Running costs big bucks!

So here's the thing - the last couple of weeks I have been on a massive spending spree because everything you hear about running before you are a runner is a total lie - it's not the cheapest workout ever. In fact it is very expensive if you want to maintain a running lifestyle!

For one thing, I went on another run in the Kanakpura road and ended up straining my IT band again (this time my left leg fell victim). And since I have never experienced any pain on my left leg, I felt pretty horrible for a couple of days when the knee felt heavy and useless....

So I splurged and bought a foam roller. Yup I finally succumbed to the lure of putting myself through even more pain so I can enjoy a pain free run. Left IT band has been screaming every time I have run a foam roller through it but I have seen loads of improvement in both my legs, so I am going to eschew the horror that is foam rolling yourself when your muscles are tight and just be grateful that I can run at all.

And then I also bought Nike Dri Fit socks which also cost a bomb. I mean a pair costs close to 500 bucks and I had to buy a bunch and I could not find cheaper alternatives to saving my toes as the only place that stocks cheaper Toe socks is Decathalon in Sajjapura road and they are apparently out of stock (total bummer!).

And my final splurge? I bought a cycle! Yup I am not officially an all around health nut. I got a relatively cheap Hercules Roadeo Turner and it's six speed with great balance and I got it all for under 8 grand (it helped that I flirted with a shopkeeper a bit so he gave me free carrier installed plus a free bottle holder...am completely shameless).

My baby is blue and aptly called Bergkamp because it flies!

But that's when I started noticing - you need to keep buying things in order to supplement your running life span. Foam rollers, physio therapy (because let's face it most runners run into injuries no matter what), yoga mats, the right gear and clothing even the right water bottles and belts!

And then I realised that I didn't care. Sure, when I look back to that time when someone told me about how cheap running is compared to a gym (I now go to a gym because you need to add cross training to supplement your running! LOL), I have to chuckle at the absurdity of the statement. That person is perhaps just a morning jogger who does not have to invest in their own health more than keeping themselves fit. But then that feeling I get at the end of a run when I have pushed myself beyond what I thought possible? It's priceless. I cannot explain it. So next time I worry about buying new shoes (which are also expensive), I am just going to remember that I love running at the end of the day.

Maybe this is why runners generally find it hard to talk about anything other than running - they invest so much of themselves in this "hobby" that it becomes part of their identity. And anyone who wakes up at 4.30am in the morning just to run 15 plus kilometres is definitely invested. And that's a great feeling. So keep spending as you get better and keep getting better. Once you run down this path (pun intended), you find yourself completely changed for the better and that's everything.

P.S The Premier League starts August 17th! Adding to my woes is now the fact I have to juggle running with staying up late watching Arsenal matches...on the other hand - yay!!!! Arsenal is back in my world again! 

Ran my farthest distance today!

Well from now on I guess nearly every run I run will be the "farthest" I have run yet but I still can't help being proud of having run 13.2km (8.2 miles) and I am very very happy! For one even though my right knee felt a bit off in the beginning, it never actually troubled me until I was well into one hour of running and nearly 9k into the run. My body didn't feel like it ran out of fuel (although I was very very tired after 11k) even after running 13k. And here's the best part- apart from one moment when my knee suddenly shot up after I stretched, I am currently without any pain.

I had drunk chocolate milk before going for the run. I cycled for five minutes and then stretched for a good twenty minutes before going. I still felt that I would end up in extreme pain by the end of it as I have literally never run anything more than 11km and that was last week! But those last 2.2km were not as bad as I thought they would be. I took breaks this time around. I finished my run in 1 hour and 27 minutes. And through it all I had taken about 15 minutes worth of break. Honestly this was better than I was hoping for this week and in fact in that last lap I actually accelerated. I came home had a glass of banana milkshake immediately after drinking water. I have noticed that when I don't eat immediately after a long run, I get massive painful headaches a couple of hours after the run and I really don't want to deal with the headache today and I just want to recover as soon as I can possibly.

I also had another banana. By 12 noon I plan on having my lunch along with a cup of curd. Protein is incredibly important for runners and as a vegetarian I have to rely on things like cheese, curd and milk to get my requisite protein and calcium intake . I know there are those who believe that vegetarians don't have enough energy to run because they don't eat meat and I call bullshit for that. With enough veggies and carbs introduced to the diet, you will have more than enough fuel not only to run long hours in the day but also go about the rest of your day like nothing happened.

