It all started with Dad wanting some company for the 10K run and checking if I would give him company.

The TCS World 10K run on 19^th May 2013 was my first run/marathon. The max I have ever run was about 7K on the road while in Chennai (morning jog to the beach). I used to give my dad company at Lalbagh Park on Saturday/Sunday mornings for a jog, but I always ended up doing two rounds less than him. Shame on me for my poor stamina.

Three or four days before the run, I decided to check if I still had any hope of completing the 10K and managed to pull 8Kms in about an hour inside Lalbagh. So there was some hope, as I knew I could walk the remaining 2 kms in 20 minutes 😉

 

TCS 10K – 19^th May 2013

My dad took part in this 10K in 2012 and was eligible to start as part of Group B (those who have a timing of >55 minutes and <1 hour 20 minutes). Unfortunately, he did not get Group B (for unknown reasons), which he was eligible for. Anyway, my dad didn’t mind, as I was there for company, and he wanted to run with me. He gave me enough tips based on his previous running experience. The first tip was that the TCS run never starts on time. This was true! I followed most of the tips religiously and got a net time of 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 19 seconds (Bib #8177). My dad was trailing me by a minute.

Thanks to my favorite app, Sports-Tracker. It kept reminding me I had a long way to go before stopping. At the end of the race, I felt the after-effects of not having practiced enough, stretched enough and followed a proper diet before the run. To top it all, the impact of a bad/poor quality Reebok shoe that had no cushions to absorb the strain on my legs while running on the road. My first lesson in terms of how important the shoes you select to run are.

Bangalore Ultra 12.5K – 10^th November 2013

This time, Dad was in my native place, so I did not have his company 🙁 However, he ran the Pondicherry 10K and the Kaveri 10K run post the TCS 10K.

Having never touched 10K after the TCS run and not having practiced at all during the three weeks before the run date, I knew this was difficult. The track was an excellent bamboo trail off Henur Road. The route is here. Soft ground (muddy road) with ups & downs, so no strain on legs – very similar to the farm at my native place. But getting to this place was a nightmare, as I live in South Bangalore. It took me 1.5 hours to reach it, despite having started at 4:15 a.m. My wifey decided to wake up at 4 am and give me company, My Sweet wifey! It was cold on that day, with mist all over the place, as there were no high rises. Just farms!

Bib #1164, completing the 12.5 kms in 1hr 21min 22sec. The weather played a very vital role, and thanks to the great treadmills in my apartment (pun intended) from “Sportrack” for showing the incorrect distance covered. Learning: If you feel the distance you are covering on a treadmill is higher than normal, chances are it is high. Never trust them! It will give you false hope, make you run at the wrong pace, and make you end up with bad timing.

SBI Midnight Marathon – 14^th December 2013

I first learned about midnight marathons while in New York waiting to see the useless Times Square ball drop. This event was a little tempting. My colleague Sunil also registered, so I had a company. Bib #6567 clocked 1hr 00min 44sec. What a way to finish the year!

You can read my review of the Midnight run here.

Some say, “Interest in marathons starts with just completing the run. Then it is all about beating your earlier time.” Very true! And this can be very addictive (in a good way). My next target is under an hour. I am still not confident about doing a half-marathon, but I will keep it on my To-Do list!

TCS 10K – 18^th May 2014

I got into race category C with bib #3827 and my dad was in category D. A few seconds delayed start for my dad, but he completed well before me with an excellent timing of 1hr 1min 15sec while I clocked my worst ever net finish time of 1hr 4min 48sec. Blame it on the lack of practice and the Sports-Tracker app, which just wouldn’t work.

I am used to seeing the distance, time, and pace and taking breaks to catch my breath. The app worked for a few minutes and got stuck. So I started too fast and ended up losing all my energy way early in the course. Another lesson on pacing right.

SBI Midnight Marathon – 20^th December 2014

This one is my second attempt at the midnight marathon. Unlike the previous year, this year AIMS-IAAF certified the course. The organizers also took the feedback comments from runners last year and had sufficient electrolytes and water throughout the course.

Thanks to Praveen (my brother) for leaving the office early, dropping me off at the venue, and picking me up. One interesting fact here is that I landed from Kuala Lumpur in the morning, and the same day evening I did this run (Bib #7206). After a three-month tiring engagement with hardly any time to practice, clocking 1hr 2min 49sec does not make me feel bad.

To top it all, somewhere around the 3.5 km mark, I got a sprain on my right knee, and it was slowing me down. I had two options: either give up or keep running and make it my last run. I chose the latter. Btw, a big thanks goes to my manager for approving my high-priced ticket, so I can land in India on time for this event.

I bought myself a fitness band, VivoSmart, and was testing it during this run. It was pretty accurate, given the fact that it did not have a GPS built-in.

Auroville Half Marathon – 8^th February 2015

My first run in 2015 and my first half-marathon… I drove to Pondicherry with my dad, mom, brother, and my wife (Meena). Ran inside the beautiful Auroville with trees to give me shade and the soft ground to absorb all the damage my knee would otherwise take during the 21-kilometer run. For a change, I gave my dad some tips for the half-marathon, and with that, he got an excellent time of 2hrs 11min.

