My 30km journey on a Sunday morning...

Its been one of my most eventful runs till date. I started with some really tired legs and the first few kilometers were very difficult, I almost gave up on my planned 30km run. I also made changes to my route, originally i had planed to run till Hali Ali, about 2hrs after start then come back to Shivaji park and then do another 30mins around Shivaji Park, to complete the 3hr runs for doing 30km. After evaluating my condition at the 5km mark, I decided to abandon plan A and shifted to plan B. I now planned to run directly run to Shivaji Park and then run around the park, hoping for a 25km but was reconciled to something like a 20km. This would not only protect me from the sun (the path around the park is shaded) and 30 odd degrees of temperature, but also ensure that I was not stranded in the middle of nowhere especially if my legs simply gave up on me (the fear was very real).

That was not to be, by the time I touched the 10km, things started to change, I was getting into a good rhythm and the fatigue in my legs was starting to disappear (I also had a slight twitch in my right outer thigh a few kilometers back and even that did not appear again) and I got a feeling that the 30km was still possible unless something unexpected came up. And then next 20km were sheer bliss and I put in some 15laps around the park. It was an amazing experience moving from one extreme to the other. Actually my legs were feeling better after than the run than when I started.

What makes the run even more special is that this was my third consecutive run, I did a 11km on Friday followed by a 10km on Saturday. I needed to make this run, to give me confidence for my ultra (78km run).

Next weekend I will be traveling again, which means there will be no long run over the weekend. But luckily for me Thursday is a holiday and I can easily put in a 20km plus run for the week. I hope to run on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, doing a 50km plus week (since the Saturday and Sunday runs will be in a around a hill, I will be able to bring some variety to my run and climbing steep slopes will do me a lot of good). I also hope to run on Monday and Tuesday, which will sort of make up for the missed Sunday long run, as i will be able to put in four consecutive runs of around 10km each.