TCS 10K 2014

I know, a lot of you have been waiting for an update about my holiday – to explain it in a few words would be doing grave injustice to my travel experience because we did so many things that it felt like I lived a few different lifetimes in that short span of time. Bangalore was already caught up in the frenzy of the TCS10k by the time I got back. Energy levels were so high. The Protons were so excited and with just about a week to go, it was time to go say hi to all the members and wish them luck before race day. One of the training days saw me swinging by two of the locations to meet the gang. It was really nice to run into some of the regular runners as well.

Within a couple of days was the Race Day expo. There was a lot of excitement among the runners to go collect their bibs and check out the new range of products available in the market. Added attractions this time were Adidas bringing in celebrity cricketer – Virat Kohli to interact with the runners. Nike had also organised the runners meet to provide participants with an opportunity to hear from experts details about nutrition, product and off course training tips from experienced runners.

The last week to the build up of the race was also a flurry of activities and events. Adidas organised another Run with Virat event on the morning of 14th May. The runners had obviously not had enough of the cricketer so there was a full house at this event as well. The next afternoon saw the release of the highly anticipated Nike Finisher tee. This time an electrifying Volt color tee with the “We Run Blr” logo printed across the chest, this is a tee all the top finishers would love to have in their wardrobe. 16th May is definitely a day which will be etched in the Bangalore Runner’s memories for a long time to come. It saw the arrival of the legend Carl Lewis to the city. There was a press conference held at Sree Kanteerva stadium after which there was an exclusive Meet & Greet session held at the Nike Brigade Road store. Excitement levels were high and the athlete did not disappoint. He came in, shared his experiences, provided runners with some words of wisdom and a lot of laughs before he peeled off for other engagements.

The next morning saw an exclusive N+RC session with Carl for the regulars at the run club. Runners had a Q&A session with Carl followed by a short run and photoshoot with the legend. I was helping out with the warm up session the next morning so the rest of the day saw me busy with multiple practice sessions and off course meeting with the crew for some last minute preparations, exchanges and race strategy discussions. I got home from the last practice session around 11:00pm, hit the sack around 12:30am and then was back at the venue by 4:30am.

As I walked into the stadium, I knew this was going to be one hell of a day. It had rained the night before and the weather was pleasant. It was still cloudy. With a mostly flat route and pleasant weather – the runners had gotten lucky. This was a perfect setup for a PB. The warm up session was to be led by Master Trainer Santosh. He was assisted on the main stage by our very own Reeth Abraham and football stars – Sunil Chettri and Robin Singh. Each Section had its own little dias where they would have one person leading the warm-up. Mine was Section A. This was kind of like home to me. I knew that none of the runners would be following my warm-up routine because “don’t ever try anything new on race day” is every runners anthem. But because most of them knew me personally, there was a lot of them giving me company in their own little way. Giving me high-fives, sending me flying kisses, having conversations and generally just making me feel very welcome amongst them. It was especially great to be in this section since all of the Proton Trainers were starting here and I got a chance to wish them all the very best of luck just moments before the race began. I also got an opportunity to wish all of the other rockstars of running which made my day. As the warm up session concluded, I made my way to the grandstand.

The grandstand was abuzz with all the celebrities – John Abraham and Neha Dhupia, maybe some more as well but I did not recognise them; and the “run for a cause” runners. I saw familiar faces- Pani Sir, Reeth, Hari Menon, Bobby, Giridhar and a whole bunch of runners so went down to the start line to wish them all the very best. As The race was flagged off, I spent the first ten minutes just waving out to the runners wishing them luck giving them high fives them as they crossed me. I met Vicki at the grandstand and we decided to walk together to Cubbon Park to cheer the runners on. It was great to catch up with her after a really long time. we placed ourselves 400m from the finish line. I was aware that the RFL gang had placed themselves between the 8-9K mark. I originally wanted to place myself at the 5-6K mark as I know it is a straight stretch and does get very lonely but it was tough to make my way there due to the heavy security.

We had only just placed ourselves at the cheering spot when we saw some of the Corporate Challenge finishers running down the road into the final sprint. And so began the cheering. It wasn’t long before pack leader Nanjundappa came hurtling down the road in full form and took a left into the final sprint. Next in line about 2 minutes later was our very own Proton Christian Ackeret. And just like that, started the flow of runners. Over the next 1 hour, I stayed and screamed my lungs out cheering the runners on mostly by name – yes, it was personal because as runners, we are all connected and when someone does well, it is a matter of pride for us all. As the volume of finishers increased, the Security guard got a little riled up and started getting a wee bit hysterical. Most of the trainers had completed their race by now as well. As I started walking back to the finish line, I was joined by Kiran Kumar Raju and Ajjay Jaywant. We walked and talked as we made our way to the finish line. As we met the crew it was heartening to know that most had their PBs.

The Protons performed well. Christian had finished second in the Open 10K podium at 35mins, Praveen had finished second in the 15-24 age group category at 38mins, Rahul, Shuveshek and Nagaraj had all achieved their PBs. Henna had completed his race in 40.xx but was feeling a bit off at not having achieved his goal of a sub 39. Aditya had sprained his ankle 400mts into the race and still completed in a respectable 47mins but was not feeling that great either. We all made our way into the NRC lounge for stretches and a quick bite to eat. I got stuck in there and was a little disappointed that I could not get back to the finish line to greet the members as they completed the race.

Personally, it hurt like hell to be part of this race. I think what makes it worse is that I can see everyone around me training hard and getting stronger while I am struggling to get my leg back in working condition. But, from an objective point of view – this was a great race. Its so heartening to see a surge in the numbers flocking in to embrace running as part of their life. I believe that the TCS 10K route cannot really handle such a huge number of runners and maybe the organisers should look at limiting the entries to this race so that logistics can be better maintained. There were huge puddles which can be blamed on the rain, but as organisers for such a huge event, these are circumstances that they should be prepared for.

In any case, 18th May was everything that it had promised to be. The Runners were happy, the organisers were overjoyed with the successful culmination of the event. The Elite category race was the cherry on top with two new course records being created in both the Men and Women’s category. Geofferey Kamwaroor-kipsang from Kenya finished first with 27:38 breaking the previous course record by 6 seconds while ucy Kabuu also from Kenya finished the course in 31:48 also creating another course record.As for me, I am grateful to all those people who came up and said hello, those who told me I was missed on the course and those who comforted me by telling me that it is only a matter of time before I get back to my former self and come back on the course. And yes, I agree with you all, injuries are a part of an athlete’s life and its best to embrace it, deal with it and continue on. So, until next time 🙂

#Bangalore #BangaloreRunners #ProtonsRunning #TCS10K