My Dad had bib #2424, and I had #2423. My timing was nowhere close to his 2hrs 11min as I clocked 2hrs 19min and there were at least 100 people who crossed the finish line in this 8-minute gap. Now coming to what I did not like in this marathon. First, there was no finisher medal to keep as memorabilia. Second, the course was not certified. Third, the electrolyte was so diluted in most of the stations that it tasted awful. Finally, they took the start time of the race (6:15 am) instead of when you crossed the start line and ignored the seconds part to calculate our finish time. An old lady was sitting near the finish line under a tent, with an iPad recording all finishers crossing the line so they could calculate the timing. None of this is acceptable to me.

This is when I became picky about which runs I took part in. Must be a certified route. A medal to hang and brag is a must.

Kaveri Trail 10K – 19^th September 2015

In 2013, my dad ran the 10K alone, and he used to say a lot about this scenic trail. The following year, we both registered but had to give it a pass as my dad was down with a fever.

This year, my dad got a fancy bib #3000, and I got a bib #1303. Trust me! The pictures on the KTM website and the reality were way too far apart. Yes, it is the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, but there were no birds except for a few crows, lots of cows, buffaloes, and men bathing in the small stream flowing around. So that was a bit of a disappointment. On top of that, it was a sunny day, and the 7 a.m. start, adding a bit more sweat, was not a great run experience.

I just got back from London and was running this with absolutely no preparation in the last four months. My time of 1hr 2min 51sec* is acceptable to me. The best part, my dad was not a Finisher. He was the “Winner” in the Men’s Veteran – 10K category! You are my inspiration to run, Dad!!!

Talking about the fiasco! KTM went ahead with a local timing chip provider. The chip quality and/or the technology did not go through a proper vetting process. So several runners did not get their timings recorded, and KTM had to rely on the personal time that was recorded on the runners’ respective fitness devices. Luckily, my dad’s device worked. I started my tracker well before I crossed the start line and stopped it well after crossing the finish line, as I forgot about it. Hence, the actual time should be roughly a minute less than the one shown here. Guess it’s another lesson! To start our (personal) tracker when you step on the start line and end it the moment you step on the finish line.

Anyway! I did pour my heart out to the RFL team on the goof-up, and they gave me a complimentary T-shirt or a registration for 2016 KTM or Bangalore Ultra (any segment). Given the sad trail in Kaveri and my bad experience, I picked the 12.5 km Bangalore Ultra.

Performax Bangalore Ultra 12.5K – 8^th November 2015

My second attempt at this calm and tranquil trail with Bib #12118 clocked a time of 1hr 17min 21sec.

This was my dad’s first 12.5K with Bib #12601. He was a little confused about whether to pace for 10 or 12.5K, but he comfortably maintained a steady pace right from the beginning till the end. He crossed me somewhere around the 7 km mark, and I was trailing him for about a kilometer and then gave up. Now the good news! He set the course record in this track under the Men’s Veteran category with 1hr 16min 13sec.

Though he says this talks about the quality of other runners, it’s the regular practice that kept him going and ended the course strong. Practice is the only thing that can help you get the required stamina. Oh, by the way, he got his money back as a T-shirt and a nice memento. You should have seen the excitement when we got home.

I am sure he will break his record next year, but I need to try harder and find some time to practice regularly. Getting under the 1-hour mark is my target. Let me see if it happens in the midnight marathon.

SBI Midnight Marathon – 5^th December 2015

My third attempt came with a lot of expectations that I would get under the 1-hour mark, but unfortunately, it happens to be the worst ever in terms of timing. I barely hit 1hr 5min 41sec.

I had the wrong food (at KFC) before the marathon and ended up thirsty throughout the course. On top of that, I missed their water station twice, as it was in a poorly lit area and there were too many runners around me to spot it. I also had to rush at the last minute to the venue because of unplanned stops to pick up dinner, and thanks to KFC for taking over 15 minutes to get the order. Finally, thanks to the great Bangalore traffic for making things even worse. The only good thing was that Meena accompanied me, and she was in the stands cheering for me despite the cold weather.

This event had about 11k runners, and seeing so many crazy folks, including old men and women, run at night startled Meena. Ending the year with four marathons. I hope to do the same in 2016, and if all goes well, hit the sub-1-hour mark.

TCS 10K – 15^th May 2016

This was a very special run, as my dad and brother took part. Initially, it was only myself (Bib #4136) and my dad (Bib #4139) who registered for the event. A few days before the registration closed, my brother (Bib #17465) joined us. Just before the special day, my father was down with a cold, a cough, and a bit of fever. I, too, had a bit of a cold and cough, but I was determined to run. On race day, all three wanted to go, as this was the first time we were doing a run together.

As it was my brother’s first run, he was in Group F but clocked an amazing time of 54min 50sec. The following year, he would get Group B, where he could run more peacefully and get better timing.

Given my dad’s age, the cold, and the cough, his timing of 1hr 2min 24sec is superb. After nine runs, I got under the 1-hour mark and clocked my best timing of 59min 36sec. I was on Cloud 9! Thanks to my wifey for cautiously feeding me protein and carb-filled food at the right time, leading up to the race.

Bangalore Ultra 12.5K – 13^th November 2016

This is our second family run – Praveen’s first Ultra, Dad defending his Veteran-Winner record of 2015, and me just enjoying my favorite track. We arrived on time, had no issues parking, did a bit of warm-up, and started our run. Dad (Bib #1401) got a timing of 1hr 18min 26sec (not as good as the previous year), but he still holds the record, and that matters!

