Pacing the fastest bus at SPBM 2018

48yr+ Ex-Navy runner: Sir, I will stick with you no matter what. It will be a miracle if I finish in 3:45 today

Runner: My last year was in 4:15, this year I will just run with you to finish

All runners in the bus in chorus, repeat after the pacer: “I am strong”, “I am relaxed”. “I am strong”, “I am relaxed”. “I am strong”, “I am relaxed”.

Frequent shout outs for attendance, reminders for eating, hydration and pace, a story here and Pj there… that’s how the 3:45 bus chugged along.

When my selection to the Asian Championship was confirmed, I wrote to India’s favorite race director, to see if I could pace a 3:45 or 4:00 hour bus for the full marathon at Bengaluru Marathon. His one line email reply came “3:45”

A pacer / pacing bus is widely used in big city marathons to help runners (even elites) to finish within a specific time. So, I had to ensure that I bring home the bus in exactly 3hr:45mins and any runner who wished to finish in this time, had to simply tag along. The pacer is expected to manage the pace variations (due to course, conditions, etc.), motivate his/her bus to finish in time.

After the stadium run, I have cranked up my mileage – running over 150k every week and it was a 155k week leading up to the race day. With a 3:20 personal best timing, a 3:45 is still challenging. I was very nervous as I went about the final week. A trip back from Chennai, a Big Fat wedding in the family – sleep deficit and calorie surplus.

What also happened during that week was, I got my new Garmin Forerunner 935. So, no concerns on tracking pace or other vital stats, I still had to run hard to be in the zone.

The race went on as per plan, clockwork precision, thanks to the Forerunner. I had set up my 935 to a 5:00 to 5:20 min/km pace. There were about 10 of us when we started and spread out about a minute apart by the end of first loop. I deliberately kept a slightly faster pace for the first half, we had banked about 5mins at halfway.

Photos courtesy: SPBM

We did some talking, some goading, some positive reinforcements along the way. The flag and the holding jacket survived without causing too much discomfort. I kept urging the guys to stay with me till about 38k or so. After about 33k, as we go on to MG Road, energy levels of the group started to sap. I used some of our buffer. After about 38k, we could have still pulled off a 3:35ish finish. But I held back to sweep the slower guys in my bus and get them along. I got into the stadium with 3:43 on the clock, with nearly 7 from my bus finishing within a minute or two.

My energy levels were very high, I didn’t once feel the distance or the pace. After the finish, I hunted around for breakfast, loaded with free samples of protein and electrolytes, peeled off the timing tag and headed out for another lap. The 45min delay did more harm than good, and all the food didn’t go down too well. Nevertheless, I managed to complete my quota of another 18k, 60k in 5:47 for me.

The last time I paced in 2016, I had mixed feelings, this time round, it was a definite high.

Bengaluru 24hr Stadium Run - the Day i lived a Dream

(Be forewarned: Long post, keep your 6 pack handy)

First the format:

The 24hr runs are just that, you run as much mileage in 24hrs as you can. These runs are usually run around a block or a stadium, with each loop no more than 1 to 1.5kms, usually flat. This craziness is blessed by the International Association of Ultrarunners, there are World Championships, and countries send their elites to win position in the team event.

The Bengaluru 24h stadium run is in its 5^th year, it is run in Kanteerava stadium, it’s a 400m track. We were allowed to run on track 2 (36h and 24h were on track 2 and 3, 12h were on track 5 and 6 and relay runners on track 7), to count 410m per lap. What support was available

• ·       Water station (with water, jaggery, electral and bananas)
• ·       Food counter – breakfast, lunch and dinner inside oval
• ·       Resting area (with beds), Medical area (mandatory BP & weight check every 6hrs), baggage counter (runners can access these at any times) and Physiotherapy section – all inside the oval

There is a DJ playing music all along, once every 2hrs the runners laps, distance and ranking are announced. On the top of the hour, every hour, as the runners pass the timing mat, they change direction.

So that’s it! You just keep running in the track designated to your category, till you run out of time or spirit.

