Humanity is dead

132 Children died yesterday. Humanity died yesterday. I am still shocked and sick, a place to impart education has been turned into a graveyard.

May god give strength to all the Peshavar families. As a parent, as a father I can understand what all those 132 families are going through. Life will move on, but some part of us dies there yesterday.

To all those people claiming that Pakistan shelters terrorists and hence this happened, TRAGEDY IS NOT A COMPETITION. Something which is wrong, is wrong in any part of the world.

May the little souls rest in peace

कल कुछ बस्ते घर से निकले पर वापिस कभी न पहुंचे
आज ऊपर वाला हंस  रहा होगा, इंसान इस कदर खून का प्यास हो गया की अपनी ही औलाद का खून कर रहा है 

The legend of Dandi

The year was 2010, Prateek, Meher and me were already in the middle of our toughest training schedule which we ever followed untill that year. I got married 2 years back and since then the time on the weekends was always a premium. We would always find it tough to squeeze in a long run in our weekend schedule along with all the socializing and chores that new life brought in. It was only now I realized why Pankaj has always been so busy on the weekends :-)

It was the Ananada Yana run organized by Santhosh Padmanabha, and as usual the koramangala/HSR gang went to the venue in the Red Dragon, those who are part of BHUKMP know what a red dragon is. Just before the run started, we saw Anjana came running to the venue, I asked her the reason, and she told me that she has serious time crunch these days on the weekend, driving her daughter to different places and classes, visiting relatives and finishing office work, so she thought why waste time driving to the venue, but instead start a little early, run to the venue, do 5K run there and then run back. This seemed like an amazing idea to me and Prateek!

We thought of implementing this idea next weekend, as we thought that driving to cubbon is an utter waste of time, additionally you go there and finding a parking was a nightmare. Our mileage was already peaking, and we were required to do 32K+ runs on Saturdays, this would also mean atleast 7 loops of cubbon, and we would be dead with boredom at the end of it!

So we floated the idea of running to cubbon and then taking a bus back. The initial idea was, we will run to cubbon from ET via Hosur road, which would be close to 8K and then run in cubbon. We discussed this idea on the next run (where we obviously ran to cubbon) with Rishi and Amrita. Rishi immediately proposed , why run in cubbon? we (the cubbon gang) can do a reverse run on hosur road, meet somewhere midway and then run towards ulsoor and then around ulsoor and back to cubbon! Hence the first dandi route was devised!

During the same time, we had a new guy (newly shifted back from the US) running with us, his name was Vishy, initially we knew him as the guy who was mostly quiet on the runs but had a big online presence, we all became a fan of his blog right away! He used to live in Raheja Residency those days, and he liked the idea of a Saturday run to cubbon, we all started running regularly to cubbon, and then sometime in July 2010, Vishy proposed the name for this run as Dandi! Why Dandi? because we meet other runners en route, and we all run towards our target. Everybody loved the name and this was the point of birth of the Dandi runs in BHUKMP!!

As we came near the marathon date (KTM was the first marathon of that season) our mileages started increasing, I remember Praveen was doing 75K at the Ultra and hence he needed a longish run or 4-5 hours on foot kind of training every Saturday. So to increase the mileage, we all decided lets start going to cubbon via the Sony World-inner ring road-Domlur-Trinity Circle-MG Road stretch. The blessing in disguise was, Bhasker and Rajaram can also join us at Domlur! This was the point of birth of the actual route of Dandi

The Dandi runs were formed and we all were pretty excited about them, all of us started following them religiously, at certain point just before the Bangalore Ultra, Nari suggested that instead of going on the MG road from Trinity circle, lets go to Brunton road, the benefits: it is about a KM longer, and there is decent incline on the Primrose road, which is good for training. The idea was discussed in the security council meeting on the same day and was immediately approved!!! Rishi then suggested that before he started running with us, he used to run along the BGC and its an amazing place to run in the mornings, hence we started going from cubbon to Sankey and back, when Siddesha suggested that why not include the serene IISC also in the loop!

The last approval was the final approval for the run, which the entire Bangalore knows today as the Dandi run!

The concept was started by Anjana, name given by Vishy, route formulated by, Pankaj, Prateek, me, Praveen, Rishi, Nari and Siddesha this is democracy in true sense! :-)

Thanks to Dandi runs, that year my training mileage went on to 2,200 KM! And the show goes on!

SCMM Training starts

On Tuesday I started the training for Mumbai marathon. Got a new plan from my coach, and the paces look challenging. The speed and long runs are not my concern, i think I can still manage them

The runs that I absolutely hate are the tempo runs, it just doesn't end, and moreover my weak point has always been tempo. My legs hold on, I start getting breathless. I also plan to do most of these runs now with the heart rate monitor. This will give me a good insight on the breathlessness part.