Praveen (Bib #1091) did a stunning 1hr 8min, and I did 1hr 20min 2sec with Bib #1176. Lesson learned! The amount of practice and hard work you put in is directly proportional to the output you get. With less than 50 minutes of practice a week, this is what one can expect. I need to get off the laptop and focus on myself too!

Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon – 10^th June 2018

After a gap of one year, I took part in a half-marathon. It just so happened that I did a Google search for marathons in the Seattle area and saw this event coming up the following week. I was so excited and searched for a 10K run on their website. To my surprise, there was a 5K, a half-marathon, and a full marathon only. I was like, 5K will not give me the satisfaction of having run, so let’s give the half-marathon a shot. I remember, clearly, my decision to not do another half-marathon after the Auroville run in Feb ’15. But given that I was practicing 3 to 4 times a week for a good two months, I went for it, despite the high registration cost. Post-booking, I checked if my cousin Monisha was interested in running, and she was all in just because the medal looked awesome! Can you believe that???!!! Yes, the Rock n Roll series has some of the best-looking medals. Karthik was into cycling, so he gave this event a pass. Otherwise, it would have been triple the fun!

With no practice or experience doing a half-marathon before, Monisha (Bib #11447) clocked an awesome time of 3hrs 18min 42 sec. And the best part is, she stopped on the way to click some nice snaps of the Seattle skyline and sunrise! While the only thing running through my mind was pacing, and when would the next mile marker come? I had Bib #11067 and clocked my personal best timing of 2hrs 3min 17sec. That’s an average pace of ~8min 45sec for the first 10 miles and ~54min for the first 10K. Now that feels good! Thanks to the awesome weather! I started to sweat only after the 5 kms mark. So you can imagine what the temperature would have been like. Without it, I am sure dehydration and other things would have kicked in early, spoiling the PR.

Oh! By the way, I should say thanks to my client who let me work remotely. As they were on the East Coast, I did have the evenings for myself to do these practice runs! Without it, it would not have been possible.

Beat the Blerch Seattle 10K – 15^th September 2018

My first 10K on a rainy day – start to finish. No company… but the trail (King County’s Tolt MacDonald Park, Carnation, WA) was simply amazing. With Bib# 3820, running on a near-flat trail using my fingers as a wiper to remove the drops of rain from my specs every other minute, I clocked 57min 09sec.

If you are familiar with the cartoon characters, everyone was there. You will love the atmosphere. People from different countries were here, participating as they were in the area! Oh, by the way, the medal was heavy, unique, and awesome! I loved all the items in the goodie bag, too.

Hot Chocolate 15K Seattle – 3rd March 2019

My first 15K distance and my first run at near zero (32F) temperature with wind chill… To top it off, the elevation was a killer as I did not practice enough.

Bib# 50243 with a timing of 1hr 32min 6sec is my worst. However, the one thing I enjoyed in this run was the warm, hot chocolate drink at the end of the run. Perfect! I will run again for this. The other good thing is that I got the best-ever marathon picture taken while running. Thanks to the photographer!

Learning! I know how important the shoes you select to run are. But I didn’t know enough. Hoka One One – Clifton 5 is not my shoe, for sure. Moving from a 11mm drop to a 5mm drop does impact the running style and post-run recovery. I need to go back to my favorite Brooks.

Shamrock 15K Portland – 17th March 2019

This run will always have a special mention. It took 6 years of persuasion to make my beautiful wife, Meena, say yes to a 5K event. She has come to cheer me on a few of my runs (including the midnight run), but she has never said yes to jogging or walking that’s over a couple of kilometers. One might wonder, What’s the big deal? Let me tell you, she is neither a fitness freak nor someone who has an active interest in sports. However, she enjoys a long, lazy walk with good company. So everyone who knows her well found it difficult to believe she really took part in and completed a 5K run.

The whole process of convincing Meena to participate started sometime in late November. It was more like, try the 4-mile walk; it is a very scenic route, etc., etc. Then slowly, I highlighted the fact that 4 miles (6.4 km) is longer than 5K, and she can do the 5K easily. My consultant hat is at work 😉 Then one fine day in February, I made her say or create an expression that sort of looked like a yes (maybe an absent-minded yes) to register for the run. From this time on, there is no turning back. Booked everything before she could change her mind.

The thought of 17th March gave her jitters and some realizations in terms of what she got herself into. But at the same time, her curiosity to understand why there are so many crazy souls running and experiencing the whole thing once for herself took the best of her. The last couple of weeks before the run, she pushed herself to come to the gym with me and do some practice walks on the treadmill. She gave all she had while on the treadmill, elliptical, and cycle. Earlier, she used to do something for a few minutes and then find a nice spot to sit and relax. This time, I had to pull her out of the gym.

We went to Portland a day before the run to collect our bibs at the Expo. Meena got the orange bib# 13870, and I got the blue bib# 21180. She was all excited and, at the same time, very tense. Three reasons: One, other runners looked fit and/or well-trained; two, the distance; and finally, the weather. After the collection of bibs, we walked around downtown, picked up a running jacket, and got back to the hotel. All along, giving her small tips on what to do and what not to do, as I could feel her tension.