I could have had a better week leading up to the race day. I had returned from a week in London the previous week, which has upset my sleeping & eating patterns. I had taken the Friday off from work, but ended up working late into the night. My grand plans of sleeping for most part of Saturday also ended up with just a 2hr post-lunch siesta.

At 5PM on Saturday, 4^th Aug, some 30 of us lined up on lane #3, ready to start our adventure and stay on track for 24hrs. We joined the 30+, 36h runners who by now had 11hrs on their feet already!!

Part I (5PM to 9PM)

My plan was to start slow, get slower, finish slowest. I wanted to stay between 9 – 10kmph pace for as long as possible. There was still a couple of hours of daylight left, I took my first food break almost immediately. But the breads and paav on the food counter didn’t appeal to me, I asked for some peanuts to be kept aside for me.

By 7PM, I was done 50 laps (20.5km) languishing at 15^th place. The race leaders had taken off, and had 3-4kms on me already. By 9PM, the night chill was setting in, I had my first round of dinner (Bisi Bele Bath BBB & curd rice). I had done 37.5km in 4hours, still 11^th in rankings, the leader had 7km over me at this point.

With a very strong field, including the national record holder for the 24h and others with 180+ finishes in the past, I had taken off the baggage of the podium finish, right at the start.

As the daylight faded, I paid a quiet good-bye to the Sun, “see ya tomorrow”.

Training notes:

It’s easy to prepare for the first 4hours, essentially find your comfort pace and do multiple of these over the weekends. On a weekend, if I ran, I ran for no less than 30km / 3 hr runs.

This was the easy part.

Part II (9PM to 3AM)

This phase was crucial, it was important to keep a steady pace, but also manage eating & keeping sleep away. It was chilly night, the winds were strong, but luckily, there were no rains. At 10PM, 11:45 and again at 1AM, I had 3 more BBB and curd rice. 4 dinners, already a Personal Best!

I always felt I had eaten too much after each of these breaks, I had to stave off side stiches each time. From then on, I stayed on a staple diet of Black Coffee!!

My running buddy, NT, had dropped in by midnight. I had moved up to a close 2^nd position by 11PM. In 6hrs, I had done about 55km, bang on target. NT stayed on till my 4^th dinner, urging me to keep rhythm. I hadn’t started walking too much and was taking it 20mins at a time. My scheduled water break was every 20mins, alternating with water and electral. I was also eating on the top of every hour and taking a portaloo break just after the mandatory direction change.

The plan was to go on this schedule for as long during the night as possible. What I didn’t expect was to be at 76k in 8hours. By 3PM, after 10hrs on my feet, I was done 92kms and I was already on top of my world. I knew I was having a good day and how! In my last 12hr stadium runs, I had managed 93k and 102k. I knew I was on track to break these quite comfortably. 100k PB in 11h:20m – a new Personal Best (PB). I took a 15min physio break after 10hours to celebrate - Saturday night physio party was full on!

So by 5am, in my first 12hrs, I had done 105km, in second place by a thin margin. A 12h PB!

Training notes:

How does one run all night? You train for it, of course. I had run an all-night training run, running a 5k loop from my home, my security serving as a water + snack stop, and peeping into my house every 3hrs for a meal. I had run long after the Saturday night party embers had died and even the high alert security guards had gone off to sleep. I had then gone about the rest of my day as if nothing had happened (more or less). I drew great confidence from this and many other training runs I had done.

Over the last few months, I had put my family, parents, in-laws, cousins through my idiosyncrasies in prep for these runs – Home2Nandi hill runs, runs at noon, Chennai to Mahabs run, and many across town almost round the clock. Thank you all…

Part III (5AM to 11AM) (the next 6 hours)

As the sun came up, I felt a great surge of tear-eyed gratitude for all that was happening to me. I picked up my phone & earpiece and listened to Vishnusahastranamam briefly. But I didn’t get to the end of it, I felt singing along messed up my breathing. So, I paused it, went back to my bag, picked up a cap in stead and got ready to battle the sun.

