`In the AlphaGo vs. Human documentary, after the 4th game, a reporter asks Lee Sedol about the God's play - a move #78 that changed the course of the game and got him to beat Google's AI, AlphaGo. He replied "At that point, that was the only move that I could see", although there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance that a human would have played this.
My wife asks me, "why run the 24 hour, why not 'just' run a 12 hour run, instead?", the answer probably has to be in the releam of Lee Sedol's answer - I can only see the 24hr category. Ever heard of a quarerly sales target being lower than the last quarter? Now you know what I am talking about.
It begs the question - is there any merit in trying and failing? Let's all pick a easier target, shall we? Who needs a boss who is constantly pushing you to get to that stretch target - those 100+ Indian athletes who came home without a medal from Tokyo?
I got to the start line of the 24hr stadium run, for the 7th time, in good shape and spirits. My target was set at a 200km+ run, I was focussed.
The plan was to stay on a steady pace for the first 12hours, cover over 110kms and then keep it steady for the next 12. The run was at the DYES stadium, Vidyanagar, a now familiar location. I got there in time, the usual photo op, etc. The race started on time.
I hadn't planned for a support crew for the first 12hrs, my dad was to crew (crew = crazy runner, endless wait) from 6am to noon or so and Shreya was to take over from him till the finish. Mom and kids were planning to come towards the last 1hr or so.
To my good fortune, my nephew Rishabh (all of 18 yrs) decided to drop by at 7pm and stayed of till morning, offering much needed support.
Within the first few laps, a bunch of us formed a nice paleton including Velu, Geeno. We were at 5:30 pace - the group dynamics of pacing really helped in the first few hours.
With great support from Rishabh, I was able to keep steady pace, around 11kmph for the first 4hours. I was alternating between Gels, Huel, peanut butter & date syrup for the calories.
By I was not 'on-track' pace wise. If you have seen this TED talk on 'Why stories that you tell yourself matter" by Lori Gottlieb (link here), you know the importance of the stories you tell yourself.
By now my mind was conjuring up a story - "I am sleepy, I am slacking on pace, I don't have a chance at my target of 200k". That story kept repeating itself, like the endless loops that came and went. By 3AM (9hours and 80km done), I went for my second power nap of 10mins.
After a bit, for no apparent reason, I was walking on the track with no "will" to run. I put in about 15 - 16 laps per hour, while that make-believe story was now fulfilling its prophecy. "I was sleepy, I was slacking, I didn't have a chance at 200k".
I got to a 101km in 12hours.
If there was another story that was playing a 99k in the next 12 hrs was possibly doable. But my original story now had a sequel - I would save my wife and kids the trouble of coming all the way to support me, save my legs, leave after completing the mandatory 120kms.
My ever-so-supporting dad towed the line. I called my wife, while she was a tad disappointed she was ok with the idea.
I ran-walked another 19kms in the next 2.5hours and called it off.
The final mileage: 120km (300 laps) in 14:47 hours
It still begs the question: Is there any merit in trying and failing