The next day, we woke up at 6 am to a bright, sunny day (35F with a wind chill that felt like 30F). We munched some of the yummy brownies Meena had baked for my birthday, then walked toward the start line, which was roughly 5 blocks from the hotel. All the butterflies running through her mind and stomach made her forget the -1 degree Celsius weather for a while. I gave her a few more tips, like my dad did when I took part in the TCS 10K for the first time in 2013. I got her into a corral I felt was right for her speed, and she crossed the start line around 8 am. Thanks to the location-sharing apps, I could see where she was throughout until the start of my 15K at 8:55 am. She got an awesome time of 56min 46sec.

Coming to how I did! I made the mistake of standing in the wrong corral and running with a higher pace (4.35/km) than usual for the first mile, on a stretch that had some elevation to give me a timing of 1hr 34min 44sec (Pace: 10.09/mile). The irony here is that I gave all this as a tip to Meena and I ended up not following any of them. By the way, this is my second run on Clifton 5, and in both runs, I clocked a pace of 10.x/mile. Brooks with a heel-to-toe drop of 11mm gave me 9.x/mile on both the 10K and a half-marathon last year. I’m not going to use this shoe again.

Guess what my current task/target is… Convincing Meena to take part in another 5K and beat her current time of 56min. 😀

Iron Horse Half Marathon, Seattle – 25th August 2019

My second USATF-certified half-marathon with Bib# 1088. It is supposed to be a downhill marathon with an elevation loss of 880′. A beautiful, scenic course where several runners set their PRs. The weather was fine at the start of the run at 8 am (wave 4). For some reason, the terrain looked pretty flat, and I clocked a time of 2hrs 14min 29sec (Pace: 10:16/mile). I was literally dragging myself and walking every couple of hundred meters.

One learning is that practicing on a treadmill is not the same as running on gravel or a road – I could feel the difference in foot strike. At the 10-mile mark, my legs gave up. Compared to my previous marathon (Rock n’ Roll), my VO2 max had taken a hit too. Blame it on the lack of proper practice before the run (a slight fever to make things worse). If I ever run another (half) marathon, I will make sure I do a fair amount of practice on the road, as treadmills give a false hope for long-distance runs.

BMW Dallas Marathon Festival – 10K, Dallas, TX – 10th December 2022

After a gap of 3 years, doing my first official run. Thanks to Covid followed by my relocation to Texas, a new addition to the family, and a change of company. I know this does not justify a 3-year gap. I started the year with a 10K on the treadmill, hoping I would get back to form and do a run this year. With God’s grace, it happened before the year ended.

I heard about this BMW-sponsored Dallas marathon on the radio and decided to register the same day. With Bib #43502, I clocked an official time of 1hr 7min 7 sec. Good crowd, and nice weather; I loved every moment of the run. Happy New Year ’23 in advance!

Hot Chocolate Run – 10K, Dallas, TX – 11th February 2023

After seeing my timing in the BMW Dallas 10K run, I wanted to do some practice and get the timing under the 1-hour mark. A fair amount of 5K runs in January paid off. I couldn’t do much in February because of the cold front that hit for almost three weeks straight. With Bib #30514, I clocked 56min 52sec (i.e., 9:10min/mile). The temperature was 2°C, with the wind chill reducing that to -2°C. I was one of the handful of folks wearing shorts, no windbreaker, and no gloves. I regretted not having a windbreaker at this temperature.

The temperature plays a major role in the performance during the run. I could run without sweating till I crossed the 5K mark. I didn’t need to stop for water at the first station. Saving a few seconds!

During the practice runs I was doing in January, I realized one major thing. I.e., I was feeling the ground during my runs. Then I found I had already clocked 700 kms on my Mizuno, which was resulting in a lack of responsiveness during runs. Given that I was too close to the run, I had to find a shoe that did not require a break-in period. After some quick research, I narrowed down on the Asics Novablast 3.

I did a quick 5K before the run to check if it was the right shoe for my running style, and it was. Not too squishy, the right amount of drop (8mm), very responsive and the foam does not harden much when the temperature drops to 0C (32F). During the practice run, it shaved off 21 sec/min. So I knew I had picked up the right shoe.

Irving Marathon – 10K, Dallas, TX – 1st April 2023

Another run, awesome weather (around 12C), superb crowd, and a beautiful place to run (Las Colinas, Irving, TX). With Bib #3208, I clocked 57min 02sec. Yes, 10 seconds more than my previous run as I miscalculated the walk to the water station and lost a few seconds there. But no regrets as I got under the 1hr mark. Also, because of the bad weather, I could not practice much (at least) ten days before the run. So that also had its impact on the run quality.

Planning for the Irving Frost marathon in December. This route with a run along the riverside reminded me of the San Antonio trip with my sister-in-law. Will do another run on this route anytime.

Spirit of Wipro Run – 5K, Dallas, TX – 9th October 2023

This was a poorly planned event for the Dallas location. The objective of this run was to do some branding. For some reason, this run ended up at a park that is far away from the city, and at 10 am when the sun was shining bright. Even the dog walkers were not present at that time. It was more of a Wipro family event and the route was just about 3 Kms instead of 5 Kms. A total waste of half a day, traveling to this godforsaken place. So net-net, I am not even calling this a run.

Hot Chocolate Run – 5K, Dallas, TX – 10th February 2024

This is my first 5K run and the 3rd hot chocolate run – need to listen to your body when you age. Also, I had the company of a friend (Geetha) for this run. This was her first 5K, and I had the pleasure of passing all the tips I had got and learned over a period. A usual boring trip to the venue and back, all alone, had an awesome company. I hope I can coerce Natraj also to join the next 5K run, so I will get a bigger company next time.

