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I ran for Chocolate!!

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Jhanvi and I successfully finished the 2009 Hot Chocolate 15K, held on the lake shore of Chicago last weekend. Not a surprise that Jhanvi beat me by 1 second . Her finish time was 1:46:27 and mine was 1:46:28. It was a chilly day, but after a couple of miles we fell into the rhythm and enjoyed the race. The only disappointing portion of the race was the watery hot chocolate that was provided at the end of the race. I am not sure if it was a case of the organizers underestimating the crowd or if they were being cheap, the hot chocolate (which was supposed to be the attraction of the race) was pretty watery.

Yes.. people do run ~9 miles to get a cup of hot chocolate .

Posted in Running, Sports | 2 Comments »

Last half marathon of 2009

Monday, October 26th, 2009

I ran the last (at least for now) half marathon of 2009 this weekend along with Jahnavi and Sri. We ran the Northface Endurance Challenge Half Marathon. The Northface Endurance Challenges are a collection of races which take place in the wilderness across the US throughout the year. The race in Wisconsin, held each October, is the easiest out of them. I ran this race last year and wanted to make this of my annual races.

My official time for the race was 3:01:09 (~31 minutes slower than my time from last year). So this makes it my slowest half marathon ever. How do I continue to keep breaking these slow records? Well, by not practicing .

While the run itself was painful (reminder for self.. never ever run a half marathon in the woods without practicing!!), it was fun to have Jahnavi accompany me on her first half marathon. She was a real trooper and kept me company throughout the race. I also took some videos of the race (that again tells you how poorly I prepared for the race ). Here is a snippet from my last mile, I was delusional by this point

The obligatory pre and post race pictures

Pre Race

Post Race

Posted in 2009 : Half Marathons, Fun, Running, Sports | No Comments »

I guess I am a superman :)

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

I successfully completed the Chicago Half Marathon held on 9/13 in 2 hours and 44 minutes. I know that is nothing to brag about (in fact my worst time so far for a half marathon).. but considering that I didn’t train for it at all and had a couple shots of tequila and some beer the night before, I think I did OK. But boy was I hurting at the end.

I ran the race with my friend Sri and his friend Rama Krishna. Obviously, I was the late finisher in the team.

Here is our pre-race picture

p.s : Please don’t take this as advice to start drinking before embarking on a long run .

Posted in 2009 : Half Marathons, Running, Sports | No Comments »

First race of 2009..

Monday, March 30th, 2009

It was cold (35 F), Windy (30 mph) and snowing (3 inches) for the Shamrock Shuffle 8K race yesterday…. But I was determined not to miss yet another race this year. Thx to Sri for pushing me during the race, I finished it in 51:28 minutes. Thats an average of 10:22/mile.

[Photo Credit : Kieffer]

This is how the course looked like. The road was so slushly that my feet were frozen and I couldn’t feel them till the 2nd mile.

[ I have to make fun of Sri's new moustache ]

Posted in Running, Sports | 5 Comments »

Official time for the 2008 North Face Endurance Challenge

Friday, October 31st, 2008

The results are in for the 2008 North Face Endurance Challenge, which I ran last weekend. My official time was

2:28:24.5

Not bad for a first cross country half marathon. At least thats what I am going to think .

Full list of results can be found here http://results.sportstats.ca/res2008/madison21k.htm

Posted in Running, Sports | 1 Comment »

First half marathon of 2008

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

I succesfully completed my first half marathon of 2008 yesterday. And to top it off, it was my first official cross country trail race. Although I signed up for multiple half marathons this year, as part of training for the Chicago Marathon, I was not able to run any of them due to conflicts with work.

Sri and I signed up for the North Face Endurance Challenge on a whim a couple of months ago. Looking back, it sounds crazy . Why would anyone want to run a half marathon, 2 weeks after running a marathon and that too in the woods. But I am so glad we did it and that I got to finish it.

Sri, Hafsa and Joy came along with me to cheer me on during race. We took off at ~6:00 AM in the morning and had breakfast at a small diner along the way. The drive to Kettle Moraine state Forest, where the race was held, was senic. Esp with the fall colors. I never realized that Wisconsin was such a beautiful state. I guess that is what happens, when the only places you visit in a state are the touristy places (Wisconsin Dells).

The weather was perfect for the run (~40 degrees) and I got time before the run to warm up. Joy ran the first 1.7 miles with me to the first aid station. The first mile had a killer hill. We had to elevate ~1000 feet in a matter of 200 meters. We started off strong up the hill, but then got our senses and walked the second half of the hill .

