Marathon Quotes

Mukesh Agarwal, a Chennai Runner sent these quotable Marathon Quotes..

1. Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder:

"The marathon is a charismatic event. It has everything. It has drama. It has competition. It has camaraderie. It has heroism. Every jogger can't dream of being an Olympic champion, but he can dream of finishing a marathon."

2. Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist:

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming."

3. Rob de Castella, winner 1983 World Marathon Championships:

"If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal."

4. Emil Zatopek, Czech runner; winner of four Olympic gold medals:

"We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."

5. Bill Rodgers, winner of four Boston and four NYC marathons:

"The marathon can humble you."

6. John Hanc, running writer

"I've learned that finishing a marathon isn't just an athletic achievement. It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible."

7. Hal Higdon, running writer and coach:

"The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals."

8. Mike Fanelli, running club coach:

"I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart."

9. Ryan Hall, on running a marathon:

"I don't think about the miles that are coming down the road, I don't think about the mile I'm on right now, I don't think about the miles I've already covered. I think about what I'm doing right now, just being lost in the moment."

10. Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ:

"The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed."

(Thanks Mukesh Agarwal for the compilation)

Run Schedule for Sunday, Sep 25, 2011

Dear Chennai Runners

Have you registered for Chennai Runners Half Marathon or 10k to be held on Nov 6, 2011 yet?  If not do so NOW

10x10 Update: It has now moved in to high gear.  We now have 11 runners who have already logged over 400k.  The target is to have 50 runners log over 5000k before Nov 6. Pl. consider signing up (here) and see for yourself what you can do... which is you can always Do More..  (http://bit.ly/nencB4)

Run Schedule for Sunday.. 

Date - Sunday, Sep 25, 2011

Start Time - 5:15 AM (pl. be present 15 minutes earlier to stretch and get ready)

Start & End @ - Anna University - Main Entrance - Car Parking lot.. 

Distance - 10k or 15k or half - Your choice

Route - Chennai Runners Classic / Classic Plus

Parking : Main entrance via Raj Bhavan Road (Open early mornings.) - Ample parking space for both cars and two wheelers.. 

Please confirm your participation..... you simple 'I am in' mail could motivate few others to join as well.. so, if you plan to run tomorrow.. pl. do respond to this mail..

Remember.. you can always Do More.. and for that you should Start Running..

Do visit us @ www.chennairunners.com

Start Location - Anna University - Main Entrance - Car Parking Lot

View Anna University, Main Entrance - Car Parking Lot in a larger map

Chennai Runners Classic Plus Route

View Chennai Runners Classic Plus Route in a larger map

Anandhaselvan's KTM Story

VS Anandhaselvan is a Chennai Runner and recently participated in KTM marathon.  Here is his story..

I went to KTM-2011 srirangapattina I’m met Vasanth and we go to Vengatashwara lodge 2 days staying, first day afternoon we walk sriranapattina to Young Island enjoying nature and river. After reach Young Island we collect Bib, Timing Chip and then meet Preethi, Shankar & Suresh(B’lore) we finished diner and go to rest.

Second day early morning 4:30am wake up and ready to preparing event. We plan walk to Young Island start the walk suddenly one person asks me you’re going to KTM? Yes. He gives left in the car and he drop Young Island. We meet some other friends Selva, Mukesh, Bala family and Ridhima. We are going to starting point of KTM by the bus and then meet another friend Bosco. I’m and Bosco take warm-up on the road.

Start the KTM marathon at 6:15 am. I’m running 11~12 km speed maintain 25^th km in between water brake 5k once. After completed 30^th km running speed level decrease and I take 39^th km “salt water” and run 40^th km suddenly vomiting and head ach stop the running and continues to walking 40^th to 41^st km finally finished 10:30 am. My best time 4hrs 15 min for full marathon. We go to enjoy Stream River and lunch at Young Island. We meet another friend Balaji. Finally we back to room and then take rest.

Bala's KTM Story

Bala is Chennai Runner and he recently ran Kaveri Trail Marathon on Sep 18, 2011.  Here is his story.  (Good luck for Hyderbad Heritage run Bala..May the force be with you..)