Every year is a new learning. This is the 10th year of my long distance running, and still I have a lot to learn.

All the best to everyone running and training towards their goals!

Shut up and Run!

The above Golden words are printed on a lot of T-shirts, but my coach is the one who made me follow it. I have been running with Dharam since the last 8 years or so, 3 years back he embarked on a journey to pursue his Boston Marathon quest. For those who don't know, Boston Marathon is a prestigious race to qualify for and amongst a lot of running circles, it is considered as the Mecca of long distance running.

Dharam left his full time job and moved to the US in 2011 for about 6 months to qualify for the Boston marathon. When he came back to India, he became a full time running coach and continued to train for a Boston qualifier. Over the last 3 years he went through a lot of pain (physical and mental) in his quest for the Boston. Irrespective of what kept happening around him, he was focused towards his goal! This morning he got qualified for the Boston Marathon 2015.

He is very good coach and a good friend. He continues to inspire me and other runners with his determination and enthusiasm for running.

Wishing you all the best for Boston 2015 and all your future endeavors!

Eating right and weight management in non running season

As soon as Mumbai marathon was out of the way, a new beast started troubling me, the beast of weight management during non training season. The weekly mileages are low, and throw in some vacations, a couple of festivals and some parties, there goes fitness out of the window. My coach and I worked really hard in the last season to get me to this fitness level, however I am still not at my ideal racing weight, but still my Heart Rate and the speed is pretty decent right now, I don’t want to lose all this hardwork in the coming 6 months.

The first thing I did, was started maintaining a food log, yeah I jot down whatever I am putting in my mouth, right from ice cream to beer to candies. To help on this task I have installed My Fitness Pal on my Android phone, this app has a long list of Indian foods so it is much easier to keep a track of what you are eating. This pretty much used to tell me at the end of the day of what I should have been eating and what I shouldn’t have.

The second important thing I did was keeping the weekly running mileage to 35-40 km. The other secret in this is, don’t stop doing the speed runs and tempo runs, maybe reduce the intensity a bit, but still keep doing it, the biggest secret of my weight loss were the tempo and speed runs, where the intensity is relatively higher than the easy runs, hence that fastens the metabolism a lot.

After 5 weeks of maintaining a food log and good mileage my weight started showing a downward trend. Additionally I have been eating ONLY home cooked food, with alcohol / beer only on the weekends. The home cooked food part has made a lot of difference in my fitness level.

After 3 years of togetherness my Garmin Forerunner 305 finally dies 3 weeks back, I decided not to get another Garmin for the time being and run on the feel and cadence. I have been doing that since some weeks and I find it much more peaceful and a lot of less stress in my head. Occasionally I have found myself running faster than usual on the tempo runs as well, maybe because now I can’t keep looking at the pace every 30 seconds and hence there is no stress and I have started running purely on the feel. I am not sure if I am going to pick up another Garmin or not, maybe during the training season I might pick up a basic model which just gives me the distance and the Heart Rate.

And don’t forget the most important part of all : Lots of sleep!

The race that wasn't

Short race report:

I DNFed. I pulled out at 36th KM mark due to low Blood Pressure.

Read this poetry by Wajid Ali Shah, after a long long time, rightly describes my state of mind right now.

Dar-o-deewar pe hasrat se nazar karte hain
Khush raho ahle watan, hum to safar karte hain

And the training again begins this Saturday, after the log run in Mumbai.

A detailed race report is on its way.....

Make a difference - Donate and help fight Cancer

Like all years, I am supporting the Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation (SMCF) this year as well. The trust is started by a friend and I have closely seen the kind of work they are doing. The money received from the donation is used to buy Cancer medicines and the treatment for the poor and needy. A lot of people in our country cannot afford the Cancer treatment, this charity works with them and provides help to them

I am running the Standard Chartered Mumbai marathon 2014 on Sunday, 19th January 2014                            

I have been training hard for this event and hope to achieve my goal this year.

If you want to support the idea of running for a cause, then I would request you to please donate for this cause, this would make a huge difference.

Also if you wish to donate please reply to this or mail me at evilshantanu[at]gmail[dot]com So that I am able to track the donations and send you the receipts.

Since it is a new trust, so the payment gateway still needs to be incorporated. However you can initiate a wire transfer or deposit in the bank account or handover the cheque to me.

All Donations are tax exempted, I will mail you the reciept for the donation made.

Please mail / call me if you wish to donate, would send a mail with the donation procedure.