Experience of running 50k Malnad Ultra 2018

This is my second ultra 50k run  after my kodaikanal ultra 2017. Though I've never run a full marathon(42k), ultra is more challenging in the form of uneven terrain, steep elevation change, change of weather, leeches( if you are in such place on a rainy day).

Understanding your body is the key to success. I have been running 10k every day and each day gave me a new perspective about my state of mind, endurance, speed and nutrition.

The cut-off time for Malnad Ultra was 9 hours. That meant finishing the run before 4 P.M once the race starts at 7 a.m.

Before the race a good sleep plays an important role to having a fresh body and mind, and I was able to achieve it unlike my previous Ultra run.

After waking up, we reached the running venue at 4.30 a.m.

Organizers ensured that breakfast was enough and nutritious for each and every runner, thus providing the required fuel to run the first 20 km without much pain and struggle.

Cut-off time to reach the 17th km summit point was 11 a.m., yet I had reached by 9.30 am. It was a steep downhill run for the next 5k and running downhill at a fast pace is a risky move since it will affect the thighs and knees very badly during the later stage of the run. However, I decided to run fast, trusting my muscles to remain strong.

Beyond 30k running became tough. Walking and intermittent running kept me moving ahead. Started feeling hungry for the first time between 30k and 40k. Knowing that my body can't easily digest food while I am running, eating very little and slowly became the key. Munched few biscuits and sipped water to swallow.

My sole and thighs were begging for rest, yet my mind said "pain is temporary accomplishment is permanent". Unlike all previous editions of malnad ultra the sun was strong and hot causing more thirst. There was no water for any runner at one particular Aid Station. Took a piece of lemon that I saw and started squeezing it to quench my thirst while I pushed ahead.

At 41st km food was being served on a beautiful lakeside. I still had 2.15 hours to finish my run. Not knowing the challenge ahead I decided to eat some lemon rice, which also provided some time for me to relax. With the newly gained vigor and energy I continue along the lake side to reach a very steep uphill run. The initial few steps sapped all my energy. Now my body is working on digesting my food as well as providing energy to each and every part of my body. With heart pumping very fast, I started moving at snail pace. It felt like ages before I reached the top.

But there is no relief, since the downhill run has also become painful (probably due to the mistake of running downhill too fast earlier ). Having 1.5 hrs to complete 7 k was the saving grace. The walk also started becoming painful. However to reach before cut-off time, intermittent running was ensured.

At the last 5 km it again became an uphill run/walk and I saw many using sticks from the road side to support their walk. I too tried for some distance and decided to avoid it, as I was already holding a bottle. This time frequency of drinking water/juice/energy drink increased and the there was only 1 hour left to complete the run.

Doubt crept into my mind. Will I make it on time? After this much struggle it will be a shame not to reach the finishing point with only few kilometers remaining.

With just 2k to cover and 30 mins remaining the terrain became flat. This is a runners paradise. Patting my own shoulder, I started running/walking fast to reach the finishing line 15 minutes before the cut off time.

Thanks  to all volunteers, organizers, supporters, fellow runners. It is a life changing experience and I am craving for more already.

C_HANAIMP_13 Certification Experience

I got certified in c_hanaimp_13. This involves preparation from 
books ha300 and ha100.

Following is the breakup of my score

1	optimization of model	100%
2	Management and administration of models	38%
3	Security in SAP HANA	100%
4	Modeling functions	80%
5	Consumption	20%
6	Architecture, deployment and use cases	88%
7	Information views	73%
8	Data provisioning	100%
9	Virtual data model	80%
10	SQL & SQL Script	88%
11	Advanced Data processing	100%

Topic 1: I already work in this area and is easy to relate both 
theoretically and practically.

Topic 2: Modeling in SAP Web IDE for SAP HANA. Basically 
questions were scenario based, hence I scored less despite having 
read a lot.

I am also waiting to see my client changing from hana studio to 
Web IDE for SAP HANA since SAP is heavily recommending it.

Topic 3: Analytic privilege is interesting  with practicals possible
in Hana studio.

Topic 4: I am practically doing most of the things at work except 
Level hierarchy and Parent-child hierarchy. Took me a some time 
to understand those concepts. Finally successful practical execution
 with excel as front end  tool helped.

Topic 5: Need to admit that preparation was not enough and the 
topic was not very interesting since it required learning about each 
and every front end tools and their features. Probably I thought
it is best to focus on topics which I am already comfortable in.

Topic 6: Easy and interesting to read and understand the concepts.

Topic 7: I work a lot in this area but there are lot of scenarios which 
I never face during work. Read a lot and tried at the same time. 
Very interesting

Topic 8: Out of interest, I was able to do some practical exercises
on SLT, Data services, SDA many months ago. But one can still 
score 100% from the book alone.

Topic 9: Was able to get a look and feel from a learning remote 
system. However that remote system did not have an option to 
experiment on SAP HANA Live browser and SAP HANA Live 
extension tool. Was depending on videos to understand the
concept.

Topic 10: I was learning additionally from HA150 to understand
in detail. Very interesting especially since we can play around 
fully in SQL Console

Topic 11: For text search, text analysis and text mining I was able
to watch few youtube videos and practice on HANA studio and it
becomes very interesting once you complete the exercise.

For the remaining topics like Geospatial, Predictive Models and 
Graph, the practical application is huge, hence the new version 
c_hanaimp_14 covers this in more detail in a separate book ha301.
It was easy theory based questions for me from the book

Finally in SAP Learning room for modeling in SAP HANA,
Mark green(Instructor) has created lot of videos with explanations. 
For topics on which I couldn't try any practicals, I was going through 
the videos again and again.

c_hanaimp_14 may be heavily based on SAP Web IDE for SAP HANA,
hence I decided to focus on c_hanaimp_13 for now.