Orlando (Florida, USA) i-Race Solo
By Nitin Kaulavkar
Short version:
i-Race Solo:
Nitin Kaulavkar:
42 years: Male
Effort level: Moderate to high
Weather: Very hot and humid
Long version:
When I first got an invite from Prateek (or was it his facebook
wall), I was disappointed that I won't be able to run again this year (as
I was travelling to
So, when I saw that Prateek and the gang are going to run on Saturday morning
in
I have been running on this particular
road - called
I have no major complains with this
road for running - except that the walking revellers
many okay most of the times refuse to give way for runners and it is
still me who has to apologize even though I know by any rules in any
country it is they who should be more sorry than me. The second complaint is
the heavy heavy vehicular traffic entering/leaving
the hotels and restaurants at every 50 meters or so.The
next complaint is the hard/cement concrete pavement - man they are hard on your
knees - especially you have been warned by your sports doctor not to run. And
the last complaint is the weather - but then it would be much much pleasant than running in Chennai or
I started running at about
So overall felt great despite loaded
with at least a gallon of sweat on me - so much for the anti-sweat / clima-cool, sweat-wicking running gear! A great yoga-strech session and warm tub-bath helped alleviate the pain
and not to mention the left-over pasta and some belgian westmalle trappistenbier (no it's just post-run (liquid) carbohydrates)!
Thanks for everything!
San Jose (California, USA) i-Race Solo
By Maheendra
Kasmalkar
Distance :
6.0 miles
Time: 59 minutes 14 seconds
Weight: 139.4 pounds
Birthdate:
Age: 40 years and 16 days
Average temperature: 18 C
Humidity: 50%
Altitude: Don't know exactly but the path
is in Evergreen hills climbing down and up the hills.
Now the juicy
experience stuff. I had chosen the path close to my house in Evergreen
Hills,
The area around my house is very
hilly. Since my path ended at the same point it started, one could argue that
the ups-and-downs cancel out. But as any runner would know, that does not
happen. One, I can not speed up on the downslopes to
protect my knees and ankles. Two, the upclimb was all
in the second half (last 3 miles) when it was getting hot. Even the 6 mile run exhausted me quite a bit.
Apart from the heat, the run was good.
I am preparing for a marathon in late October and this was a good restart for
my preparation. So thank you for organizing the iRace.
I don't have any pictures of the exact path but I am attaching a picture below
of Evergreen Hills and valley itself.
Nashville (Tennessee, USA) i-Race Solo
By Vishwa Ramachandran
I had a good solo race on Sunday.
Unfortunately, it was a day of culmination of 2 weeks of blistering heat, with
temperatures at around 35 deg C at around
Belle Meade is the richest
neighborhood in
Being 2.8 miles long (5.6 miles out
and back), it ends into the entrance of Percy Warner Park, a 2058 acre park
with one of the best hills for running - it has three loops, 1.6, 5.8 and 11.2
milers. Very winding, but paved trail. A total of about 2500 feet of elevation. There's even an
(uncertified race-course) marathon held on the hills every year just to
challenge people!
But back to
By Rajat Mathur
I ran the i-Race in Matheran.
Did a distance of
approx 8.5 kms in 1 hour (
Mumbai i-Race
By P Venkatraman
Today’s i-Race
is an event that I will remember for a long time to come.
The TopGearMIG
team members arrived between 6 and
A few took the longer WEH and JVLR
route while I took the more familiar Bail bazaar route so as to arrive there by
At the weighing scale, my weight
registered at 64.5 kgs. I was amazed. I had just got
myself down to 62 in the Weight Loss challenge. Yesterday at MIG I weighed in
at 63.2 kgs and I was not pleased with the accuracy
of the scale :-). And today it was at 64.5 kgs. But
unlike some other members of our group who I am to argue about the accuracy of
measurements? I quickly accepted what the scale dictated as my correct weight.
