“Sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people.”

I started my running journey in January 2016, after watching the SCMM videos on TV. I at once decided to participate in that very same race for the following year 2017. It’s easier said than done. I found out that for participating in such a race I need to qualify through a local race. So I started to practice in February. Very early into my running journey, I came in touch with Kalyan Dombivli Runners (KDR) through Ameya Patil (Triathlete). This helped create a routine where mostly every alternate Sunday I used to run with KDR in their group run. We were almost a group of 10-20 runners who used to run together and this is how I got connected to the KDR Family. Fast-forwarding to June, good practice and good coaching helped me finished my very first 10km race in KOR India Run, Vileparle in 46:58 minutes. Now that the confidence was tested and established, the preparations started for SCMM 2017. Distances increased and the group runs became more intense, came and went the moments of wary of finishing such a long race, but I enjoyed this journey thoroughly, as there were a lot of experienced runners from KDR (Joison, Hari Iyer, Vishu sir, Tushar, Vivek, Amit) to guide me. I never skipped any of my long runs. On January 2017, I finished my first Half Marathon with timings of 1:46:18. This was ‘THE’ most memorable race as it was my first and a very well executed one too. In January 2018, I again participated in Tata Mumbai Marathon 2018, finishing my second Half Marathon with timings of 1:42:45, my personal best so far.

This hunger in me for getting better and better never satiated after that. I participated in few relay races as well, with Kalyan Dombivli Runners (KDR) where we performed well as a team. Recently I finished my first Ironman 70.3 race in Goa in 6:28 hours.

All this happened only because of the motivation from my KDR family. You will never feel short of motivation from this group. There are many runners in KDR who also do many other activities like Everest base camp, Tour du Mont Blanc, 6-7days long trekking expeditions, Duathlon and Triathlons. Recently many runners also participated in ultra runs, trail runs.

I just wish every athlete would get a group like KDR where they would lift each other’s moral so high as to achieve the most unexpected.