With Bib #157, I clocked 28min 57sec. The three seconds short of 29 minutes look good. Though my target was 27 minutes, I had no regrets as it was a rainy day with puddles to jump over and the use of fingers as wipers to remove mist from the specs (and then wondering how to remove the fingerprints as I cannot see clearly). Just before the run, I reduced my expectation to under 35 minutes, given the weather. Also, I realized what I was wearing was not a rain jacket mid-way through the run. Yes, I got soaked.

Geetha with Bib #3710 had good timing (50min 49sec) for a first-timer in rainy weather.

BMW Dallas Marathon – 8K, Dallas, TX – 14th December 2024

Well… One thing I hate and love about this event is, you need to go to Kay Bailey Hutchinson to get the Bib. No other option. The good part is, you get to collect a lot of goodies from the sponsors. This time we got a lovely glass water bottle. Worth every penny going all the way there. Also, this was my first 8K event. Now, I have done 5K, 8K, 10K, 12.5K, 15K and 21K (half marathon).

The event was fully sold out and we had over 1350 timed runners for the 8K event and over 2500 for the 5K event on Saturday. During the run, while running along Commerce street, we could see the long line of runners. It was a beautiful look. Weather did not play a spoil sport. Right from the time I left home, there was fog/mist all over. Beautiful drive to the venue parking. On reaching the venue, I could see the mist cover the Dallas Downtown buildings and it was a nice view. It was actually warmer than expected at around mid 60s (~18C) half way into the run. I was unfortunately planning for colder weather and had some thick clothes on. This made my body uncomfortably hot at around the 7kms mark degrading my performance.

I had Bib #81039 and clocked 50min 8 sec. Definitely not my best as my target was 45min. Of all the days, I cleared my stomach twice before leaving home, skipped the cheesecake I normally stuff myself with for carbs, and had very little rice, too. I felt very nice while leaving home, and that should have been the signal to eat a little more, but I missed it. At about 4Kms into the run, I could feel the empty stomach. Absolutely no energy to run any further. I had a single small sachet of gel for quick energy release, and that was consumed at the 4kms mark. I just dragged myself with a walk-run strategy and completed the race. But this was a good training run for my next run the following week.

Even at the finish line, there was a lot of stuff to collect as we had a lot of sponsors. Loved the quality of the t-shirt they gave too (compared to 2023).

Irving Frost Marathon – 10K, Dallas, TX – 21st December 2024

Let me start with the weather. I arrived at 7 a.m. for the 7:45 a.m. start (for the 10K runners), and the temperature was 32°F with winds making the “Feels like” temperature 29°F. While walking from the parking lot to the event, I noticed folks wearing gloves, beanies, and full track pants/joggers. I could feel myself shivering, and realizing that my thin dri-fit t-shirt, a hoodie (from the hot chocolate run), and my regular shorts were the wrong attire to wear. A few minutes into my warm-up, I noticed men and women wearing thinner tees and shorts like it was summer – I was half-blown away. Did these folks grab a shot of tequila or something?

Coming to the race, I had Bib #10011 (Coral B). I had a very strong start thanks to Meena. She made my favorite tomato gravy to have with rice that morning. The crowd was smaller than expected at less than 400 runners for the 10K. Maybe it was due to the weather. Two minutes into the race, I saw a runner who was running barefoot. I was blown away completely. This runner finished the race just a few minutes after I did.

I skipped the first water station as it was around the 2.7km mark and the weather was “good”. Along the course, I saw a very small Asian kid who had a much better pace than me. I was a little jealous but, hey, hats off to the kid! I finished the race in 58min 12sec. I’m very happy with my time because I was under the 1hr mark. Unlike the BMW marathon the previous week, there weren’t many sponsors, so a little disappointed. Got out of the place early. The one thing that got me attracted to this event was the medal. Beautiful looking one!

Ending 2024 on a great note with 3 runs. Hope to do 3+ in 2025.

Time Travel 10K, Dallas, TX – 18th January 2025

I wanted to start the year with something interesting, so I picked this run as it had a 3D-printed medal with cowboy-style boots. The swag was worth it. The interesting part of this race was the weather – an arctic blast. On the race day, the temperature was 32°F and it was windy. I hate the wind! I had to stand in line to pick up my bib, and the few minutes of waiting were a nightmare. I went back to the car to warm up, wearing a beanie (from the Irving Frost marathon) and gloves for the first time during a run.

The run started while I was using the restroom as there was a long line for the port-a-loos – only six for all participants. However, no complaints, as this is a small event. I started the run with several jaywalkers blocking the narrow walking trail at Anderson Bonner Park. I managed to quickly pass most of them and had a clear trail for the rest of the run. This is not one of those expensive races, so the first water station was at the 2.5K turnaround, and the second station at the 5K turnaround with Gatorade. Given the weather, one did not need the water except for a sip or two.

With Bib #5827, I clocked 57 minutes 36 seconds. A good time to start the year! Additionally, I got second place in my age category (40-44). This reminded me of the Kaveri Trail Run where my dad used to achieve podium finishes. Unfortunately, as it was cold, I didn’t even check my official time and headed back home. So, I have no idea what the award for winners in the specific age category is. Will do this run again next year.

