CIM 2015 and quest for BQ continues

Another year, another race and the effort to qualify for Boston marathon continues... Its been 4yrs and 5 races since 2011, since I started chasing BQ for 35-39 AG and now 40-44. when I look back on my sub 3:15 in 2011 it seems it was even more magically, I didn't realize it would be hard to get back to that training and race day again. my magical run of PRs at CIM came to a halt in 2011 (from 3:58 in 2007 to 3:14 in 2011).

Since 2011 I have attempted 5 other marathons and all in 3:20 range, every year something or the other doesn't line up and I fall short of my goal to run sub 3:15.

Year  Race Time
2011: CIM  3:14:47
2012: CIM  3:25 (Thunderstorm year)
2013: Off
2014: M2B 3:26
          CIM  3:21
2015: CIM  3:22:30

Every race has its own story, this year in Sep I decided to commit to Hanson's training plan. my goal was to run 3:12 in CIM, but in Sep we travelled and when we got back I caught Flu and one of the worst illness bouts, combined with pneumonia I had a rough time recovering.

Sep 27th I had signed up myself, dad and family for Trailblazer 10k to check my training and conditioning, but I was still sick and at that time I could barely walk and finish 5k. my dad finished his first 10k and my mom her first 5k, that was a memorable one.

Following my recovery I had about 8 weeks of training, I was optimistic to slough and get back in sub 3:15 shape, but every now and then I would slip off my routine and eat junk and couldn't stay off beer/wine either and I ended up 10 lbs heavier than I needed to be for CIM. I just didn't have the resolve this year.

November last week was time for Turkey Trot 10k and that was a good gauge for what to expect at CIM and my time of 43:10 was a good indication(this was after a 14miler the previous day), I thought I was more in line with running 3:20.  Sat afternoon I started off to CIM with my folks, R and A stayed back home. had lovely time before race was feeling very relaxed. Goutham couldn't join due to his injuries.

Race morning was typical cold day with showers here and there but nothing like 2012, I was planning to stay with Jon Olsen (3:25 pacer) for most of the race and run negative splits for 2nd half. Race started off very well, it took a while to settle into a rythm with 3:25 group, there was a big gang of runners. pace seemed just fine , chatted with Jon on and off, we had a  big group of BQ seekers, we hit the HM in 1:141:45 and 2 pacers splits, Jon was planning to help us with 3:22:30 and other pacer Charles W would lead sub 3:25.

CIM Finish 20155(Sacramento City Hall)

With Jon Olsen, sub 12hr 100M runner.

Post 16 miles course gets much easier, its the moment to to hang in there, focus and hit the splits, I was feeling strong and stuck with pace group. after mile 22 I was lagging behind a tad bit but pacer was in sight, and as we entered L street about 20 blocks to run and it seems quite possible to stay under 3:23.. I was hoping to see my folks at junctions if L and 10th but they changed plans and met me at finish. I hung on to pace for last .2 and finished strong for 3:22:30, this was my 2nd best day racing, given all the things that has gone this year, I was contended with this time and performance for the season. #7th CIM in the books. This is such a fantastic race organization, would like to run atleast 10 times in the near future.

After some post race goodies, headed for good lunch with my parents. Going by my lack of resolve this year I was not planning to run CIM 2016, but after a great race I have already signed up and will commit myself to loose some weight and train hard again.

Thanks Satpal, who collected my race packet and let me skip the expo this year, he did great leading the 4:55 pace group. many Asha runners did very well as well, Coach Raman (4:19), Reshu, Ekta etc got strong finishes. Thanks to R for her support.

Updates on SBER 100

Managed to finish this challenging course in 34:23hrs. I am thankful to Rashmi, Ahana and Zoey for all support. Duke Hong was great helping us out for entire 2 days. I liked the format of the race it started Friday 6pm and we had about 36hrs to finish. I ended up taking about 30mins in nap time over 4-5 different points on the course, mainly in the last 12hrs of the race.

I ran most of the race around Chihping, who was back with 2nd 100 for the year following San Diego 100. As usual he is extremely tough cookie.

I am thankful to my Pacer Gil Perez for his support and patience during last few miles.

more soon...

Updates for 2015 so far..

At the beginning of this year I had the usual race plans consisting of races in PAUSATF ultra circuit and with overall goal of running 2K miles this year. But as days progressed it got very busy, I was so busy in Jan/Feb due to all the piled up work and some pressing deliverables I couldnt focus on getting out to run.

Infact my longest run in 1st 2 months was 10mile run. Aprt from that ICC  CWC 2015 started mid of Feb and due to night time matches most of my weekends got consumed watching some critical matches, overall I started march witha  weak base and barelu got 1 2hr run and 1 4hr run as  preparation for AR 50M in April.

Apart from that my brother had big life event and that took a toll on the whole family it was a hard few months, and it still is, but we are trying to move on. Ajith joined me for his 1st Ultra and a 50M at Folsom. Event was as usual awesomely organized by Julie Fingar and team. Our plan was to run conservatively until mile 30 and get to shuffle mde from there. But we eneded up running lot more than planned and that took a Toll on Ajith by mile 30 he was pretty tired, but still kep his spirits up and just hung in their to finish in about 12:30, amazing accomplishment with all the things going on.

I thought that was a good training run for Quicksilver 100k, which this year seemed much more daunting, but training surely wasn't enough. I did pretty good until mile 42, and then wasn't sure what hit me my legs they were dead and energy sapped, I wasn't eating well too, took a lot of effort to cover 20miles in 6hrs, I was little disappointed to miss WS qualifier but glad to hung in there and finish in 16:22 along with last few runners.

Next year I promise myself to train harder and get sub 14hr finish there. many of my friends did very well Satpal, Duke, Jim, Dwight and Charles all finished well under 16hrs. Great running parts with them.


This was Rajeev Patel's 2nd year as RD(along with John Brooks). QRC team does put up a excellent race and I am fortunate to leave so close to race and try and get as many times as possible. This was my 7th Quicksilver finish in past 10years. (3 50k, 2 50m, 2 100k).

This finish also gets me enough points for UTMB 2016, I did 2 Quiksilver 100k and 1 Headlands 100M in past 1 yr good for 9 points required for UTMB. I am working on making some Europe trip plan around the race around Aug 2016.

What next for 2015:
Bighorn 100M was main event for this year but due to lack of training decided to drop that and focus on something local, I decided to do Santa Barbara 100M, looks like a monster course with 2 night runs for most of back of pack runners. Surely its going to take lot of effort from me. I have some good 3 weeks of training planned, hopefully I can start race in good shape.