NDA Half Marathon, Dad’s 80th Birthday plus a Pune trip after some 18 months

Why I registered for the NDA Half Marathon and my prep

Col Suvranshu Roy, my schoolmate, mentioned to me 3rd week of May about National Defence Academy (NDA) organizing a running event in Pune to celebrate 75 glorious years of NDA. I registered for the event promptly, only because, it would be one-of-it’s-kind opportunity to run a race in the NDA campus, it, I thought was all the more special given I went to KV NDA for my XI & XII grade and have fond memories of the campus and the fun I had back in school. This was still early June, I booked flights to arrive Thu, so I could hang out with my parents and celebrate my dad’s 80th on Fri, meet friends, run the race and get back Sunday.

 

At the time, back in June, I was mostly building base miles, shuffling around and mostly doing aerobic runs having run the London Marathon in Apr, you could read about it here. The other race I had on the horizon was the Malnad 50 km Ultra which Sriram, TNR and I were planning to run in Nov to celebrate Sriram’s 50th birthday. We have collectively decided to not participate in that event this year, I still want to do that race someday, maybe 2024/2025, we’ll see. Anyway, back to this Half Marathon in NDA, my buildup to London Marathon was predominantly easy runs with one day of Tempo run, mostly medium distance, like 10-12 km thrown in to shock the body a bit with some pace. I continued the same training schedule during Jul, Aug & Sep and also managed to clock decent mileage, over the weeks however, I dialed up the pace a little bit for the tempo runs. On Oct 1, just for fun, with a colleague I signed up for a 10 km race in Air Force Station, Yelahanka. I managed a decent negative split which got me thinking on what I should target in NDA in about 2 weeks. I did a pretty decent pace 10 miler just to see how the body holds for a slightly longer tempo run a week before the race. I thank Avinesh for running along. Post this 10 miler, I felt confident to finish under 1:55:00 or thereabout, sub 5:30/km. On hindsight, I was perhaps conservative, but then I was also running a half marathon distance race after some 4 years, you could read about my last half marathon outing here.

 

Pune trip (Oct 12-15)

I flew in Thu evening and spent the evening with my parents, eating favorite dishes my mother painstakingly prepared. Friday morning, I met with my ex-colleague who I have known for 25+ years for breakfast and had my favorite Misal-Pav :). Coincidentally, Neeraj Engineer, my college mate who is an accomplished super fit Marathoner/Ultra-Marathoner based in the States was also visiting Pune to celebrate his mother’s 75th birthday. We met on Saturday morning for a shakeout run at the Race Course in the Camp area, followed by South Indian breakfast at India Coffee House. It was absolutely great to meet with him face to face after college, over 25 years later. We talked a lot about running, diet, nutrition, strength training, mostly about fitness.

Every time I visit Pune, I realize how rapidly the city is changing. It’s no longer the quiet retirement town anymore. I seem to need Google Maps to navigate around. I drove that afternoon to the Expo to pick my running number. The Expo was super crowded, I was not expecting this event to be so popular. I collected the running number somehow and left the Expo as soon as I could, did bump into some familiar faces whilst I was there for a brief duration. That afternoon, I met with a few other college mates for Lunch. I headed home to rest and try to get some decent sleep. 

 

Race (Oct 15)

2 am alarm! Stupid-o-clock to get up for a race. The organizers wanted us to be parked and in the holding area 2 hours before the start, a) to manage crowd b) enhanced security at NDA. I was parked and ready at the holding area at 4:25 am for a 6:30 am flag off. I don’t recall showing up to an event in India that early. The race started on the dot at 6:30 am about 500m before Sudan Block near Bombay Stadium. I had warmed up nicely and was in good rhythm running around 5:12-5:15/km pace. The route took runners across NDA and we got the opportunity to run on the airstrip too, it was very nostalgic to go past Gole Market and my school playground. First and Second term NDA cadets, mostly 18/19 year old were overtaking me left-right-and-center. The route was mostly rolling hills after 9-10 km, adding to that it was getting harder with the temperature rising and humidity kicking in. I managed to keep pushing and finished the race in 1:50, detailed splits here. Whilst I have run faster times, this Half Marathon, I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially when one is not actively racing half marathon distances. Anyway, it was a good outing and it would definitely help planning my next marathon training block. That afternoon, I went out for a quick meal with my parents to Nandu’s at DP Rd for Aloo Parathas, can’t believe that place still exists and the vibe is the same as it used to be 25+ years. Overall, a great trip. Note to self: I should visit Pune more often.