Too cold to hold – 10K, Dallas, TX – 1st February 2025

Had to change this to a virtual run at the last minute due to work travels. But did my 10K on the treadmill and clocked 55min 4sec. Definitely cannot brag about this timing as it’s on the treadmill. Loved the swag! Will shoot for the, “Too hot to handle” event in May this year to make up for missing this event.

The Cowtown – 10K, Fortworth, TX – 22nd February 2025

The Cowtown Marathon happens to be the largest multi-event road race in North Texas, has a $10.4 million annual economic impact in Fort Worth, Texas. They host one of the largest youth races in the nation. This was their 47th year. Proceeds from The Cowtown go directly to the C.A.L.F. Program.

The Cowtown C.A.L.F. Program was created in 2009 to help tens of thousands of area children lace up and cross countless finish lines. They visit ~400 schools across North Texas annually, training students in proper running technique and educating them about resting heart rates, the importance of hydration, proper nutrition, and living an active lifestyle. They have made running a 5K race a reality for 60,000+ children in the last 15 years.

To be honest, I initially regretted booking this race as the race starts at 7am for 10K and the venue Will Rogers Memorial Center is 60 miles from my place. To make it worse, the artic winds made the temperature drop to 30F. Believe it or not, I have a PR on this race. With Bib # 16859, I clocked 56min 21sec. This is proof that when you practice before the race, you get a good timing. Loved the course and the swag! The first medal with a moving part in it. Will run next year too.

Spirit of Wipro Run – 5K, Dallas, TX – 21st September 2025

This wasn’t a competitive race so, no medals! The main goal was to introduce Ashvik to running. The planned distance was 1K, but my Garmin showed we actually covered 1.5K.

Since it was his very first race, I ran alongside him (a little off to the side) but close enough to offer support, but far enough to let him do it on his own. The run started pretty late at 9 a.m. CT, and with September still feeling like summer, Ashvik needed a few sips of water on his way back to the finish line.

I was pleasantly surprised he completed the full distance in around 15 minutes! He used a walk–run–walk–run rhythm, keeping the walking to a very minimum so he could finish strong. The only disappointment for him? No medal at the finish line! Even I was very disappointed as Wipro made us design medals and stuff.

After his run, he got to enjoy his favorite bounce house, while I did my “5K” (which was closer to 3.xK in and finished in 20min 22sec. The best part? We all got to wear the same event T-shirt (mom-dad and Ashvik), which made it feel like a real family day out.

Hay Day Hustle – Fun Run, Dallas, TX – 11th October 2025

The Hay Day Hustle 5K is a festive, fall-themed race and 1-mile fun run held at the UNT Dallas campus, along the scenic and flat Runyon Creek Trail in Dallas, Texas. The main reason I chose this event was to get Ashvik the medal he missed in his previous race, the Wipro Run.

The weather was perfect, the crowd was wonderful, and there were plenty of kids around Ashvik’s age. Best of all, the run took place entirely within the UNT campus, with officers and volunteers stationed along the route to ensure everyone’s safety. That gave me the confidence to let Ashvik run on his own this time; after cheering him through the first 100 meters, I watched from the sidelines.

He completed the mile in under 15 minutes — an incredible achievement for a 5-year-old with no formal training!

I couldn’t run the 5K myself since there wasn’t anyone to watch Ashvik, so instead we spent some time at the kids’ bounce house near the start line. He jumped and played happily, showing no signs of fatigue from his run.

The highlight of the day? Seeing his excitement when he received his medal. I just cannot express how excited he was to get his medal and proudly hang it beside mine on our medal hangar at home.

Spartan Sprint 5K – Granbury, TX – 18th October 2025

My first Obstacle Course Race (OCR) was a wild ride! The event was held about 100 miles from home at the beautiful Twin Canyons Ranch Resort in Granbury, TX. The location was absolutely perfect for this kind of grueling race.

My start time was a blistering 12:15 PM slot, right under the blazing sun. To be completely honest, this was one of the most unprepared races I’ve ever done. My “prep” consisted of a few practice burpees and watching some videos to mentally brace myself, that’s it!

I arrived an hour and a half early, checked in to get my headband (14555) and timing chip (Bib #9010410), and headed to the start line. The first shocker hit immediately: to even get to the starting corral, we had to jump a six-foot wall! The initial four obstacles of the twenty on the course felt like a piece of cake. I was feeling strong, cruising through them, and even thought, “I should have signed up for the 10K!” That’s when the race decided to get serious.

The next set of obstacles truly tested me. The bucket carry and the sandbag carry were both on a serious incline, and having to slow down to navigate around struggling fellow Spartans definitely took a toll. When I got to the Atlas carry, I knew I couldn’t lift the stone and was ready for the penalty burpees. But a fellow Spartan stepped in with a brilliant tip: instead of picking the stone, ask a fellow spartan to hand it to me when they are done. This worked! On my way back, there was another spartan who required the same help, so instead of dropping the stone after my turn, I passed it to the next person in line to take it directly from me. That simple act made it easier on my back and let me pay the favor forward by happily handing the stone off to the next racer. That camaraderie was the best part!

The spear throw was a flop, which meant a penalty of 30 burpees right there! I also had to take a penalty loop for the Hercules Hoist; that heavy bag felt like it weighed more than I do.

One of my biggest fears going into the race was having to plunge into dirty, cold water, but thankfully, the 5K course didn’t have a water-dip obstacle! The course itself was a bit slushy from the rain the day before, but I have zero complaints about the conditions.