Also, please let this be some source of inspiration to anyone who just happens upon this blog and thinks they can't really run - I could not run 17 minutes a month ago without experiencing extreme pain and now I ran for an hour and a half and I am fine. You just need to be inspired. You need to work hard and you need to be dedicated. I find that runners are often the most determined people I meet and that's because when the rest of the world is still sleeping or is feeling "too tired", runners are out of the house and pushing their bodies beyond what can be expected of it. They inspire me and I honestly can't wait till September when I run my first half marathon! Next week is 15km. Wish me luck and happy running. 

A Savandurga trekking adventure (falling on your ass and more musings)

I know I have been a bit missing in action in the last couple of days but that's because I wanted to take some time and effort before writing my latest blog - my trekking adventure to Asia's largest monolithic hill - Savandurga.

About 60km away from Bangalore (aka civilisation), my friends - Ramya, Deepika and Ramya's sister Radha all decided on embarking on this trek. Radha was not interested the moment she found out that people had died sliding off the steep hill and I myself was worried that I might end up twisting my ankle therefore putting me in jeopardy to run the 10k in July. Deepika simply refused to believe that the trek would be at all dangerous and Ramya, well, she spent a lot of time telling everyone just how scary it could be while sounding terribly excited. But a sense of adventure prevailed over commonsense and we took off early morning on Saturday talking about water, chocolates and weirdly enough Bollywood gossip.

Me, Radha, Deepika, Ramya and Chincha!

We were to join a group from Bangalore Mountaineering Club. Ramya and I have both gone on treks arranged by this group before and I can vouch for them for being the best in the business. Thus we turned from a group of four to a group of 20 by the time we touched base at Savandurga.

So here's what you need to know about that hill - it's bare, it's steep and you are essentially screwed if it rains because it is bare with not too many plants to latch onto. One look at the hill and Deeps finally realised that this was going to be both fun and definitely challenging. And at around 10.30am the group started trekking up the hill, which fortunately offers panoramic views right from the beginning.

Radha, was scared not of climbing up the hill but she kept talking about how scary it would be on the way down because one slip of the foot and you might as well be history. Only hours later did we realise that Radha was more on point than we would have liked to have believed in the beginning.

For one thing, poor Deeps had the first misfortune within the group when the soles of her shoes started coming undone. We thought little of it in the beginning, just asking her to come slowly. Ramya, who jogs nearly every day, was incredibly fast and was right there with the top of the group. I decided to keep up with her, so Deeps and Radha fell behind. Only after a while did we realise that Deepika was actually climbing the hill barefoot! Our guide Swamy, was also nowhere to be seen because apparently he was helping up some poor teenager who had decided that she was simply not up the trek. His assistant Chincha (we called out his name at least a million times between all of us) was there to usher us all in to the peak that stands at 4,000 feet. The last part is perhaps the most adventurous because you sometimes even have to crawl through small arches to get to the top. Of course there is also a 70 degree sheer fall you climb using crevices and praying that your body does not fail you. I have no idea how Deeps did this barefoot but if she was scared, she didn't let on and remained cheerful till the very top. Ramya and I had reached a good half hour at least before Deeps and Radha, so we just lay on top of the peak feeling the wind hit us with force and enjoying it.

The peak itself was a haven to all those who love amazing views and high speed winds. The four of us took a ton of pictures between us and also with the rest of the extended group and decided that it was time to go back. Of course one of the members in the group wanted to stay further but common sense prevailed and a little of bit of whining and complaining later, the group was ready to go back to ground level. And this is where the true adventure begins.

For one, Deeps was climbing down barefoot. We were all scared for her. Radha was also scared of slipping and falling (a fear I generously shared along with her). Ramya on the other hand was one of the first to start climbing down which she did with the ease of an experienced trekker. Before I knew it, she was nearly in the bottom waving at us cheerfully. At that second I thought to myself - oh this looks like fun. Maybe we will be down in no time How WRONG I turned out to be.

