My tryst with God

At the outset, I would like to appropriately qualify this blog. “My Running Reflections” is supposed to be a running blog, but this one qualifies as something far more sacrosanct for me - something that extends beyond the boundaries of running or any sport for that matter. It’s about an ephemeral moment when I revisit some sweet childhood memories – all within a matter of few seconds!  

IDBI Federal Life Insurance – New Delhi Marathon (26^th Feb 2017)

It was around the end of 2016 when I learned about Sachin Tendulkar’s association with the NDM event. For the first time, a running event was going to be more than just a running event for me. I was charged up to give my best performance on the big day. The months of January and February were largely focused on speed work with tempo and interval runs forming a significant share of weekly running mileage. 

The days passed by and then comes the big day - 26^th Feb, 2017.

The excitement was in the air. As I entered the Stadium, I continued performing my ritual warm-up drills, but my mind was elsewhere. I kept scanning the sea of people to catch a glimpse of my childhood Hero – the Master, the Blaster, the God – the One and Only, Sachin Tendulkar.

All warm-up drills performed, pre-run banana eaten, pleasantries with fellow runners exchanged – still no sight of Sachin Tendulkar. I was disappointed at the hype I had created in my own mind. For the last two months, all I had thought about during my personal time was the sight of Sachin Tendulkar flagging-off the race and I achieving my best ever half-marathon time on that magical day!

But, alas - that was not to be.. 

With a feeling of despair and utter disappointment, I accepted the fact that Sachin had not come. I bent down to tighten the shoelace for one final time before the run commenced. Just as I gingerly tied the shoe-lace knot, I heard a loud boisterous eruption. Even before I got up to see what it was – a broad smile had flashed on my face; I knew the master had arrived.

What I saw next was intense, emotional, nostalgic and beyond words. With a large flag in his hand, Sachin stood just a few meters away from me (the fact that I made it to the first few rows from the start-line helped!). 

The first thing that struck me at seeing Sachin was the radiant glow on his face – a glow that one cannot be born with, a glow that certainly cannot be acquired through the use of cosmetic creams – a glow that one attains through single-minded focus and dedication and going through the grind for one’s quest for excellence day after day, month after month – for almost 25 years! 

A few moments later, I felt a sudden turbulence of thoughts and flashbacks from my childhood days. It was almost like the sight of Sachin had nudged a few blocks of nostalgic memories that were comfortably placed beneath the layer of sub-conscious memory, and were now trying to regain equilibrium. Some moments that instantly crossed through my head:

• IIT Delhi second year, Karakoram hostel (2002): We were watching a one-day international match in the Hostel common room and Sachin got dismissed cheaply. The gentleman sitting next to me (an M. Tech student three years senior to me) was visibly disappointed and started abusing Sachin like crazy. After exercising restraint for a few minutes, I decided enough was enough and beat that senior like a mad man. Subsequently, I was banned from the hostel common room for six months. Well, I was a kid back then with limited maturity (but in no way suggesting that with the advantage of maturity that I have gained over the last 15 years, I wouldn’t do that again – I still believe that the gentleman got the treatment he deserved!)
• The day of my Roka ceremony (2^nd March, 2008): I was getting engaged to my would-be wife! Everything was great – all relatives were ecstatic, grand preparations had been made at a Banquet Hall. The only little bit of a concern (at least in my mind) was that the day coincided with Common Wealth Bank Series, 1^st Final – India vs. Australia. As the function progressed, I kept furtively escaping every few minutes (on the pretext of feeling hungry, nature’s call, need water and what not) to catch a glimpse of Sachin on a large screen where the match was being telecast in an adjacent restaurant. The master scored an unbeaten 117 and the auspicious day became a little more auspicious.
• Sachin’s retirement day (15^th Nov 2013): As a kid, I always feared what would I do when Sachin retires. It almost felt like I would not have anything to look forward to. But of course, those were thoughts as a kid. Now, I had grown up – in fact, I was a father of a 3-year old kid. When Sachin walked back after getting dismissed for 74 for the final time, I just couldn’t hold back tears. Yes, I cried like a kid (yes, it was embarrassing, but so be it!). My kid was visibly concerned to see me weeping and looked at his Mom to explain what was going on. My wife explained to him that Papa is sad because he will not be able to watch Sachin’s batting anymore. The three year-old kid came to me after a few moments and said – Papa, Youtube pe dekh lenge (we will watch him on YouTube). As innocent as it may have been, it did give me a lot of comfort!

