I came to know of 10 K run as part of Puma Urban Stampede when I went to collect my bibs for Olympic Duathlon 3 weeks earlier. My friends were not very keen as we had just completed a much tougher Duathlon and I ignored it along with them… Till I met another colleague a couple of days before the run on November 2nd. He encouraged me to participate and I decided to spot register the next day at Puma showroom, Banjara Hills.
The Puma showroom was impressive with an excellent collection of latest sports wear and gear from Puma. There was a 20% discount for all Urban Stampede participants that lured my into buying a Puma Faas 600 S shoes and a few dry fit apparels.
I had a niggle on my right knee for a few days and was worried if it will hold up for 10 Kms. The niggle caused discomfort whenever I ran more than 5 Kms during the last couple of weeks but got better after some rest. I decided to take a gamble.
The event was at an open ground beside Novotel near Hyderabad airport and the 10 K run was scheduled at 7 AM with a reporting time of 6AM. I woke up at 4:30 AM, made myself some coffee and started to the venue at around 5:15 AM. When I reached the venue, warm up exercises were going on for 5 K participants that was kicked off at around 6:15 AM.
The venue was exactly 2.5 Km from the junction of Airport Road with Srisailam Highway. 5 K was to be covered by running till this junction and returning to the start point. 10 K meant repeating this route once more.
10 K run started at 7 AM as scheduled and I felt good as I set some good pace. Though we are strongly advised against trying a new pair of shoes for an event, my Puma Faas 600 S felt good and I did not feel the niggle on my right knee. Looks like the gamble was paying off!!!
I started strong and was among the lead pack for the first 2.5 Km and finished it in 14 mins 17 seconds to be 29th of 173 finishers. I dropped my pace a little bit during the next 2.5 Km but still finished 5 Km in 30 mins 2 seconds. I harboured hopes of finishing 10 Km in less than an hour. But the 3rd quarter was taxing. I took more than 18 mins and with that went the hope to finish under an hour.
As I was mid way through the last quarter, my colleague passed by and gave me a great piece of advice. We were going through a downhill. He said that I was stopping with each step and I should just “go with the flow” without losing momentum. He was right. I was coming down heavily on my heels with each step and this would hurt my knees too. I tried to carry on with the momentum and could feel myself increase pace slightly while putting lesser effort.
With that, I could finish strongly but still took 1 hr 4 mins to complete what was actually 10.7 Kms. Nowhere near bragging result but I had still done my best 5 K and 10 K during this run. I reserve sub-hour 10 K for future!!!
