr. Suresh Iyengar & I should have felt top of the world. But they forgot to identify the route for the benefit of (outstation) participants. Coming to the finish arena, this was the story all around. The memory remains & I don’t think I will run in Gandhinagar again.

Getting to business of this post, here are the scores of the events being considered:

   

	Start Time	Hydration / Fuel	Traffic Mgmt	Route	Weather	Crowds	Post-run Meal	Route Markers	X-Factor	Wtd Score
Rajkot	5	5	5	3	5	4	3	4	4	4.42
GRM	5	5	4	5	3	3	5	1	5	4.35
Spice Coast	5	5	4	4	3	3	5	4	5	4.33
SoleFest-1	5	4	5	4	2	2	5	1	5	4.03
Daman ’15	5	5	4	4	4	2	2	3	4	4.00
VIM ’17	5	4	4	3	4	4	2	1	5	3.94
Daman ’16	5	5	4	4	4	2	2	2	3	3.87
Zendurance	5	3	3	3	5	0	3	1	4	3.33
Gandhinagar	5	4	4	2	5	0	2	0	2	3.24
VIM ’16	1	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2.44
Weight	18	17	15	11	10	9	7	3	10

Let’s begin with the laggards. Zendurance is potentially a great event & not simply because they bundle a wine-tasting session with the registration fees. Only if they identify another route for the HM. Else this won’t be an event for repeat participation, as one can anyway visit Sula without paying those high registration fees. Die-hard runners can run to the vineyard for free & top it up with wine straight out of the casks. Again, Gandhinagar is an event that I will not recommend unless they have enough volunteers & clear markers to ensure the runners don’t stray off the route. They can learn a lot from VIM that has put in a much improved show in just one year.

Now to those placed #4 to #7, which form a pack. The last Daman Wind Marathon (2016) was much inferior to the year earlier. The goof up began with Bib distribution & one could feel something missing through the event. Though it will always gather a crowd as people in South Gujarat miss no opportunity to visit Daman! The others in this group are most promising. VIM 2017 surprised me beyond expectations. Firstly, by starting on time (they didn’t wait for the CM to arrive). Though the route took one out of the city, they ensured that the experience was worth it. Like putting the water shower at the toll plaza! Moving it to Jan 1^st week is another step that is expected to enhance the experience. Hope they again push the CM’s itinerary after the timed events are flagged off. And SoleFest did a good job in the 1^st edition itself despite less than a month of planning & execution. With more time to prepare & better weather, expect a far better event this time round (26^th Nov., mark the date in your calendars). And another round of sumptuous post-run brunch.

There’s not much separating the top-3 in the list. GRM has many loyal fans who religiously attend this event. I believe, Spice Coast also has its own set of regular out-station participants. Being tourist destinations & the events scheduled during peak tourist season, these will never be short of enthusiastic participants. Though one is surprised at Rajkot getting to the top of the table. Full credit to the organisers (Rajkot Municipal Corporation) who did a splendid job & ticked all the right boxes. More so because it was the 1^st time they were conducting this event. And to the Collector, who led by example & ran the full 21K himself. I will return to Rajkot, for a HM there is part of the unfinished agenda.

What is your takeaway from this post? Nothing, except pointers to what to expect at which event. Which need to be the deciding factor. For Spice Coast, though a good run in itself, is too distant to visit year after year. And despite not being (presently) in the top half, VIM is one place where I will always be found. 

The How’s behind the Why’s (... contd.)

I begin with apologies. In my previous post I promised a lot in the next post (this one). But this post doesn’t tread that far. However, I will make up by doing so over the next two posts. In that previous post, I talked about what I would look at when deciding whether to go to a particular event. This one will outline how I these factors stack up for individual events. So, here I go…

When I first thought of rating the various events I have participated in, I poured over literature (available freely on the internet) on statistics to arrive at a suitable mechanism. As per the advice I needed to develop a complex formula involving calculus, logarithms & arithmetic. Except the last one, I had found the others difficult even during the days when I was supposed to have studied those. Also in tasks such as this one, there is always a risk of being reviled despite the hard work you have put it (Mr. Duckworth & Mr. Lewis would readily testify to this). Moreover, we runners are simple beings. We just put one foot in front of the other repetitively & feel proud about it. So I went for the KISS (not the Emran Hashmi kind) so that the entire process is easy to understand (by readers of this blog) & easier to work out (for me).

So I simply decided to rate all parameters on a scale of 0 to 5. As some are more important than the others I assigned a weight to each (a total of 100). And calculated the weighted average score. Simple & serves the purpose too.

I consider Start Time, Hydration/Fuel & Traffic management as the most important criteria of success of a mass running event. These are also inter-linked, for a delayed start increases the need for hydration and also makes it more difficult to manage the traffic. Handled well, these will ensure the runners return year after year. I assigned 18, 17 & 15 respectively to these.

Next, we have route, weather & crowd support, which go to create the magic around the event. These give a distinct character to each event. Going along areas lined up with heritage buildings or rivers or coastlines elevates the running experience compared to running through the urban jungle. Again, crowd presence not only makes us feel so important, even the slowest ones feel proud when they find themselves outnumbered by people leading a sedentary lifestyle. I weigh them with 11, 10 & 9 respectively as they are almost equal in importance.

Post-run refreshment is something I value very much. I can hog on anything after having run 21K. But, one can find so much to eat in any habited town. Thus, this one had to settle with a weight of 7. Route markers end up with a weight of 3.

All of the above add up to only 90. Because I have added another criterion to my assessment scale – Overall Experience, with a significant 10. Yes, all of the rest make up for the experience, but this one is for the intangibles that are difficult to express.

The events I am going to rate over the next posts are: Spice Coast Marathon, Kochi (Nov. 2015), Zendurance Nasik Spirit Run (Nov. 2015), Daman Wind Marathon (Dec. 2015 & Dec. 2016), Rajkot (Jan 2016), Vadodara International Marathon (Feb.2016 & Feb. 2017), Goa River Marathon (Dec. 2016), RunGandhinagarRun (Jan. 2017) & SoleFest, Vadodara (Mar. 2017). I have tried to be unbiased in this evaluation & hope you too find it so. More in my next posts…