Monday, April 8, 2013

Another big one, another glory - Shavi's second 50-miler race

AR50 (American River 50) - the 50-miler race on April 6, 2013, Saturday. It was Shavi's second time running this race. He completed the race in a wonderful time of 8 hours 51 minutes, beating his last year's record of 10 hours 33 minutes. I could not believe it - an improvement of 1 hour 43 minutes from his last year's race, in spite of his real bad back and shoulder ache since the prior day. Blame it on his long sitting hours and late night office meetings until midnight or so the last two days.

The race starts in Sacramento and goes all the way up to Auburn. It was overcast that day which was good for him except for the last 2 hours. He still kept pouring water on himself during the race, to cool himself down. He did not stop for more than a minute at any of the aid stations. I saw him at around mile 26 (Beals point, Folsom) and then at mile 41 (Rattlesnake, Granite Bay). He looked strong at both those points. I wasn't expecting him to be back in under 9 hours at the Finish line and was busy chit-chatting with people. I had almost missed seeing him cross the finish! It was awesome. He was looking strong.


After race also, he was much better this time than last year. He was running around on Sunday, doing all his chores. Guess, his training paid off well and the weather was supportive for him.

He was among the top 125 runners out of around 1100 registered entrants. I am so proud of you, Shavi. Next coming up - 100K (~61 miles) race in May 2013!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Way Too Cool 50K and Way Too Cool Shavi

Not only was the race way too cool, but Shavi's performance in this race on March 9, 2013 was also way too cool. He did this 50km (around 31 miles) race for the 2nd time this year and improved his last year's record by 41 minutes which is considered phenomenal in the running world.

The race: Way Too Cool 50K is run by around 300 runners in a beautiful little town called Cool, CA. The runners are selected through lottery.

How did Shavi improve significantly? The answer to this can be better told by him but I think it can all be attributed to better training and a very healthy diet. This is surely not easy but we did it and he gave me yet another reason to be proud of him!!

Good luck for your next big one, Shavi. AR50 (the 50-miler race) this coming weekend (April 6, 2013)!! Excited!