TCS Open 10k – 2011

Its been ages since I wrote my last post in Dec 2009. Since the arrival of Siddharth in Jan 2010, life has been hectic enough to keep me away from whatever blogging I used to do.  Now that life is slowly getting back to normal (I wish, but no harm in telling myself that!), and the fact that I am getting into a lot of activities, it seems like a good time to get back at blogging.  And so here I am, back from the break, on my TCS 10k experience.

The popular annual 10k event got a new sponsor this time around and hence a new name. What was known as the Sunfeast Open 10k last two years, is now christened as the TCS 10k event. This is my 3rd open 10k, and by far one of the best in terms of experience. It was special too because it was Shamala’s first major running event (she earlier did a 5k as part of the annual Midnight marathon event) and the fact that we were running together. It was Deepa’s (Shamala’s sister) first running event too. We now seemed to have a nice running trio:).

Before the race

The training as usual was again erratic. I have not been able to master this bit and it shows in the final day run. Though we managed several 5k-6k runs, I did only one 10k before the event. But the fact that I have been running for sometime now helped matters. Sham on the other hand did manage to get a couple of 10k runs in before the event.

We landed up at the venue well ahead of time around 7:15 ish AM.  The weather was gorgeous, perfect for a running day. The Kanteerva stadium was brimming with people. Over the last few years, the event has gained tremendous popularity, with the number of registrations exploding each year. This year I am given to believe close to 15000 people participated. The numbers were quite obvious looking at the sea of people standing at the running gates, waiting for it to open. This is one aspect though, I wish would improve going forward. There is too much of pushing and prodding which happens at the running gates, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it leads to a stampede-like situation in the future events. The organizers need to take note of this!

The run commenced at 8:10 am, soon after the international event ended. We somehow managed to make it through the running gates unhurt and proceeded to the start line. The first few minutes of a run are always tough as you try and ease into a rhythm. In events like these, its only made tougher with so many people running around you and you being cramped for space. Its only around the half way mark that you get adequate space to run comfortably. Shamala and I started slow and steady.  Given this was our first real “event” run together, I wanted to run with her from start to finish, even though it would mean that I would clock a significantly slower time than the last two editions. The weather continued to be gorgeous all through. The route ran from Kanteerva stadium till Ulsoor junction via Gen. carriappa road, and then making its way back through the Cubbon park to end back at Kanteerva. Sham and I struck an amazing rhythm right from the start, ensuring that we never had to stop even once. Sham did stop, but they were like a 2-3 sec breathers rather than a real stop. That in my opinion is a huge achievement for Sham. We ended with a time of around 1 hr 29 mins, which is a good time for first 10k run.

Other than the initial starting chaos, the arrangements pre-event, in-event and post event were fabulous as always. The bib collection this time had an additional centre in the Koramangla national games stadium, thereby making it very easy for us to pick it up. Plus it was much less crowded.  The refreshment stations during the run were plenty in number and well stocked. Though, I thought it might have been a good idea to have some bananas and biscuits at the stations in addition to the liquids.  But, at least for me there is nothing to complain as I can run a 10k pretty easily without fluids or food.  Arrangement for medal distribution and refreshments collection post run was also well organized.

All in all a wonderful experience; infact there was a moment during the run when I thought that this was one the best things which could have happened to Bangalore!

Next year, gotta target a sub -60 run! Till then, keep running!

Europe Vacation – Switzerland – Interlaken

Day 1 at Interlaken

Interlaken is perhaps the place which attracts most tourists in Switzerland. Its a not-to-be-missed tourist spot and the only place to hit if you are a first timer in Switzerland and short on time. Interlaken, as some might guess, means between lakes.  Interlaken is located between Lake Brienz to the east and Lake Thun to the west in the area called Bödeli.

View of one of the lakes

Europe Vacation – Switzerland – Mt Titlis and Luzern

Switzerland, here we come!

We left for Switzerland on the morning of 4th August. We were putting up at Zurich. The drive from Paris to Zurich took us about 7-8 hours. We drove through the country side of France, admiring the the lush green farmlands and impressive chateaus.

Chateau in the country side

We reached Zurich at around 9 ish in the night. The light was still there slightly, and at one point from where we passed, we could see the beautiful Zurich city lit up. Our first priority was to stop was dinner, and that too Indian. We had located one place called Ravi’s Indian on the GPS. It is a nice place with decent ambiance and all, however the food is horrible. In case you are looking up restaurants, and come up against this one, do not try it, atleast not for Indian food. Anyways, not left with much choice, we raked up a bill for 144 francs for very ordinary food and headed for the hotel – Hotel Movenpick. The Movenpick rooms turned out to be a stunner – was expecting it as was told it was a five-star hotel. The rooms were very spacious, the bathrooms were awesome, and there was a general good feeling about the place. We turned in for the night.

UDF hike – self defeating??

Came across this news today about how various airports in the Metros (BIAL, DIAL, Hyderabad Intl Airport) etc. are planning to hike the UDF (User Development Fee) for both domestic and international passengers.

The reason being stated for the proposed hikes is slower than expected traffic growth resulting in slower revenue growths from these consortium airports. And hence, to be able to continue maintaining the airports, steep hikes in UDF.

To me this is self defeating. UDF hikes will only add to ticket costs, which in turn has potential to impair traffic growth even further. And its all a downward spiral from there on – more slowdowns and more hikes and so on …

Where will this end? Shouldn’t the government being intervening here rather than not do anything about the hikes? The news seems to suggest the govt. cannot do much (its hands are tied?) Wonder why the taxes we pay cannot be put to use here ? Why can’t there be a minimum floor UDF which has to be borne by the end consumer and the remaining charge be borne by the govt?

Stop bursting crackers or maybe not?

It is sometimes said that the best intentions of mankind might do more bad than good for the society at large.