The YMCA Republic Day Half Marathon

Loved the run yesterday. Going into it, there was talk and then expectations set around a “fastish” run ranging from a sub-2 to 2:06 and the “worst” time being talked about was a 2:10. These are scary times.

Check this – Krishna had done a 2:03 a few months back and clearly wanted to go much faster. Preeti was his pacer and the half is her turf. Painter had a 1:45 assigned..

Anyway, I was going to give it all, and that is exactly what I did – really pushed hard as much as I could, enjoyed the whole run and totally surprised myself with a 1:56:change for the 20.4 km run. I guess, I would have finished at just over 2 hours or so if the 700-800 mts were added. Loving it!

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Couple of things that I was thinking about after the run, back at home, while chilling out (with my beer )

The half marathon distance is a beautiful beast to tackle and is immensely satisfying. You are running somewhat fast – and – you are running long. You can’t go all out and you can’t hold back much either. It pushes you right to the edge, but you won’t die (like in a full). A sub-2 is massively challenging, almost tantalizingly within reach for a typical 6:00 pace runner and yet so elusive.

I am not going to accept yesterday’s race as a true sub-2. I could do the additions to time to compensate for the missing distance, but fact remains that 20.4 was what was done in 1:56. It is best that it remains that way, because I still have the sub-2 target to chase.

Then – the race atmosphere.. the whole event  in general – the friends, the sweaty high-fives, the medals, the group photos, the banter – it’s just so much fun!

Jan 22 – 25

I don’t know why I am so obsessed with maintaining this double diary – there is this log on dailymile which is more than good enough, but God knows why, I still want to write this crap down.

Maybe because I can’t write on dailymile that I felt like an idiot when I woke up at 0830 on Sunday (Jan 22) morning having argued with myself, slept in and missed the Sunday run despite having promised at least a couple of people that I will come.

Tuesdays are the *benchmark* days at the quad when lightbulbs are supposed to flash as we *see the progress* week-on-week with the bread and butter of these workouts – the squat and the push-up.

• Squats are ok. I can just about squat 20 reps with 24 kgs. Just. (notes - I found it easier to use 2 x 12 kg kettlebells which balances out the weights a little better than holding a single 24 kg kettlebell)
• Push-ups are still NOT ok. I am frustrated with the lack of progress on my upper body and core strength. I still can’t hold a friggin 20 sec elbow plank and I still can’t do 1 proper, good form push up. Can you believe that? I can’t do a solitary, proper push-up. 

Wednesday was supposed to be the ‘easy’ day – a “skill” day where we learn a new move and the focus is not on killing it. But it was super tough! Diagonal displacement was the move today and many of us knew it earlier and I was pretty much wiped after I did some 50 of those (25 on each side).

That’s it – because Jan 26, the YMCA Republic Day Half Marathon deserves a post just for itself.