I still wasn’t taking long walk breaks and running as much as I could, at the easy pace. I was focusing on 2-2 breathing to keep me relaxed, all along. By 7am, I had done 119km, chugging along with about 15kms in 2hours. By 9am, I was still doing 7 – 8kmph (idly chutney breaks included), still in 2^nd place, 1 lap behind Amit, who was by then fading away.

When the announcement was made at 9AM, there was a new race leader after 16hours and 135kms (329 laps, mind you).

By 10AM, NT came back to the track and when I went pass, casually enquired about my distance. I could see the disbelief in him when I shouted that I was 141k strong! I was more in shock at these numbers than anyone else.

After 18hours, I was still in lead, with a lead of 8 laps over Pranaya at 2^nd and another 7-8 laps over a very strong looking Rajesh at 3^rd. I had settled down in a run 2.5 laps + walk 0.5 lap rhythm.

Training notes:

I don’t think you can train for these. The only teacher is the drudgery of the mundane tasks in life. Corollary to Bowerman’s quote “if you can find meaning in this kind of running, chances are, you will be able to find meaning in another absurd pass-time: life”. Go do your chores, the endless pile of laundry, the infinite toys to clean-up, the un-ending tasks at work, day after day, do it - it will come handy one day!

Part IV (11AM to 4PM)

Ok, back to the stadium now – remember, your protagonist is still chipping lap after lap. By now, the sun is coming out of the shadows. My rhythm was now to keep jogging when the sun goes under and walk when it comes out. I was pouring water over my head to keep cool. I was getting loads of support from fellow 24hr runners, 36h champs. NT and Sunil were also constantly egging me on. Still keeping close to 7.5kmph, I had finished 162k in 20hrs, (my first 100miler), 175k in 22hrs at 3PM. I was still keeping the same slender lead over competition. Ok, now let’s cut to the chase, literally.

The last hour!

Shreya, my parents & kids came in by 4, the announcement was made - I was still in lead, 182km done and 8 laps lead. The bare-chested warriors - Pranaya and Rajesh were hunting me down, while I was almost celebrating my first position. In 15mins, Pranaya had lapped me twice and was running strong. NT came alongside and warned me, “if you don’t start running again, you will lose your place”. 45mins to go, 6 laps or so ahead, I went in for a last portaloo break. 

As I stood there, I felt fatigue waves rise from my feet up.

I remembered the golden words Santhosh has told me a few hours before “Forget the podium, it’s not in your hands. But if you have the potential, you have to give it your best”.

I stepped on to the track again and began picking up pace. For the next 40mins or so, I was on a mission. I picked out Pranaya and ran on his tail for a few laps. Then when I was “found”, I overtook him, upped the pace and kept going for 2 -3 more laps to shake him off. Offense was indeed the best defense, I wasn’t going to give away 23hrs of hard work to 1hr of complacency.

Graph showing the last 30km, the deep dips are the breaks, notice the no break last few mins. Garmin graph courtesy - Bobby 

As I increased the pace, I could feel the positive energy from all around me, cheering me as I ran by. I ran the last lap like a man possessed, pushing my chest out, sprinting to the limit of my capacity. In my mental image, I was Prefontane (that I may have looked like a scarecrow on a windy day, is another thing). I had covered 5k in the last 30mins, finishing the last lap at close to 4:20 pace, that’s close to 14kmph!

In all, I had covered 463 laps, 189.83km and was first at the 24h Bengaluru Stadium Run.

The morning after

I was treated like an elite at the finish line – personalized care, stretches, ice packs, near & dear ones showing loads of concern (if I could stand in one piece), etc. I picked up my trophy and made my way out quickly.

The next morning, I had a pain in the butt, literally and it wouldn't go away. However, I was able to limp walk and do the usual home-school-home-school-home-school-home routine on a bike the next day. By day 3, I was 80% alright.

A week on, I like the pain that comes back once-in-a-while, it reminds me of the Day l lived a Dream.

Of park runs and a Parkrun

A business trip, one which felt like someone decided to sponsor a 5000mi trip for me to get some 50mi on my feet. London was lovely at its peak summer (the Brits of course were complaining of too much heat, and melting roads and what not).