I slipped down the 70 degree fall. I caught myself on time but it was enough to tear across my track bottoms and scrape my skin through and through. You see the soles of my worn out shoes had become completely flat. The other reason being? Well, it started raining....pretty badly. Which meant I had to hold onto someone else (I borrowed a sweatshirt from Deeps and wore it around my waist to cover the tear) all the way down. It also meant that I went on to fall another five times, scaring the bejeesus out of me. I refused to take off my sneakers because I wanted to cushioning on my ankles, so I can keep running (the things runners worry about!). And we were all pretty drenched.

Deeps however was the one who gave us the biggest scare. We were all huddled at one point under a rock to shield ourselves from the rain. Deeps decides she does not want to wait and starts walking down. PLOP! She slips and falls pretty badly on her back. Thankfully she was ok but I think I hugged her five times because she slipped right before an area that looked like a freaking cliff. Swamy thankfully managed to get both me and Deeps to the ground. My right elbow by then was generously bleeding and the stupid Sun came out blazing which meant my knee was burning.

And Deeps? Well, she had to walk through rocks that were still moist and wet and rocks that were scorching thanks to the Sun. I swear I still don't know how she found the humour to do this with spirit. The biggest surprise? Well Radha climbed down without much incident and helped Deeps through a lot of the tough times. I clung onto one of the trekker, Steffy, who listened to me patiently talk about Hrithik Roshan and marathons (I tend to ramble when scared...go figure).

So, the four of us reached the base, Ramya had reached ages ago and was sitting like a rockstar drinking some coconut water. She lent me her rain jacket to cover the two big holes on my track pants! That's when we as a group decided we would also go rappelling in Ramnagaran, which is also a hill en-route to Bangalore.

You might be thinking why me or Deeps or even Radha, who were pretty scarred from the trekking decided that rappelling made sense - well, adventures are like that, when you get even a little whiff of it, you want more and more.

Deeps and I made a small detour however on the way to Ramnagaram where she bought slippers and I bought pants and suddenly we were strapping the ropes for rappelling! As everyone in the group was a bit apprehensive, I volunteered to go first...I mean no one wants to walk off a cliff and hope the ropes are tight enough but I had done this before and I was sure I could take it. Unfortunately on my way down my hair got caught in one of the knots which turned out to be quite hilarious. No great damage but I have to get a hair cut now :P

Ramya came right after me and she climbed in true Ramya style - which is essentially doing it without any fuss and just doing it. Deeps and Radha went later. From what they told me, Deeps froze by the time she reached the top of the rock and tried to call it off but Radha and Swamy helped her through and she had also done it! Radha followed shortly. After that, we were all more than ready to go home. So we filed into the back of the bus, each trying hard not to fall asleep on the other and talking about the day that we had been through. I just want to take a moment and talk about the four of us as we were on Saturday:

The rockstar: That title belongs to Ramya. She looked effortless while climbing up and her cheeks were flushed red, so she actually looked fresh! She was the first girl to reach the base and honestly you would have never known that this was her first time rappelling, she was so good!

The sport: Deepika's sportive nature throughout the trek was unbelievable. This is a hard trek on good shoes and this woman climbed up and trekked down barefoot in the rain. And she did with grace and humour and at the end of the day she was talking about doing it again.

The brave one: People might be surprised that I anointed Radha the brave one but honestly like they say in all movies - courage is not the absence of fear but rather the realisation that something is more important. She was honest about being scared but she was brave enough to keep taking the next step.

The painkiller: I think it's because I am a runner but I can take pain. I am used to it. I was not great like Ramya and I don't know if I was sportive enough like Deepika but I took the blood and the scratches and shook them off. One of the girls saw the extent of skin damage on my back and wondered why I was even thinking about rappelling or why I was not making a bigger fuss....I think it's not because I was not scared or that I was brave but I am used to running over 10k with an injured knee, this was really nothing.

The final note:
We were four average girls and we had to deal with a scary trek during monsoon season. A lot of people chicken out of great experiences in life because they are too scared of what might go wrong...well the truth is even when things go wrong, you can still have the time of your life. Oh and make sure you go with great friends. So I raise my glass to average Joe adventurers. You might not recognise that you are sitting next to one....hell you might not even realise that you are one! So go out...take chances...make memories and have an adventure.

P.S My running schedule has taken a hit but I am doing a 11k tomorrow!