A couch-patato who hated running even while playing basketball is a now a marathon runner. I started running in January 2010 immediately after a High School reunion in which I understood that I was fat and ugly. I have been training under Coach Pani and with the Pacemakers since Feb 2013. Before I came to the Pacemakers, I used to train on my own and never had any fixed schedule. There was nobody to gauge my performance and measure my successes. I did what I thought was right and last year I even got an achilles tendon injury on my left foot. I struggled my way to a finish at the SCMM Full Marathon in January 2013. I realized that I had come to a dead end. That's when I was introduced to Coach Pani by a colleague of mine. I was really intrigued by Coach Pani's systematic & strict training. I try to be regular at the training sessions. As the weeks passed by, my performance and pace improved very well. I got my Personal Best timing at the TCS 10K in May 2013. My confidence sky rocketed after that and was motivated to conquer new heights. I continued to train regularly under Coach Pani and achieved PBs at the Mysore Half Marathon in Sept 2013 and the Coimbatore Half Marathon in Oct 2013. My best moment in my running career came when I attained a PB of 04:36:43 at SCMM 2014. I also have been fit and kept away from injuries after I started training under Coach Pani. Systematic training with proper recovery times helps to run injury free.

As we start a new running season in 2014, I am determined to achieve a PB in every running event that I participate. I would say, any runner in Bangalore who is serious about improving their performance steadily should train under Coach Pani.