A short run on day1, recce of the Primrose Hill & the Regent’s Canal. The next day was all around Regent’s park, then a slice of the Hyde Park another day. The astounding sights of the Buckingham & Kensington Palace, the arches basked in the early morning twilight, with a hint of chill in the air.

I managed a couple of runs over 2hours, went half full-monty on my last long run around Hyde Park & Kensington Park, losing my way around and playing detective around Baker’s street. It is elementary, Dr. Watson!

It all came together at the Parkrun. My old pal & cycling inspiration, DLam, had me signed up for a local Parkrun at Hallow over the hill. At 9AM, with as best as the English weather can get, I set off chasing the lead runners, 3 loops around the park. This visitor, all the way from India, made it in 20mins (19:29) with some 4 runners ahead of me. I loved the chance to do another chatty lap with DLam. 4 laps, make that 400 for the next weekend!

The Parkrun is an interesting format, with a goal based, timed, volunteer driven, free event. Gives you a chance to test against yourself and an age-graded relative score.

Thank yous due to collective corporate incompetence for sponsoring the trip; to Mrs. A DLam for the beet-halwa and Tair-sadam; to DLam for the “chin-up and little finger stretching” to improve my pace.

I’m kicking myself for having missed a London Hash, but overall happy with some good, happy miles this week. A long one coming up, stay tuned!

Decathlon Pre-race 10k

I have been base building for the last 5-6 weeks, steadily increasing my weekly mileage. The girl with fazed ponytail relentlessly popped in each of my sojourns to my FB wall during the last couple of weeks.

Notice the "Special Prize: Finish 10K in 40 minutes or less and win a Kalenji's Run comfort grip running shoes worth 3999/-"

I succumbed, and despite no speed work since Nov, I clicked on the "Get Tickets" and paid up. I have been reading "How Bad Do You Want It? Mastering the Psychology of Mind Over Muscle" and what better time to try this than now.

I ran some 1k intervals on Wednesday and it went alright. I started out a 10k tempo on Thursday, but gave up quickly. Ok, this will have to be Mind over Muscle on race day.

I'm one of the first ones (even before the staff) at the appointed 5am at Decathlon, Ok.
There is no timing chip in the bib, Ok.
There are some 10-20 pro-elite looking guys, Ok. After all, I am only competing with the clock today.
There is some buzz around "shoes for the 1st guy" or "shoes for every sub-40 guy". I have read the terms correctly. Ok.
Run starts 15mins later than the scheduled 6AM start. Ok.
My laces come off, I lose a minute, struggle to keep pace on the flat course along country roads, U-turn comes in 19:11, still in contention. Ok.
Pace falls to 4:11 or so for the next few kms, push myself to finish in 39:08. Course shorter by 400mts. Ok.
I run some more, pick up my medal & certificate and inquire with the organizers, "when do i pick up my shoes?". "Did you win? No? Shoes are only for the top finisher" NOT Ok. NOT Ok. NOT Ok.

The next 39mins was the true test of endurance. Decathlon had clearly goofed up the instructions that went to their communications team. The FB page didn't mention the fine print - "Note: In case of multiple sub-40 finishers, shoes will be awarded to the top finisher". This after-thought-condition, seemed to be updated only on the Decathlon events page and not on FB.
This Decathlon is in Chikka-jaala, translated in kannada, chikka = mini, Jaala = web / maze, coincidence?
I had to use all the pervasive techniques I have picked up (esp. as a dad), pushy at times, playing dumb at others, throwing my weight while saying i didn't want to throw my weight, etc.
There were some athletes who had come from Haryana on a general compartment train ticket, to run this for the shoes. There were other local aspiring good athletes as well, some 10 of us under 40mins. It helped my case.
Then finally, after the n-th huddle, (by which time the 5 idlys had settled down), the organizers relented and pointed to the shoes in the running aisle. I picked this up, before the others got there.

As, I left there, I overheard in hindi, "Do hazar ka, do le sakte kya?"

