A decade-long journey of a recreational runner! 

Introduction to competitive running...

It was in October 2011, when I got my first taste in competitive long distance running. I got to know about an event named “Celebration Mysore Run (CMR)" which was making its debut in Mysore. There were three categories in the event – Half Marathon (HM or 21.1 km), 10K (10 km) and 5K (5 km).

By that time, I had become adept at running 4-5 km at a stretch. Hence I registered for 5K along with few of my friends. But we got to know from organizers that 5K category was more of a fun run than a competition. Since we weren't aware about competitive races, it didn't matter for us.

Celebration Mysore Run 2011 was the starting point for me in competitive road races

But that race gave me good exposure to professional timed events. Post-race, I could interact with few of my colleagues who had participated in categories 10K and half-marathons (in timed events, the finishing runners get timing information digitally after their runs). The experiences they shared encouraged me to take up longer runs.