Fit and Fab 2023

TWENTY TWENTY THREE!!! Its been quite a year from fitness perspective.

In terms of events, its hard to beat the high of 2022, when I completed my first IRONMAN in Kazakhstan.

A few of the events stood out as special this year.

The first was the first event of the year (which is normally the case), Tata Mumbai Marathon. This year, held on Jan 15, it was special as I finally cracked the seemingly impossible 'Sub 4' hurdle, with a still-hard to believe timing of 3:54:54. The fact that I beat the mark by 5+ mins is what made it extra special.

Not just me, I was among a group of 5 runners who trained for this event and 4 of us cracked the mark, 3 of us for the first time. That made the victory, and the impromptu Bhangra at the finish line, all the more special.

The second event was also the second event of the year. This one was totally a bolt from the blue. I had never participated in the event before. I happened to be in Delhi on the event date and registered on the spot the previous evening with absolute no plan. And it turned out, within 3 weeks of breaking my Full marathon record, I broke my Half Marathon record by a whopping 9 minutes!!. The event, Super Sikh Run, was lucky one for me. It was conducted on the Golf Course Road in Gurgaon, a route which I am super familiar with and the weather was absolutely perfect for a great Run.

Next one was the Two Oceans Ultra 56K in Cape Town. I had never run this distance. In fact, I had only once done an Ultra (all races beyond 42.2km are termed as Ultra), which was the 50K Malnad Ultra Trail run in 2018. So I was really not sure if I had the stamina to run this long a race. But thanks to fabulous support from dear friend Chandru, was able to train well for it and finish the race in a respectable time of 6:10.

Post Cape Town, which happened in April, I had a 3 month break as I did not have any running event till August. So I decided to go for a small trek to Melmudi in Coimbatore. And as luck would have it, 1 hour into the trek, I had a stinging pain in my left leg, which was misconstrued as Cramps and sustained the pain for the 6 hour trek. Finally it was diagnosed as muscle tear and I had 40 day complete layoff from any physical activity. Even walking was limited to bare minimum.

As I started resuming practice in mid July, I had just about a month to get in shape for Hyderabad Marathon. I was not expect a spectacular timing, but I started off decently, even though it was extremely humid and we were full of sweat within the first 30 minutes. But I lost momentum in the last 10kms and finished with a decent timing of 4:27, improving on my previous course record by 20 odd minutes.

Next up was the big one, my second world major in Berlin on Sept 24. The Hyderabad marathon had prepared me for the distance, but I was still not at my best as far as speed was concerned. Its known for an almost flat track, great weather conditions, good crowd support and hence ideal to get a great timing. While people were goading me for going for a new pb, and targets were set from 3:45 to even a ridiculously sounding 3:30, I knew I was no where close to even bettering my TMM mark. Finally, I ended with 4:00:15, technically might be considered as a sub 4. The thrill of completing was so much, I did an impromptu dance when 'Calm Down' was played on the speaker.

Finally, came the last event of the year, Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon on Oct 16, 2023. We were travelling in Europe for 10 days after Berlin Marathon. I was running occassionally with short runs in Barcelona and Madrid, just to keep the momentum going. But for a while now, I run HMs for enjoyment and do NOT train seriously enough for them. So to end up with a 1:44:34, beating my previous course record by 6 odd minutes was extremely gratifying. I was harbouring hopes of breaking my Super Sikh Run timing till about 15kms, but I knew it was going to be a stretch and had to settle for a bit slower time. This is the event with which I started my running career 10 years back and its always nostalgic to run on the majestic course every winter.

Apart from the runs, I had the chance to do couple of bike rides. The first one was 85K ride for Dad on Aug 21, his Bday. This is a ritual I started in 2020, the year he passed away. Come rain or shine, I have to do the bike ride on this day in Coimbatore.

I ignored my bike for most of the year, but as the running calendar dried up, I had a self supported solo 120K ride in November. Glad I have not lost my mojo for long rides. Probably will do more of these next year.

Finally in case of swimming, I was keen to do more of open water swim. I was lucky that the IM in Khazakastan was in a canal/river and not an ocean. Swimming in oceans is cosidered lot more tougher. So I decided to make the most of opportunities to swim in ocean, wherever I travelled. And boy, did I get some chances:

• Kozhikode in Jan beginning
• Dubai in Jan mid
• Miami in Jan mid
• Majorca in Sept
• Barcelona in Oct
• Pondicherry in Nov

I am confident enough to aim for some Swimathons next year!!

Of course, amidst all this, behind the scenes, there was lot of training runs, rides and pool swims.

The Running mileage was on the lower side, compared to 2022, primarily due to multiple injury layoffs. And I honestly want to reduce my running as I the meniscus tear has been paining for a while. So more rides and swims for sure in 2024.

Overall, have loved 2023 for the events that I could attend, the experiences made and memories created through these.