I crossed the finish line with an official time of 1 hour 38 minutes 36 seconds. I know I could have done a lot better, but for an utterly unprepared first attempt, I’m proud!

Next year, you can bet I’ll be going in with a much better plan of attack and better prepared for every single obstacle.

Abstract

Financial services industry and the public services industry is currently faced with increasing regulatory norms, cuts in IT budget and a need for a strong IT foundation to stay ahead of competition. Though the CIOs seem to be pushing for IT transformation projects, Gartner Survey indicates that “For 2013, CIO IT budgets are projected to be slightly down, with a weighted global average decline of 0.5 percent”.

As a seasoned consultant you might be able to see the true potential of your client. But for various reasons like budget constraints, other IT priorities, etc. your request to implement certain key projects might not see the light of day. Find out what you can do to achieve a win-win situation in this article.

The D2RC model

In this model, the consultant is required to get two things. One, secure a “Go-Ahead” from the client to the start the project by explaining the big picture. Two, get the required approvals to reinvest the savings obtained in the first three months (post due-diligence phase) on key projects identified by the consultant. The four stages of the D2RC (Due-diligence – Deliver – Reinvest – Charge) model is detailed below:

Due-Diligence – This phase charts out a clearly defined and agreed upon benefits with up-front process to measure the resultant value. The consultant based on his knowledge of the client picks the least-effort-maximum-impact project that could bring about substantial savings to kick-start the “Deliver” phase. The consultant also identifies potential projects for implementation along with a roadmap. This is typically a consulting phase.

Deliver – In a short duration of say two to three months, the identified project must be executed and the savings required for reinvestment secured. If the consultant is going to take longer than three months, its better the project is reconsidered or not attempted unless there is a strong rationale behind it.

Re-invest – The estimated savings over a one-year period from the “Deliver” phase would fund the potential projects identified in the “due-diligence” phase. Projects will have to be hand-picked such that the funds are sufficient to implement at least 70-75% of the project. This is to show tangible benefits to the business for obtaining remaining funds.

Charge – Midway through the Re-invest phase, the consultant can show tangible benefits to the client and either charge for effort spent until then or ask for a percentage of the savings as fee. This is more like a Risk & Reward model. End of the day, it all depends on the progress made and tangible benefits the client can see.

Making it work:

The first step for the consultant is to convince his company that there is a lot of potential with the client. Secondly, he has to secure client buy-in before the engagement starts, which is not only tough, but also risky. To make this model work, the consultant must:

• Have sufficient knowledge of the client, his environment and culture (preferably worked with the client)
• Good rapport with key stakeholders (business, IT and top management)
• Long term commitment from the client and support when it comes to working with other vendors
• Clear definition of scope of activities, quantum of work and the projects to be carried out
• Follow caution in terms of explaining the model, billing and charge backs when tangible benefits are realized

The Risks:

If the “due-diligence” and “deliver” phase combined takes a long time to show tangible results, the planned projects might not even kick-off. If the due-diligence was based on sub-standard analysis or incorrect assumptions, the savings obtained in “deliver” phase will not be substantial to meet the funds required for the re-invest phase. If the consultant cannot show visible progress or results at regular intervals, the project is destined for failure. Above all, the consultant must have a clear view on when to pull the plug should anything go wrong to ensure damage control.

Presence of other incumbent vendors can also pose a risk if there is no client buy-in at the executive level to enable smooth implementation.

Possible due-diligence projects:

Here is a sample list of projects the consultant could consider for the least-effort-maximum-impact projects.

• Technology stack rationalization – If the client has a host of tools in their environment, this is a good place to start. The savings obtained from licenses per year can be used for reinvestment
• Lean BI projects – On occasions where the client has a lot of processes in place, which are age old, attempting to study a few key processes and trimming them could help achieve the required savings
• Centralization – If the client operates on a fragmented model, analyzing the impact of centralizing a few key processes could bring in efficiency and savings. Example, centralized report creation team

Benefits:

• Guaranteed Savings for the client
• The consultant can build the clients confidence/trust and a possible long-term relationship
• For the client, he gets to execute projects which he has been wanting to without having to go to the top management for funds
• Prevent the client from floating a RFP. Caveat: Assuming the client does not have the funding to float a RFP

Conclusion

There are several pricing models available in the market. What differentiates this model from the others is the fact that this is a combination of Risk-Reward model and Result-Oriented pricing model. Given today’s market condition, this model is a win-win for both the consultant and the client if risks are understood and cautiously handled.

You might have seen nice innovative error messages and maintenance messages in sites like Orkut and other Google Products when their site is down or not responding to your request. Well, there are other sites which have such unique messages. One of them is from RedBus.in Check it out below!

Here goes one from GMAIL.

Foursquare.com

Twitter.com

Wooplr.com

Flipkart.com

Simplilearn.com

Will post more as I find them here.

Product and Service Organizations are increasingly showing keen interest in sentiment analysis as it can make or break their reputation overnight. Understanding the polarity/sentiment of every users post and addressing them on time is becoming critical. Considering the fact that thousands of posts are being generated every day on a single topic, it is nearly impossible to analyze them manually.

Sentiment analysis algorithms are not accurate and cannot be 100% accurate. But it can certainly provide the required warning signals to change the (product) strategy if required at the right time. This can also help the organization save time by narrowing down the thousands of tweets to a few hundred tweets to be analyzed manually.