The strength saga

The new routine:

4:55AM – I wake up (groggy) to the “Morning Flower” alarm tone. I set this up around mid-night, as I crawl into the other room, so that the alarm doesn’t wake up the kids.

5:25AM – Cycle 2k to the gym

5:35AM – 100 jumping jacks, 30 squats, 30 push ups, 10 pull ups, parallel bars and other looseners for warm up

5:45AM to 6:20AM – 6 exercises for specific muscle groups, 3 sets each (1^st set to fatigue, 2^nd about 8 reps, 3^rd about 4 counts or so).

6:30AM – My Cinderella hour comes to an end. Time to put on the baby-sitting hat, just enough time to squeeze in some bridges, toe-touches and crunches.

My last detox experiment, Panchakarma virechana, left me quite emaciated and reached never before lows on the weighing scale. I gave in to the “oh, you look weak” rants from family and decided to put on some weight. I was done with running for a few months, and decided to hit the gym to gain some muscle.

I scouted around for a local gym. I checked “A Hip Gym” out – the ones that send out flyers with models with ripped abs and other assets; Air-conditioned, biometric access, fancy equipment and costing an arm and my bony leg. My mom suggested a gym that her student (from primary school tuition days) had started. NAK’s gym was perfect – high asbestos roof, with plenty of windows for light and ventilation, enough dumbbells, barbells, a multi-gym, squats & leg press stands, etc. A place where you leave your footwear outside, make a silent prayer as you enter and sweat it out. My kinda place.

Kumar, the instructor, immediately noticed my muscle (or the lack of it), he immediately set me a target of gaining 2kgs per week, with a calorie surplus diet, loaded with as much protein as my eggetarian diet would permit.

I took to it like duck to water, the next 12 weeks, I hardly missed a workout. I followed a 4 day cycle:

Day1 – Chest + Biceps

Day2 – Upper Back / lats + Forearms

Day3 – Shoulders + Triceps

Day4 – Thighs + dead lifts

In six weeks I was up nearly 5% of my body weight, my biceps had put on nearly 1 inch. I was up to 4 eggs/ day, sprouts, spirulina powder, nuts and general binging on reasonably good food (not to mention the protein-farts that came with it).

In the next six weeks, I continued to add protein, 6 eggs a day, and was still on the getting-big trajectory. I pumped 50kgs on the bench press, squatted 40kgs, leg pressed a 100, and dead lifted about 130kgs towards the end of this 12 weeks journey.

	10 Jan		16 Feb		30 Mar
Weight (kgs)	61		64.5		66
Chest (in)	37		37.2		37.9
Waist (in)	28.2		30		31
Biceps (Left-Right) (in)	12.1	12.3	12.9	13.2	13.2	13.5
Forearm (Left-Right) (in)	9.9	10	10.5	10.5	10.8	10.9
Thigh (Left-Right) (in)	17.5	18	20.9	21.2	21	21.5

Muscle memory is an amazing thing, my strength training routines came back to me instantly, wiping out the 13yrs since I had stopped gymming. It was pleasantly surprised to see how the body responded to a completely different load & regimen, the testosterone were at new highs.

(don't miss the insert in the picture from 2005)

While I was on my weight gain mode, my cousin S, attacked the curve from the other side. In 10 weeks, he burnt 10kgs, working out 2hrs a day, starting his workout with repeats of running a flight of 20 steps, up and down, 100 times. Yes, one hundred! He went on a 1400 cal/day diet with no room for junk.

For me, weight training seemed like an excuse to goad up my eating. As I write this, I am ramping up mileage, back to eating from the kitchen scale and letting the running-high take over…

But is strength training really going to help my running – only time will tell, research seems to think otherwise- https://www.outsideonline.com/2270846/how-build-strength-and-endurance-simultaneously

Come back to find out.

Thanks for reading and leaving a comment! Cheers!

Co-orgy at Coorg – Nash Hash Report

Once every two years Nash Hash sees the best of the weirdo hashers from across India and South Asia land at a unsuspecting resort or two.

