Tips for running

My first run was the Sunfeast World 10k in Bangalore in 2009. I did not prepare at all for the run, and managed it in a okayish 75 minutes due to my active lifestyle at the time. The next run came many years later, in Delhi in 2014. I attempted the Airtel Half-marathon and completed it in 183 minutes despite training moderately for two months. There were some reasons for the bad performance despite the fact that my lifestyle stopped being that active. First of all, I had been training on concrete and that had slightly injured my right knee. Even during my training I was limping after 20 minutes of running. I learnt that training on earth, on roads, in the gym are okay but on concrete you are  simply making yourself worse. The second reason was not running enough on the day of the marathon. I alternated running and walking with the latter being more in proportion, and in the second half of the 21 kilometres I mostly walked. There was a very obese young guy who I overtook initially in the run. This guy was wobbling along at a slow jog and I sped past him. Towards the end of the race he overtook me in the same pace while I could do no more than walk. Lesson 2: keep running or jogging for as much of the run as possible.
A few days ago I had my third run - the Indirapuram 10k in Ghaziabad. My very inspiring colleague Tanvir was the chief organiser of this run. I applied my lessons this time and got a much better timing of 66 minutes. This was even better than 6 years ago when I used to be in top shape thanks to Kalaripayuttu and cycling.
I also applied another lesson this time. My ADHM photos all showed me walking (!). This time I made it a point to look at the camera and run whenever I spotted one :-D and the results are much better.

Tip for my next run: run more vigorously whenever you see a camera