sillycon wordsmith
Last Sunday I ran the 24hour stadium run at Kanteerva Bangalore. With only minimalist training consisting of a few HM runs/walks, I relied on mindfulness and preventive stretches. And it worked! A new personal best at 139.6 kms and fit as a fiddle at the end.
Enjoy the experience as a poem “runner dervish”.
The weekend before last is when I did my 100KM run at Hennur Bamboo Ultra. Keen on experimenting with the idea that I should be able to get up and run this distance, I did low mileage training with just one run of 43KM a week before the ultra. And it did work. As usual the magic of Hennur trail happened in the cool night. With Armin van Buuren’s “A State of Trance 2019” music belting in my ears, I was in a flow doing a fast paced non-stop walk (~8:30 pace) of 22KMs.
Long trail runs are magical and here it is as “The magic of trail ultra”.
Trails seem to stir up images of unpaved rough and rumble that can be hard on your feet and make you suffer. Here is what I felt about the trail in “Malnad Trail Ultra” expressed as a short poem titled “Gentle”. (#228)
Many runners warned me about the torturous and scary 9KM trail loop between 82-91 in the Malnad Trail Ultra. In fact one of the runners at 82km rest area warned me not to go without a water bottle as it is a hard climb. I don’t carry a bottle and had to find a empty soft drink bottle that I could re-use. That is when I thought ‘this must be a lovely fun climb’ as…
The beautiful set of opposites that ‘centres’ you is what a trail run does to me. A short poem on this as “Trail run experience”..(#227)
The weekend before last I did my first 36 hour stadium run. Turned out to be my second 100 miler run (161.5km), the distance curtailed by tendinitis on right knee (it is ok now!). Stadium runs are special, for they seem to get me to a state of zen many times doing the run. Here is my experience expressed creatively as a poem titled “stadium run”.
As I stepped in into my next year on earth, I became a member of the 100 miler club over the weekend by completing the 100 miler run (161KM, actually 162) in 32h 37m at Hennur Bamboo Ultra with my feet brother Nirav Patel! Loved it Nirav. A brilliant experience, all credits to Sushil Kumar Bhasin and Ankur Bhasin of Bhasin Sports. Here is the first poem on this experience. Ever grateful to Raj Vadgama…
After a 20km morning run last Thursday with Raj Vadgama, I was keen to do a longer run next day with him (my max is HM with a lone 25km). And what a day it was! Started the Friday morning run with Raj Vadgama at Cubbon park later moving to Kanteerva Stadium. This is made of two loops, a smaller one around the covered indoor stadium and the large one around the open stadium. Later…