This year, a resurrected Bangalore Hash House Harriers (BH3), with Pervert Producer and team decided to take on the mismanagement.

Shreya (a.k.a Loan Shark) and I (a.k.a phatphatia) jumped on the chance and quickly registered.

165 hashers registered for the event, including nearly 10 right down to the wire, and a stowaway, who paid his rego at Virajpet!

Day 1 of the event saw most of the 165 hashers boarding tempo travelers from Bangalore. We got on a bus with hashers from Bombay Hash. N1 and N2 remember the bus ride the best.

After copious amounts of Old Monk, we started our leg of the relay run around noon. Our team, the Green Lanterns, did some damage to Hash spirit, by running competitively and winning the relay.

Lunch was organized with Faasos biryani travelling all the way from Bangalore in transport sponsored by Big Basket and served through a live counter at the Periyapatna sports stadium some 240 km from Bangalore! The relay continued after lunch with last team running more than their share of 8.5 km segment thanks to good mismanagement.

The convoy reached Club Mahindra Virajpet and settled into our beautiful spacious rooms nested in a valley. The dinner and party was at the party hall, rising from the lawns and towering over the entire property. Magnificent sight it was. We shook a leg or two, but retired quickly.

The marquee run was on the 27^th and the run site was near the Harangi dam reservoir. I was volunteered as a FRB (Front Running Bast*rd) hare and left early to get familiar with the trail. Loan Shark was the lone shark with Lilliput 1.0 and Lilliput 2.0 for the full 2hr bus ride.

Once they reached there, they were escorted by Half moon, first to the water stop and then to the Coorg Lagoon resort for lunch and circle revelries. The imagery of Hashers littering around the hills and meadows in search of the trail near the waterfront (where chalk / flour could be confused for seagull poop) will be etched in my memory for long. Lilliput remembers little more than the trampoline and hammock.

We got back pretty late for the kids to enjoy the play area or the pool at the resort, but we partied till we could. Loan Shark (again “lone”) reluctantly left the party to tend to the kids, while I phatphatied till Sexobics, our Dj, could play no more, of course with my hair down. The next gen hashers (dude and sexobics daughters) set the floor on fire with their groovy dancing and singing.

28th January saw the recovery run start at 9:00 a.m. with the Lungi Treasure hunt, with hashers looking for tokens that were strewn in the plantation area of the resort. Lone Shark and the kids spent some quality time in the pool while appa was up in the trees looking for treasure. At the circle, LitHerBum was crowned the Lungi Queen and Nash Hash finally wound up at 11 a.m. And the buses trundled homewards with hashers having happy memories of 3 exciting days.

We finally got back home late in the night, just having enough time to pack for our next road trip to Coimbatore…

On On

2017 – the year of reading!

I used to be a voracious reader while in school, and had (to my parents’ amusement & pride) had asked for second hand books as a birthday present during Class VII. Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha, Phantom & Mandrake was my parallel universe. I had loved my Enid Blytons, Hardy Boys, Three investigators and Famous Fives. I graduated to Robin Cook, Authur Hailey, Jeffery Archer, John Grisham & Michael Crichton as I finished my engineering. From then, things went downhill – an odd book here or there, didn’t count much for someone who had mastered the art of reading while walking to the bus stop and back, who read during dinner when the TV was also on, in a crowded bus, etc.

But thanks to D, who religiously puts up a list of his reads for the year on his blog, the reading bug resurfaced. But of course, my life is revolving around kids, and their love to tear up books. But then, phone displays also got bigger this year. 5.5inch length of the phone = width of a page on a book, voila!!

I downloaded an app, FB Reader, got myself ebooks (pdfs & epub formats) from open content online and I was good to go. But, hey, how do you read from a phone, it doesn’t have the same feel as a book, right? But for me, the option of quietly reading up a few pages as I put the kids to sleep or snooze with them, to be able to read from a “night” (dark background with white letters) and dim the display to sleep at night as the kids sleep, and the convenience of having a book (and few) around whenever you have 5 mins to spare, far outweigh the “feel” factor.