There were many other spontaneous flashbacks, but these were the prominent ones – all within a matter of few seconds.

The run started..

Sachin was cheerfully looking at the passing cavalcade and cheering the runners. What happened next was magical. There was a brief moment when Sachin and I made an eye contact. Sachin smiled and showed me a thumbs-up. Of course, he was doing that to the crowd but for that brief moment it felt like it was a personalized good-luck gesture for me.

The energy level went through the roof. After that magical moment, there was no way I was going to settle for anything less than my personal best.

The challenge for me was to hold the nerves and run as per the plan. I often make the mistake of running the first few kilometers faster than the desired pace. I had planned to take at least 20:30 for the first 5 kms. At the end of 5 kms, I realized that I had deviated from the plan by good 45 seconds and finished it in 19:45. I did manage to get back on the plan after around 8^th km mark and by the time I finished the race, I had managed to achieve a new PB for half-marathon distance – 1:28:33 (bettering my previous best by 1 min and 6 seconds).

Clearly, it was a race that I would remember for reasons bigger than just my personal best timing! My tryst with God was magical and the lucky charm seemed to have continued into the next big event too.

Urban Stampede 10km run (5^th March, 2017)

Managed to secure second rank with my personal best timing of 40:47 for 10 km run.

So, back to the original topic - The Tryst with God. 

What next now? The desire to meet Sachin remains and meet in a more personalized manner. But, it should feel like a meeting earned through hardwork, discipline and elevation of self to a level where the meeting makes sense not just for me but also for Sachin - and, I have miles and miles to go before even remotely  entertaining a thought like that!  

Sundeep Singh

+91 - 98181 19794

#TomTom

#GetGoing

About the Author: By background, Sundeep Singh is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi and holds an MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Given his flair for mechanics and passion for running, he loves to analyze and write about the finer nuances of running techniques / strategies. Sundeep’s best run till date is NDM 2017, which he completed in 1:28:33.

Won the F1 track Half-Marathon, but…

 Sometimes in our endeavor to do well, we get so hooked-up on the end outcome that we miss the smaller joys along the way. We, runners, often struggle from such a fixation on the end outcome. This desired outcome is usually framed in the form of timing targets and obligation to achieve PBs. I have been no exception to this “fixation-on-end-outcome” syndrome and the realization dawned upon me at the most unexpected moment during the recent F1 track HM. Here is a brief description of how the run unfolded for me.

6:15 am: It was still dark when we started lining up at the start line for the 6:30 am start. For a change, I was not carrying any music (and my ‘infamous’ black head-set!). This meant that I was able to hear the general chirping and chit-chat around the start line. This made me a little uncomfortable as I usually prefer staying in a ‘closed’ zone before the race start. I tried to filter out the external auditory stimulus and focus on the run ahead. At sharp 6:30 am the run started – I gently murmured “Sub 1:30 today” and started the run.

I had deliberately decided to approach this run a little differently and had planned a few minor deviations from all my previous runs. In particular:

No music this time - Listening to music while running is a good way to keep the mind actively occupied and push out the feeling of fatigue from setting in; however, music beats also interfere with body’s ability to synchronize feet movement with breathing rhythm. According to Danny Dreyer (founder chi-running) one should closely listen to the sound of feet while running. Despite all my inhibitions around running without music, I decided to give it a try.

Did not carry hydration – I usually carry two small 250 ml bottles, one in each hand. I realized that this led me to sip water very often (more often than needed!). It also meant carrying half a kg extra load during the run. For this particular run, I decided to solely rely on hydration support on the route.

