A decade-long journey of a recreational runner!

Modified Oct 04, 2019 10:54 IST

In Sep 2019, I completed a decade in long distance running

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.

About the author

Professionally, I belong to Information Technology domain. But Sports is my passion. I am a recreational long distance runner and a Yoga practitioner. I have run five full marathons (42.2kms). I follow Cricket and Tennis closely. In Cricket, my main interest is towards Test cricket and I take pleasure in following numbers and statistics of key players from major Cricket playing nations. Since childhood, I have made it a point to read at least one sports related article per day. That has created an immense interest in me to write articles related to sports. Following my interest, I keep penning articles occasionally. Sportskeeda has given me a great opportunity and platform to reach out to many sports lovers through my articles.

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Edited by sam.abraham