The evidence is here – I have finished 18 books this year, maybe more than the last 5 years combined. As you would have guessed, many of them are running related, but I also like behavioral economics and added some fiction as well. To cherry on the cake, is that some of this seems to have rubbed off on my better half. She has overcome a mental barrier and does a lot of reading on her daily commutes now. Between us, we hope to turn a few new leaves, as far as our reading habit is concerned, in 2018.

Please do drop a note in the comments section below, if you have any book recommendations or even otherwise.

While you do that, here’s my list of book from my year of reading:

1.       In search of meaning by Viktor Frankl – I have visited the concentration camps at Auschwitz in Poland. The book says the story in an unforgettable manner and introduces logotherapy – a great read.

2.       When breath becomes air by Paul Kalanithi – I read this book as one of my vivacious aunts was fighting a losing battle with cancer. The later stages of the book made me cry like a baby.

3.       Marathon woman by Katherine Switzer – This book and Zatopek’s book set in the evolutionary stages of marathon running was easy to relate to, given the similar set up in which I took up training, racing, etc. myself.

4.       Anywhere by home by Anu Vaidyanathan – This was one I didn’t like at all. The book had her stubborn attitude on display from start to end.

5.       Living with a Seal by Jesse Itzler – This was recommended by a friend and I actually read the hard copy of this one. It was thoroughly refreshing and helps break a few boundaries we have to exercise. Itzler brings out his out of box approach to exercise in this endeavor.

6.       Jaya by Devdutt Patnaik – I already knew Mahabharat from Amar Chitra Katha, I had read this a few times over in my childhood days. So I didn’t find anything new in Devdutt’s book. I was hoping for some of his interpretation, but barring the first few chapters, the rest fell into routine narration.

7.       Art of Learning by Joshua Waitzkin – Hmm, honestly can’t remember enough of this one.

8.       Racing weight by Matt Fitzgerald – Nothing that I took back into my running from this one, except some broad principles.

9.       What if: Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions by Randall Munroe – I liked the concept, but it was somewhat high transmission for me.

10.   Ready to Run: Unlocking your potential to run naturally by T J Murphy – Good read. It lists some 12 standards. I particularly picked up a few stretches to improve my own flexibility.

11.   Today we die a little by Emil Zatopek – This was a peek into the mind of a truly competitive running legend.

12.   Sapiens: A brief history of humankind by Yuval Noah Harari – I loved reading this (maybe because I took forever to finish this). Right from the foraging sapiens to agricultural & industrial revolution had good nuggets of information and perspectives. I only wish he had dwelled a bit more on the future, about bioengineered humans and amortal cyborgs

13.   Why we Run: A natural history by Heinrich – This is considered a classic, it’s an amalgamation of Heinrich’s expertise in biology and passion for running. I didn’t share the same passion for biology and the book felt a little flat for me.

14.   Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter – It explains why smartphones make dumb kids. As a parent, it reinforced what we already practiced about keeping laptops and smartphones away from toddlers.

15.   A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman – The story unfolds and with it our admiration for the protagonist. Fast paced, refreshing characters, some great story telling, I was actually sad that the book ended when it did.

16.   The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques by Patrick McKeown. The author has a lifetime of experience in breathing and helping children with improving breathing. I tried to use the breath holding techniques in my running, ignoring the stares that I get as I run past inquisitive walkers with my nose closed!

17.   Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler – If this is your first book on behavioral economics you will like it. But I have read a few of this genre, there was nothing new that this book had to offer.

18.   Moonwalking with Einstein  by Joshua Foer – With some serious commitment, the author goes from covering the US memory championship as a journalist, to actually winning it. Although it opens your mind to the powers of how you can train it, as the author self-confesses, it does tell you how you can use these techniques to help remember names (which is my big weakness)

19.   Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens – Yet to complete this, but you can imagine the amount of stories that Big Data can throw up (even in work-related contexts), especially when you combine Facebook and Pornhub. I can already see myself using some of these anecdotes at work.

What did you like in 2017? What do you recommend for me? Share your thoughts in the comments section please.