No glancing at watch – I usually have a knack of glancing at the watch every few minutes. I realized that it doesn’t serve any purpose. If anything, it breaks the flow and adds unnecessary timing pressure. For the F1 track run, I decided that I wouldn’t glance at the watch till 14th KM mark. This was easier said than done as there was a strong urge to check the time at each KM mark; however, I did resist the temptation.

When I finally looked at the watch after completing the 14th KM mark, I did surprise myself – the watch indicated 58:55, which is the fastest I have been able to run for an hour. What is more, I was leading the race with a sizable lead vis-à-vis the second runner. 

By the time the run came to an end, there were several positives that had emerged for me - All my experimental deviations from previous runs had worked well. I had managed to clock a new PB of 1:30:43 (bettering my previous PB by around 40 seconds); most importantly, I had managed to secure my maiden first position during a competitive run. However, despite all these extremely encouraging outcomes, the mind was just fixated on one thought – missed the sub 1:30 finish yet again.

Soon after the awards distribution, a fellow runner of foreign origin approached me and had a short but very meaningful conversation:

“Hey Buddy – Congratulations.” – said the fellow runner.

“Thanks” – I replied with a forced smile.

“What happened – you don’t look happy! I thought you won the race”

“Yes – I won the Half-Marathon…but…”

...Brief pause.

“But what?” – asked the fellow runner with a somewhat quizzical and amused look.

“But…I wanted to do a sub 1:30 finish and I missed it by 43 seconds.”

The fellow runner burst into laughter and after a few moments replied with all earnesty – “it’s a matter of time before you shave off these 40 odd seconds and get to sub 1:30 finish, but this moment won’t come every day.”

“…If I were you, I would really enjoy it buddy” – he added as he casually jogged away to get back to his friends.

It may have been a short little connect with a stranger but it certainly had me thinking. I realized the broader message he conveyed. We often commit the mistake of attaching too much importance to seemingly futile things and in the process miss the fun along the way. Post that conversation I continued to meet and greet several fellow runners and whenever someone asked me “how was the run?” my reply was simple and ecstatic:

“I won the HM race!!!” (…and there was no “but” thereafter…)

Sundeep Singh 

+91 - 98181 19794

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About the Author: By background, Sundeep Singh is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi and holds an MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Given his flair for mechanics and passion for running, he loves to analyze and write about the  finer nuances of running techniques / strategies.

Day Breaker HM...from PB to PW, all in 12 weeks!

19^th July: Day Breaker Half Marathon

Due to incessant rains over the past few weeks, I had been anxious over the days leading up to the event. Every few hours I would check the weather forecast for Sunday morning. I had been silently praying that the forecast of rain and high humidity would not come true. After all, this was going to be my last event before the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (AHM) scheduled for next month and I was keen to get a good uninterrupted run before AHM. Well, part of the prayer did get answered – thankfully it did not rain, but the unanswered part (i.e. the part related to humidity) was about to offer me the toughest weather conditions that I have ever run in!

Just like in any other event, I was in my own zone prior to the race kick-off. I was warming up in a corner and silently hoping to improve my PB (personal best) timing of 97 minutes, which I had achieved about three months back at Nehru Park HM. Just then my coach Jatin Arora walked up to me and offered a coaching tip:  

“Today is not the day for timings and records. It is very humid – don’t push very hard and focus more on completing the run safe and strong” – whispered Jatin softly in my ears. It was almost as if he had read my mind.

“Yes Sir – I understand that. Today is not the day for timings and records” – I replied, without meaning a single word of it!

Shortly thereafter, the run started and I started chasing the target time of 97 minutes. The run seemed to have started well for me. I was not running very hard so that I had sufficient energy left for a strong finish. At the same time, I was not running slow either, lest it becomes difficult to catch-up towards the end. I seemed to be moving at just the right pace.