 

MY FIRST KTM RUN ON 18^TH SEPTEMBER 2011

After the August Hyderabad run, I wanted to test my endurance.  So I upgraded from half to full for the KTM.  This is the first time I am doing a back to back run within a span of 3 weeks. This is the first time I am also running the KTM. 

Prior to the Big day, I did my Tuesday / thurdsay runs regularly with a bit of strengthening and stretching exercises for 2 days. The Thursday before the Run, I had an opportunity to run with Ram.  Amazingly I could do 11.76 in an hour and ten minutes.  So this was a sort of a confidence booster for me. 

This time I travelled to Mysore with my entire CHEER TEAM (my wife Shanthi, Son Krishna and Daughter Shreya).  

Before leaving to the station, My son gave me a best of luck card which read “FINISH THE KAVERI TRAIL QUICKLY. Best of Luck, I will roar for you”.  (His definition of QUICK is for the likes of BOSTON RUNNERS)

We reached Mysore on 17^th Mid-day and after checking in at the Hotel, I went on my own using the public transport to reach Sri Rengapattnam.  I collected my racer kit and returned to the Hotel. I enjoyed the evening with a visit to the Brindavan gardens with my family.

Race Day morning, I had a nice cold shower. Me and my cheer team went to the Mysore Palace main gate. Surprisingly the first BUS trip from the Mysore palace to the starting point HAD THREE CHENNAI RUNNERS ONLY.  (Ridhima, Mukesh and myself).

After reaching the resort we were transported to the starting point.  There were rows and rows of cars and the entire place looked festive.

I knew Ridhima was a good runner and she did the Hyderabad in 4 Hours and 32 minutes.  So, my son’s command to finish the run quickly made me to follow Ridhima. 

The trail is absolutely a nature’s wonder and I did get a chance to pass by the most fertile agricultural lands with tomato harvests, flower gardens, acres of green paddy fields.

Occasionally the traffic jams were caused by the bullock carts.  These bulls are HUGE and with their sharp horns you can visualize 6 feet double monsters staring at all the RUNNERS who have encroached their peace.

By the 6 kms mark, we did overtake a bullock cart, but the person who was riding the cart did wanted to prove that his bullocks were as good in running as the runners. So, he made no attempt to slow them down and the cart.

For me, the sound of the constant (following) jingles from the bullock cart and the fear that I should not be attracted by the bulls (due to my fluorescent green shirt), made me run faster. 

If the bulls had gone wild looking at all those colorful shirts of the runners, I bet the first prize winner would have done the run in maybe a sub 3 hours. So the increased pace due to the above circumstances made me shadow Ridhima.  So I must thank the bulls to that set the tone to finish the KAVERI TRAIL quickly (complete the run as against returning to the starting point from the 6 kms mark !)

As I was enjoying the nice weather, Cauvery river and the green fields, stray dogs were getting anxious looking at the herds of runners who were trying to outsmart them. Even in the early morning runs at Chennai I slow down not to annoy the dogs and clash with their ego.  So, I did surrender to the dog’s ego, but within a few minutes, I lost track of Ridhima.  The dog also let me go in my way after a friendly wag of it’s tail and I started running as if the dog was chasing me to find out  ridhima  in the crowd.

So after the best possible start up, I kept following ridhima till the half stage.  Of the two loops I completed the first half in two hours and 5 minutes.  (Ridhima should confirm this since she was technically wired all along !!!)

In the midst of all the noise and din at the starting point, one voice stood out in the crowd.  I couldn’t believe myself when I saw Balaji cheering all the runners.  I was thinking of all the efforts I took to do the run and on seeing Balaji travel all this way to be part of the festivity, made me feel small.

Balaji cheered me and was about to give me a HIGH FIVE, when a fellow runner got annoyed at the Long hand that interrupted his speed and timing !.  I posed for  picture for balaji to shoot and continued the journey after balaji’s encouraging words.

