Preface

Six years since I last pinned a 10K bib. Last one was the Club Run 2020. Today was the Hyderabad Slam 10K. Ashish mentioned about the race in May. I’d been missing running, itching to sign up. After moving to a new place; I’ve been running a fair amount inside the society premises.

I was also revisiting some old favorite episodes from Billy Yang, BikeyVenky running podcasts through the week coming up to the race.

Gear

Terractive cuddle tank. Realised the day before the race that I didn’t own a singlet.
5-inch Go Athlos distance shorts. Bought a year ago, never wore them.
Bold Fit gym headband. Already in rotation for badminton, gym, indoor bike rides. Decent Sweat-resistance. Adidas Adizero Evo SL.
Decathlon Run 900 socks. The badminton socks were biting through every run.
Garmin Forerunner 265; pre-loaded with the playlist. Shokz OpenRun

Mileage

April and May, 13 runs, 43.8 km: 4.1, 3.0, 2.8, 3.0, 1.5, 3.3, 2.9, 2.7, 4.0, 2.9, 5.0, 5.0, 3.6. The only reference I had was the giving back duathlon-run leg; on how to pace.

Fifth time lucky: BAR Giving Back 2026

Bib Day

Met Ashish at collection. Akki and Adi joined. Picked up bibs for the rest. Met Amit, GNIT senior. Met Surendra, who’s been an inspiration since 2018. Just that morning I’d been checking through the 5K and 10K PRs across the Hyderabad running community.

Pacing

From the February block where the bike was strong, 5 min/km felt doable.
Plan: sit on the 50-minute bus, see how the last 3 km feel, then lift. Previous 10K PR was 49:57.
A good stretch goal on this build(or lack of it), but that’s where we are.

Fueling Plan

Two Fast&Up caffeinated strawberry-banana gels. 30 mg caffeine, 24 g carbs each, easy on my gut. One just before the gun. One at the 25-minute mark. Third in reserve.

Race Day

Up at 3:30am. Oatmeal, one tab of fast-and-up electrolyte. Activation routine, quick shower. Out at 4:45, picked up Ashish at Sanjeevaiah Park, reached the venue. Warm-up plus a few strides. 1 gel 10 min before the start

The Race

Pro race was supposed to go at 5:30, open category at 5:45. They sent both off together at 5:45. Plan was to sit on the 50-minute bus led by Dattatreya. Had to scan for him in the pack, joined his shoulder around 300m in.

First 3K felt fine. Garmin HR showing high 130s, low 140s. Past Secretariat the uphill flipped a switch. HR jumped over high 180s and stuck there. Plan was a second gel at the 25-minute mark, but I didn’t want to break the rhythm.
Focused on the breathing, kept sipping the sipper. 5 to 8 km was the suffer block, every part of me wanting to slow. Held on, tucked in Dattatreya’s draft. Couple of runners kept cutting across and stepping into my line, which threw me off. The bus held.

Crossed in 49:38. Nineteen seconds under the 49:57

Post Race

Caught up with the folks after the line. Couple of pictures. Skipped the venue breakfast and headed to Panchakattu Dosa in Begumpet to have some ghee-overloaded pongal.