Out of habit, I kept glancing at my stop-watch at all major milestones:

• 1 km – 4:30
• 2 km – 8:52
• 5 km – 22:49
• 10 km – 46:38  

I made a quick mental calculation and realized that I was pacing well. With a mild negative split (which I usually manage), I would have been around 97 mins mark and with a little bit of luck probably a little under 97 minutes. What I didn’t realize was that it was the adrenalin rush of the event day which had me going well till that time, but that couldn’t have been sustained for another 11 km in that atrocious humidity.

By around 13 km mark, I was badly drenched with sweat. The effect of humidity had started showing up and it felt like the engine was running out of ammunition very fast. It was around that time that the wisdom of Jatin’s advice started dawning upon me. The spirit had started dropping, but somewhere I was still hopeful of completing strong.

By around 15 km mark, the hope had also started dropping and it felt like I would have to run really well from there on to not hit my PW timing (personal worst, if there is something like that)!

By around 17 km mark, I was so drenched with sweat that it felt like I had taken a shower. Each step gave a sensation as if the shoe had been soaked with water by landing in a water pit. By now, I knew I had to do something different to even complete the run. Amidst dropping spirit and dropping hopes, I decided to drop-off my T-shirt too. I realized that with the amount of sweat it had soaked, just taking it off and squeezing out the sweat would probably make me carry half a kg lesser.

Shortly thereafter, the run came to an end and I did manage to achieve my PW by clocking 1:49 beating my previous PW of 1:47. The time I took for the run was about 2 minutes slower than my previous slowest run and a good 12 minutes slower than my PB of 97 minutes. All in all it was a good humbling experience with some great learnings, the most important one being – follow your coach’s advice.

On the positive side of things - despite the atrocious weather, the euphoria and the enthusiasm at the finish line was there for all to see. For me, the highlights of the day were:

1.       Coach Ravinder Singh did it again!
Rain or no rain, humidity or no humidity, route permit or no route permit (remember Nehru Park HM instance), Coach has developed a knack of organizing great events one after another. Here again, observing the celebrations and sumptuous meal at the finish line was a grand experience. It is no wonder that on the same day Coach was honored by TomTom (Global leader in navigation, sports watches etc.) for his contributions in the field of running and promoting running as a way of life.

2.       All running groups rocked!

It was great to watch my fellow runners from Boot Camp Yellow (BCY) and other running groups running hard under testing weather conditions. Everyone was a winner and could hold his / her head high for taking on a challenging run head-on. And may I dare say, none more so than the youngest member of BCY group (Rahul) – who completed his first half-marathon yesterday at a young age of 14. I heard one of the fellow runners commenting - 5 km before 5 years, 10 km before 10 years and 21 km before 21 years are all great accomplishments and I couldn’t agree more.

I have to admit that before reaching home, I was feeling a bit embarrassed to share the result of my slowest half-marathon with my wife. She made the job easier by saying that in such an unforgiving weather even standing still for 1:49 is commendable, running for that long certainly is a huge achievement. I am not sure how true that is – given a choice, I would rather run for that duration than stand still. Nonetheless, it did help me overcome the disappointment of my slowest HM.

...So, What next?

Next month I am travelling to Hyderabad to participate in AHM. I have heard a lot of nasty stories about the difficult terrain and weather conditions at AHM. Personally, I would have wanted to achieve anything but my PW in the last event before going into AHM next month. However, that was not to be and the only next step from here on is to prepare stronger and harder. As I earnestly start preparing for the next event, I so much hope that I get to label my next blog in September as - “AHM 2015...from PW to PB, all in 6 weeks!”

…but I know it’s easier hoped than accomplished!

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Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794

PS: I am releasing the August edition of my blog ahead of time because I want people to read it while the experience of Day Breaker Half Marathon is fresh in their memories!