 I was trying to keep up to my son’s wish to finish the run quickly.  At the half way mark, Ridhima took a short break, but I continued the run.  So, for a few minutes (maybe 10 or 15 minutes), I had the elated feeling of running ahead of Ridhima.

But the joy was short lived. 

Ridhima my pacesetter, went ahead of me and encourage me by saying that I was doing well and if I wanted to I can go ahead of her instead of following Her !  Fatal words !!  After this I just could not keep the pace with Ridhima and the gap grew wider and wider till Ridhima  built up a 4 kms gap.  Fortunately, my physical status was not bad and my cramps were not getting worse.  I was cautious enough to swallow a few spoonful of salt and sugar till I reached the 38.5 kms. (Not to swallow too much of sugar and salt to throw up). 

I had the company of a few tortured souls dragging their weight to the finish point.

With my wish of a quick finish vanishing in thin air, I was worried getting back home to be at the railway station to board the Shatapdi express scheduled to depart Mysore at 14.15 hours.  So, the thought of reorganizing the journey and going through all the pains of a missed train with the family made me run, run, run, till I saw my son waiting agonizingly 200 metres from the finish line.

He came running towards me with a happy look and at the same time with a look which conveyed me the message “So many good runners have finished the run and are enjoying the meal and  you fellow are making us wait in this no man island with NO food.”  So, with the help of my son Krishna I reached the finish line at 11.15 or maybe 11.20.  I am waiting for the timing results to see if I did the run in 5 hour

As soon as the race was over, I collected my medal and took an auto to the Young Island.  The organizers made an announcement that the LAST BUS for Mysore is leaving in another 10 minutes.

So, the advertisements by the Runners for Life, to take a bath in the pond and have the post run meal all vanished in a few minutes of this announcement. Ridhima and her husband came from the prize distribution ceremony and informed us that Ridhima came third in the women’s category.   The entire gang was happy for her and we wished her well in her future runs.

So, I got into the bus and to add salt to injury the co travelers were PRIZE WINNERS IN VARIOUS CATEGORIES. (First prize winner in the Women’s category, First prize winner in the Veterans category and of course one of the members in their group who did the run in four hours)

I  looked at my son and told him “Krishna, these are the people who go by your wish card of finishing the run quickly.  But as you can see they are also going back to Mysore with us in the same Bus”

The icing on the cake was when my wife said, Thank god you finished the run by 11.15.  If you were late, we would have been in a big mess going back to Chennai.   

I made everyone smile by saying “Look I have reduced your waiting time from 5 Hours and 25 minutes to 5 Hours”.  Isn’t that an achievement to be proud of !!!

The entire family went back to the hotel, I had a bath in freezing water (the management had put up a notice informing the occupants that hot water will be provided only between 8 am and  10 am)  this is after they charge Rs 2000 for a night.  

After the bath we all had a delicious meal at the Dasaprakash and went to the station (half an hour earlier) to board Shatapdi back to Chennai.

We had the privilege to travel with another prize winner (a seat before us) and it was none other than Priti.  She came first in the half marathon with a fantastic timing of 2 hours and a minute.   I was floored at her speed and agile running.

 I had a memorable run in many ways.

As a passing note, I like the marathon runs where in there are multiple loops. This is because I get a chance to see the top runners running as against a single stretch run, wherein you can’t see these champions who would have already left by the time I normally finish. (of course after collecting their prizes)
I am running the Hyderabad Heritage full October 9th and hope to do a 4.45.

Bala

Ridhima's KTM Story

 Ridhima Suri is a Chennai Runner and she recently participated in Kaveri Trail Marathon.  Here is her story


KTM was my 3rd marathon and I must confess it was the toughest one so  far. It could be coz the last one was a tough one too and that was just 3 weeks back or it could be coz this was a stony trail and I train pretty much only on tarred roads. There was a lot of apprehension in my mind before I left Chennai to run this one coz a week after the Hyd Marathon I suffered a bad case of hamstring pull owing to an awesome sprint workout I got over enthusiastic about. It took a week and a half of icing, resting , volini rubs and bandaging to fix it but I was dreading that it may come back to haunt me during the run.