The race had two loops of ~4.9 miles. The first loop was not as hilly as I expected (or maybe I wasn’t as tired ), but was slushy and had a lot of barriers. The second loop was a lot more hilly. I never trained in the trails or hills this year. So this was a new experience. But the beautiful scenery around me kept me distracted and moving forward.

Joy joined me again for the last mile. I switched to “Supreme Hero.. Sweet Heart” for the last half mile on my iPod and sprinted to the final. It was a photo finish ..

Some pictures from the race

Warm up

Take Off

The easy part of the trail

Fall Colors

More pictures can be found here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157608376845295/)

P.S : I came first in the race. i.e. in the desi category .

Posted in Running, Sports | 1 Comment »

I realized that I am not superman!!

Monday, October 13th, 2008

I successfull completed the 2008 Chicago Marathon in 6 hours and 57 seconds. My worst time so far (2004 was 04:46:01 and 2005 was 05:14:41), but boy am I so glad to finish it. It was hot (lower 80s) and humid, two things that I cannot stand. Despite my lack of consistant training, I thought I could finish the marathon in < 5 hours. By the time, I got to the 14th mile, I realized that I wasn’t superman and had to start walking . It was all downhill from there.. my walks got longer and my runs got shorter. By the time, I got to mile 22, I was ready to give up.. but then I remembered why I was running the marathon and picked myself up. Not to mention, my personal cheering squad (my sis, brother-in-law, Sri, Hafsa, Ravi, Deepthi, Achi, Madhavi, Sujana, Byna and Joy) were there to keep me going.

Thanks to everyone that supported my cause and provided moral support. You guys are the BEST!!!

Although I might have come 28472 out of 45000 people that ran the marathon, I was the ONLY guy (as far as I could tell) who ran with the Indian flag .

I have to thank the wonderful folks at Team Asha, for putting together a great program for a worthy cause.

Finally, thanks to the folks at CARA for running a great training program. I was confused througout the program on what my pace group was, I kept jumping from 12 to 11:30 to 11:00 to 12 to 11:30 .. but that was my issue .

This is how a grown man cries in pain after running 26.2 miles!!

Posted in 2008 : Marathon, Running, Sports | 4 Comments »

A couple thousand more reasons to run the marathon

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

I was watching a recent episore of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (sports show on HBO), which had a story about the plight of “debt” children from India. These children (in the cities of Meerut and Jalandhar) are forced into child labor due a debt their family got into. The terms of the debt so bad that the family never gets to pay it off. The children are then forced to work for nickels to stitch footballs. While the poverty of the family plays a role in this situation, an educated parent wouldn’t have allowed this to happen. If these folks had access to programs run by organizations like ASHA, they would have probably have gotten better paying jobs and their children wouldn’t have to be in this situation.

Running a marathon is a hard task, but nothing compared to the plight these children go through. I am proud to be helping eradicate such things from happening in the future. Help me raise money for ASHA, by clicking on this link (http://ashanet.org/chicago/teamashawiki/index.php/Runners/VinayKudithipudi) and donating whatever amount you feel is appropriate.

I have found my inspiration.. have you?

Posted in 2008 : Marathon, Rantings | 1 Comment »

Week 14 & 15 training update

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

The last two weeks had been a bit crazy at work due to the recent hurricane hoopla we exeprienced here in the US. I was barely able to keep up with the mid week and weekend long runs. And I oficially missed the 4th race I registered for this year. I planned to run the Banco Half Marathon, last weekend, but wasn’t able to due to a hectic work schedule. I am so proud of the folks that ran it though. It was pouring all morning and I can only imagine how difficult it would have been to run in soggy shoes and clothes.

The 20 miler this weekend was tough. I started off strong and ran ~13 miles without any issues. Then the heat and humidity started to kick in and I had to literally walk the last 3 miles.

Posted in 2008 : Marathon, Running, Sports | No Comments »

Joys of running and week 13 training

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

You know what one of the biggest joys of running is?? You can eat a full sized steak, some mussels with beer and top it all of with a tripe fudge chocolate with caramel and ice cream… and still not feel guilty about it . That was my dinner last night with my friend Brian and I was able to run 18 miles today without breaking a sweat (alright.. I am exaggerating here ).

Another successful week of training. Was able to do all the mid week runs and the long run. Hopefully, will be able to keep it up till the marathon.