Too fat to run!

I have started running again.

It was last Sunday that I woke up from my slumber and realized the size of my thighs might put any South Indian heroine to shame. Also, we were watching Vicky Donor that day and my wife didn't hide her liking for the male protagonist. It really made me jealous, and as Dr Baldev Khurana from that movie would have put it, decided to become an athletic sperm again.

Came home and found this 30-week Full Marathon training plan which really suits me best. I have created a google spreadsheet along with the dates, so that I can update it as I progress.

The reason this plan suits me is I am really unfit right now and this plan starts off slowly and gradually builds up the mileage. I ran a 21.2 kms just 3 months ago in Jaipur, and  now here I am finding it difficult to even run 30 mins at a stretch. It could be the April heat, or my weight but still I should have done better.

Another reason I like this plan is I can run the Delhi Half (13.1 miles/ 21.1 kms) as part of my preparation for the full marathon in Mumbai. The date for Delhi is falling exactly in the week where my long run is 12 miles. I have readjusted the plan a little so that I am running 13 miles on the Sunday instead of the 12 miles on Saturday (highlighted in yellow in the spreadsheet).

The plan will also push me to run throughout the year which is good because I cannot keep myself fit without a goal. But it is really difficult to keep your motivation up when the goal is so far away.Still marathon running is the stuff a serious runner's wet dreams are made of, so I will keep my fingers crossed.

Coming back to my weight, its like I was born to deflate the living room sofas out of shape, but fighting against the Almighty's will by trying to run. I have gained at least 7-8 kgs in last 3 months and now sitting pretty at 86 kgs. Though I have never seen that figure on the scale, my goal is to reach 70 kgs by the time I run the marathon in Mumbai.

OK, time to say good-bye! Will write about my first week of running in my next post.

A little bit about my running career...

Disclaimer: I am not a complete novice and have run two half marathons (Delhi 2011 and Jaipur 2012) till date.

I am a software professional who works in Noida and lives in Delhi. The running bug caught me in 2009 when I was in US on an assignment and looked like my wife's father. The good thing about me is I read a lot, and by stroke of luck discovered running. Not in that sense! I mean I knew what running was but was not sure if 95 kilograms of me could run, having only participated in a sack race or two in my lifetime.

For whole of 2009, I ran in the society's gym and at the end of it was able to run 10 kms at a stretch. Also, lost about 10 kgs.

Starting 2010, we came back from US and I lost some motivation. But I still ran my first 10km road race along with my brother. One good thing that came out of that race was now I knew running in a gym is like playing Cricket in the nets! But that was it. We had our first baby (Adaa!) and everything else took a backseat. I didn't ran that much that year but the marathon ambition was still hibernating somewhere inside me.

I didn't start running almost until the middle of 2011. Sometime in July 2011, I registered for Airtel Delhi Half-Marathon 2011. I kept my motivation up throughout the training plan and ran Delhi on Nov 27 in 2 hours and 25 minutes. And what a pleasant experience it was! See pics below.

In 2012, life started catching up and I lost some of the momentum. The training was taking too much of my time and I had other ambitions in life as well. But my family was looking forward to the Jaipur trip, so I decided to run Jaipur (Jan 22) in any case. The organisation was a disaster. The race course was 22.5 kms instead of the standard 21.1 kms. On my part, I forgot to do even the basic things like cutting my toe nails before the race and eating a pre-race snack. The only good thing was I was able to complete it!

More on my current race and training plans in my next blog post :)