Anyway, so I was feeling fine and confident of the run ahead at the start line, as now after 2 marathons I sort of know what to expect. I had no strategy to think of as everyone had scared me about the unforgiving course. Upon being asked by a few ppl around about my expectations from the run, I just said I wanted to survive it and I totally meant that. At this point I was missing the Chennai Runners gang as there were very few known faces around.

So the course is a beautiful 10.5K out and back loop which the full marathon runners had to run twice. I started running and kept a constant pace for the 1st 10.5K, I was feeling strong and the weather gods were kind too. All the while, Bala was right behind me and I occasionally glanced over my shoulder to see if he was there. We weren’t talking much at all as everyone on the course was focusing on not tripping over some random stone and also  dodging bullock carts / cows et al. At the 10.5 K mark, took a U-turn and started running back maintaining the same constant pace.  At this time, the half marathon runners who were to start 30 min after the FM start were running in the opposite direction and this made the return 10.5K go really well as I kept shouting encouragement to each and every runner who crossed me, our bibs had our names on them so it was good to shout out names and exchange smiles. It just made the running come so much easier. I met Preeti who was setting the trail on fire and we shouted so much that we really did scare all the birds away :D

Anyway so the 1st half of the run went well and it was a pleasant surprise to see Balaji there cheering for us. The aid station at the half mark was about 200-250 mtrs beyond the U-turn. I sprinted to it, filled my bottle with electral, splashed some water on my face and was on my way to loop 2, this was when the half marathon ppl were coming back to finish their run so some more distance flew by shouting encouragement at each other and was great to see Preeti, Barefoot Sankar, Mukesh and some other Dailymile people.

Towards the 27K mark, pretty much all the half marathon and 10K ppl had crossed us and it was suddenly very lonely , there were multiple points starting now where I could not see anyone ahead or behind me.... I had lost Bala also by now, there were just some farmers working in the sugarcane fields and their bulls, cows, bullock carts and other paraphernalia. This is when the loneliness of a long distance runner struck me and realized how alone I was and how life imitates running and vice versa and then I realized that it wasn’t that I was being contemplative , I was just low on sugar :D so I stopped at the next aid station and had a small banana.

The weather kept getting sunny and cloudy alternately till now but the moment I
touched 35K it was sunny and humid as hell. From here on I just focused on running for 8 min and then walking for 2 min. I met some interesting runners along the way, conversation helped take my mind off the sweltering weather. At the 41K mark, I started sprinting and I think I overtook about 6-7 runners in the next 600 mtrs. My legs felt good and I sprinted to finish in 4:48. It wasn’t my best but was happy nevertheless to have made it back without any injuries....just badly badly tanned. I saw Bala’s family waiting and looking slightly worried so I went and informed him that he should be there at the finish in about 15 min and amazing how accurate I was with the prediction :-)

Now came the surprise bit, I was informed that I finished 3rd in the female open category and had to rush to the prize distribution ceremony .I collected my 2nd runners up certificate , met a few runners and while heading back  also met Bala and family looking cheerful.

My run details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/115330023

What I learnt

1. Probably good to have some variation wrt the terrain I am training on
2. Doing a sprint workout in the week following a marathon is a bad bad idea
3. Should include more yoga to the training as my ankles felt wobbly after the run

Cheers,
Ridhima

Way to go Neville

Another Chennai Runner in the press.. Neville Bilimoria who recently completed 12 marathons in 12 months was recently featured in Decan Chronicle and here is clip of that.. Way to go Neville..

2011 Chennai Runners Half Marathon - Registrations OPEN Now

Dear Runners

Registrations are now open for the much anticipated 2011 Chennai Runners Half Marathon & 10k run on Nov 6, 2011.  This year, we are partnering with IIT-M to conduct the run within the city.

The last date for registration is Oct 31, 2011, but do not wait till last minute.. Pl. do register now as we will close the registration once the target of 500 runners is reached.

Pl. register here for a fee of Rs. 500.  Pl. visit our events page for more information on the run.

Remember You can always Do More.. Start Running today..