On Dec 5, 2010, I went to Dallas to run the White Rock Marathon. Actually, I ran the half marathon. It was cold and windy. However, the flat roads helped. It was awesome fun with 22,000 runners and thousands and thousands of spectators on the road. Including two news helicopters. Roger, Mita and Rajiv Roy was there. It was great to see how much Mita has picked up running. Roger was usual strong self.

I had my career best half marathon at 1:54 !! That is around 8:40 per mile for over 13 miles. That got me a rank of 1664 in a field of about 10,000 half marathoners.

We raised money for Scottish Rite Hospital who do not charge for any of their patients. The event was covered by WFAA TV and I got some live coverage as well as two appearances on WFAA-s home page! Hullor, Chico and some of their friends played the band near the 12th mile. Natasha was there with them too!!

On Dec 11, 2010, I ran with Sharmila in the 23rd Jingle Jog 5K race in Atlanta. We finished at 39 min 37 seconds. It was really cold but very festive. Runners had come with great festive dresses and there were a lot of decked up dogs!!!

After the run, my group folks from office got together for a great Starbucks get together!! Had a lot of fun!

On Nov 20, 2010, I ran back to back 5K and 10K in Braselton to raise money for Gwinett Children’s Shelter. Matt Semrad came too. He was blazing fast and came 2nd overall and got the Masters Champion trophy for the 5K. However, he pulled his hamstring in the 10K and had to pull over. Todd joined us for the 10K was very strong. Also ran into Erica from office in the 5K run. She did a strong sub-30.

If you wanted to know more about Gwinett Children’s Shelter, you can go here.

For the 5K race, I did 26:30 which was nowhere near my best but I did conserve enough energy to post a PR for the 10K after that at 53:30. Ironically, I got a 3rd place trophy for my age group!! I was 37th overall in a field of 350 runners. For the 10K, I was 54th or so among 180 runners.

On Nov 6, 2010, I ran in the 4th Annual Special Olympics Forsyth run. It was very cold – 32 degrees, with wind chill 29. And the course had a few hills. None of my friends showed up – including Anastassia who got us into the run in the first place! I finihsed it in 24 minutes 58 seconds. Add the 8 seconds it took me to get to the starting line and I was clocked at 25:06. My thumbs were badly cold in spite of the gloves. The lady had to help me fill up race card at the end of the race!!

Starbucks felt awesome after that 🙂

Update on 11/13/2010: Seems like I came in 57th out of 334 runners. And 10th in my gender/age group.

On Oct 16, 2010, I ran the 2nd Milton Mayor’s 5K challenge. This is in the horse country town that we live in. The money we raised went to help out a kid’s favorite place – the Birmingham Park. I posted one of my career best runs – 23:38. It was a cool (42 degrees) morning and relatively flatter route. Plus there were a lot of my friends who came out to run.

Speedy Gonzalez Matt led the way with a little over 19 minutes. Chris, Eddy and I came close to each other. The great stories were from the three ladies of the group – Melanie who did a first time sub-40, Traci who ran after 6 months ran her PR in the high 30-s and a great run from Anastassia. This is the third consecutive race I have run with her. She shaved off 1 minute in the previous race and 3 more minutes in this one!!

The best part was the Starbucks and the chatting after that!!!

There is one of those life’s little anecdotes that came true today. 5 years back, I used to come to Milton since we had a customer here – Exide Technologies. When I went out for the runs in the morning from the Courtyard on Deerfield Parkway, I loved the rural beauty of Milton – the trees, dirt roads, horses… I remember how I wished I had lived here with the family. As it turns out, 3 years back, I got a job in Atlanta. I had no difficulty in choosing where to live. We looked at houses in Milton only. Today was the same Milton city’s run. Now, look at the backside of the T-shirt. This was (partly) sponsored by the same Exide Technologies!! Seems like life has come one full turn…

P.S. Oct 23: The results are out!! Anastassia and Matt came first their category. Matt was sixth overall. Melanie came third in her group. The rest of us came fourth or fifth in our groups. I was overall 22nd with fourth in my group. The total numbers of runners were a few below 100.