"As strong as my legs are, it is my mind that has made me a champion" – Michael Duane Johnson



 23^rd Nov 2014: I was running in my first major running event (ADHM 2014) and was within a couple of kms of completing the run. The event had been a thoroughly enriching one and I was vividly observing runners of all ages, colors and backgrounds running the last lap around me – many of them overtaking me, few of them being overtaken by me. The music bands, cheer leaders and supporters were adding to the intensity. Amidst all that euphoria, I had one eye on my wrist watch as time was flying by quickly and I was almost certain to miss my target of sub-100 minutes completion. Just then a lean and rather frail looking runner zipped past me. Of course, it was not the first or last time someone overtook me; however, the contemptuous ease with which he fled past me had me thinking. I wondered what really sets apart great runners like him from decent runners like me.

The run eventually came to an end and I managed to complete the 21.1 km stretch in a little over 103 minutes. While many of my fellow runners continued clicking photographs and exchanged congratulatory notes, I was still in my own zone. I was happy to have experienced the grand event; however, a part of me was disappointed to have missed the 100 mins target.
 
As I walked through the crowd of jubilant finishers, I kept overhearing the general banter beyond the finish line. There was a runner who felt that he made a tactical mistake by running in Nike shoes as he found them a bit heavier than the Reebok shoes that he usually runs in. There was another gentleman who complained that his Garmin watch showed that the entire stretch was around 21.8 km, though it should have been 21.1 km as per Half-Marathon norms. There was yet another runner who was happy with the extra boost of energy he got by consuming Red Bull prior to the run. I continued to assimilate these discrete pieces of information for a while. I could easily relate to most of it as I had myself taken care of these things while preparing for the run. I recalled how few months ago I had structured different elements of my training:
 

Another part of me continued to think about that anonymous runner who had fled past me. I wondered how he would have fared on some of these essential training elements. From the looks of it, that anonymous runner did not belong to the privileged runners like us (and I am deliberately using the word ‘us’ – if you are reading this, chances are you are privileged). He seemed to hail from economically humble background and seemed oblivious to various sophistications in the field of running - Running nutrition / Carb-loading - He looked frail and would have most likely struggled to meet the ends; Metronome beats / running music - He did not wear a basic watch, forget about the high-end gadgets; Latest running gear - the guy was running barefoot and would have certainly not been able to afford high-end running shoes; Strength work-outs - Certainly he wouldn’t have been able to afford a gym.

Yet, so often we find that some of the strongest and fastest runners hail from humble backgrounds lacking access to basic amenities.

…So, what’s the point?

• Is there anything wrong in the way some of the privileged runners train? – Probably not.
• Should the so-called privileged runners give-up on their ‘sophisticated running luxuries’ and practice ‘frugality’ to become better runners? – Certainly not.

Every time I watch a ‘not-so-privileged runner’ run by or for that matter every time I read about the running exploits of some of the Kenyan elites (who typically hail from economically humble backgrounds), there are few things that stand out for me - While all the latest technologies and sophistications in running are certainly helpful in improving one’s abilities, one has to bear in mind that these are all just ‘means-to-an-end’, and not the end in themselves. At times people tend to get so carried away with these enablers that running takes a back-seat. What follows is a garbled mish-mash of running gadgets, concepts etc. and a somewhat diluted focus on ‘genuine running’. It is also important to note that these sophistications are not the only means to the end, i.e. there are ways to become a better runner (an elite runner if you will) even without many of these latest sophistications.

While all these enablers are good, there is something else that overpowers all of this. There is something far more sacrosanct that can mentally elevate you into a zone where everything else becomes secondary. It is essentially the power of will and one’s attitude. It is about how badly you want something and how desperate you are to get something. Think about this famous quote from Christopher McDougall:

It is essentially the same spirit of the gazelle and lion captured in the quote above that usually is the differentiating factor. Both lion and gazelle put in a highly focused and a deeply committed effort because it is a matter of survival. Their choice is simple - either they run hard (and succeed) or they perish.

So back to my original question – what really differentiates good runners from great runners? Surely, it can be a lot of things spanning across physical abilities, genetic back grounds, access to training etc. But most importantly, I think it’s the mindset. Chances are that the one who is more desperate to win will find a way to win regardless of circumstances.

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Sundeep Singh: +91 - 98181 19794