It did not escape me either that a higher weight meant a better handicap
in the mathematical model. Acceptance was immediate :-). Talk about the power
of positive thinking.
I then had the opportunity to meet
with many runners who I have only had e-touch with. Sunderesan,
Kingshuk, Veeramani, Madhumita and her gang were the few that I recall off hand.
I also met with Ganesh Krishnan and his wife Mohana and I confirmed what I had suspected. His pharma firm was my client during the days of my practice as
a CA. Giles was also there and I learnt that his name is pronounced with a soft
J as Jiles and not hard G. I also had the opportunity
to meet with Chintu Karia
in person. We had so far only been on phone and courier touch.
Ajay soon got the TopGearMIG
team into place and we did a good round of stretching and warm ups. We
assembled for the mandatory group photo that we like to have before each run. Vishwas had come after his night shift, and was doing what
I normally end up doing. Taking photos.
Here is what he captured. Nice photos. Nice group.
We were ready and with Madhur taking over the mike, the Blue bibs ( 5kms ) were ready. Vinay Shetty had turned up as a volunteer and he held one side of
the rope.
And soon they were off. Amongst our
team members were Samson, Mythili, Usha, Vighnesh, Rahul Tandon, Ganesh Krishnan, his wife Mohana,
Mittal, Manish Rohan Kataria and Nupur Patil.
The red bibs (10 km) then lined up.
And soon we were also off.
The route was beautiful. Wish I could
run here more regularly. No traffic. Serene Campus
environment. Wooded trees.
The arrangements were also great.
Hospitality was very nice. All turns were marked and there were volunteers to
see that we do not get lost and stick to the route. There were two water stations
enroute, just where we needed them. There was a
choice of water and also Electral. The volunteers
were very very nice and it was pleasant just to be
there. The Kms were also nicely signposted, though I
had my Garmin to tell me the distance elapsed.
Before starting the run, I had set two
parameters for myself. I wanted to set a heart related parameter and I said
that my average HR will be > 80% of my MHR. I wanted to push myself. Earlier
I had always tried to keep it within 60 to 80 % range, out of caution. In terms
of time, I had decided that if I did it within 90 minutes that would be good. I
had reckoned that if I did the marathon in 3 hours, 6 months back, then with
minimal training in between, doing it in half the time would be good. Ajay came
to me and challenged me to do it in under 80 minutes.
I told him that I had already programmed myself for sub 90 min.
The two loops were a breeze. Come to
think of it, I could have done even better. I finished strong and did a sprint
for the last 300 m to the finish line. There were quite a few of our group who
were behind me and I was happy to note that I had also not acted as the
Guard of the TopGearMIG train :-)
IIT hospitality was again at its best
at the free breakfast counter. There was a choice of very good dishes and we
all noted that most items were protein rich. Matki,
Milk, eggs were on offer besides rotis, chana and tea/ coffee. The fact that I had registered 64.5
kg a hour or so before, was lost on me, as I
celebrated my victory by overeating.
I then had time to look at my Garmin and noted the following stats:
Distance: 10.10 km
Time
Average HR: 93% of Max
WOW. I had surpassed myself on both
parameters. HR > 80% and Time < 90 min. My stats
are uploaded here: http://connect.garmin.com/player/10777909
I had a very nice run. And I enjoyed
it tremendously. I did well and registered a personal best. Isn't that
great?
Thanks Madhur and the IIT team for an excellent Sunday morning run.
By Melvin Barreto
We had a good race in
The highlight was a small little 7 year old kiddo who polished 5 km in under 24 min!! My friend, Dr Rajat, who is an extraordinary runner paced him from the 2.5 km mark. To his credit, this kid rose to the challenge. I ran alongside him up to the finish, and it was amazing that he could keep pace with adults, despite his stride length being less that 1/3rd of the ours!!!
He was wearing the white canvas shoes that most of us wore to school. This kid was from Manesar. His father had brought him to Gurgoan for the race, as this chap is fond of running.