Once the need for sentiment analysis has been identified, the organization starts to scout for COTS products and find there are way too many. This article has a list of 40+ parameters under six key buckets that the organization can use to shortlist the right tool for them.

In the below table, you can find the six buckets mentioned above along with the parameters and a short description about each.

I	Performance
1	Efficiency	Scan speed (Ex. Number of tweets/sentences scanned and analyzed per second)
2	Robustness	Tool running consistently without crashing. Ex. Loads of data can result in the application hanging after a certain point)
3	Data size	Ability to scale to large data sets. Partly capability of the tool (architecture) and partly the underlying database
II	Algorithms
4	Natural Language Processing (NLP)	NLP or Machine learning algorithms. Mostly statistics based
5	Computational linguistics	Statistical and/or rule-based modeling of natural language. Focuses on the practical outcome of modeling human language use
6	Text analytics	Set of linguistic, statistical, and machine learning techniques that model and structure the information for BI, exploratory data analysis, research, or investigation
7	Proprietary Vs. Open algorithms	Usage of Free and open source algorithms vs. proprietary algorithms
8	Mostly Human interpretation	Post extraction of text, most of the analysis for sentiment is performed manually by people
9	Bayesian inference	Statistical inference in which some kinds of evidence or observations are used to calculate the probability of the sentiment
10	Keyword based	Keyword based search
11	Combination of the above algorithms	Ability to pass the text through multiple algorithms to get the right sentiment. Number of techniques employed
12	Ability to override sentiment	Automated sentiments are not always right and might need correction before reporting
III	Functionality
13	Ability to fine-tune the modeling algorithms	Ability to easily modify an existing algorithm to enhance its capability. Example, add an additional layer of filtering mechanism
14	Plug-ins / API / Widget support	Ability to add 3rd party plug-ins to perform specialized tasks. Example, 80-20 suppression, additional graphs.
15	Data filtering/Cleansing capability	Useful if there are two similar products in the market. Ex. Norton Internet Security Vs. Norton 360
16	Value substitution capability	Useful in tweets where users use different abbreviations or there are spelling errors. Example, MS, Microsoft and Microsoft
17	Supported Platforms	Ability to work on Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Mobile platforms, etc.
18	Alert/Trigger functionality	Ability to set triggers on key metrics where real-time monitoring is available
19	Auditing/Log feature	Audit feature helps capture the amount of data grabbed and processed
20	Geo Identification	Ability to identify the source of the conversation. Example, Asia, US, UK, etc.
21	Multi-lingual support	Support for more than one language. Example, French and English
IV	Reporting
22	Export options (output)	Excel, PDF, publish to portal
23	Visualization options	Variety of graphs. Bar, pie, line, radar, etc.
24	Dashboard capability	Refreshable and drillable dashboards
25	Customizable reports	Ability to have calculated columns. Generate different visualization for the same data easily
26	Pre-defined reports	Out-of-the-box reports to get social media up and running instantly
27	Drill down/drill up facility on reports	Ability to see detailed/summarized information by drilling on an item present in the report
28	Web interface	View and analyze reports online
V	User interface & Integration
29	Training / Learning curve	Tools like Radian6 requires experts to handle the tool
30	Targeted user group	Analysts, Business users, combination, etc.
31	Error reporting	If any of the configured feeds fail, or reports fail, a mechanism using which the error can be reported
32	Web interface	Complete tool is available online and can be used to configure and build reports. No thick client
33	Complete GUI support	No command line interface to perform any task
34	Bundled database	Does the tool come with a built-in database or 3rd party database like MySQL, MS Access, etc. needs to be procured?
35	Native connectivity to popular data sources	Built-in native connectivity to popular forums, groups, blog sites, micro blogs, etc.
36	Integration with BI and CRM tools	Ability to integrate the processed data with BI tools and other CRM data. Partnership with leading BI Vendors could be considered.
37	Approved APIs	APIs approved by Social media providers enable direct connectivity to their servers and enhance the rate of data pull. Ex. Twitter
VI	Vendor Credibilty
38	Established Client Base	Referencible clientele
39	Licensing options	Free/Trial/Paid. User based license, server based, service based, etc.
40	References	Installation with more than 1 to 2 years into production. This might not apply always as new companies come up with very innovative solutions
41	Support Services	Tool support, training, etc.
42	Consulting services	Analysis of data for client

Feel free to comment on the above parameters. If you have any addtional parameters that you feel are relevant, do let me know and I will be happy to include them (with due credits to you).

INTRODUCTION

Everyone understands the value of grouping users. There are various ways to classify users but primarily they fall into one of the three levels defined below:

 

LEVEL 1: PRIMITIVE

This is the easiest and the most common way of grouping users. This Level is synonymous to a company in US trying to read books about Japan to understand their culture. The distance between the user and the organization is high. Beyond a certain point, this level fails to connect with the users.

Organizations can only take generic decisions based on the typical characteristics of this user group. Example, if an organization is developing a portal and it finds that 75% of its users are female and in the teenage group, they might target pink for the portal theme. But if this group happens to like rock music and partying, the organizations decision to go with pink could be a road to disaster.

LEVEL 2: PASSIVE

Levels-2 is all about studying the user passively but closely to understand their presence (where they are active), their behavior (what they do online) and their tastes (what they like). This is synonymous to a company in US sending someone to Japan to collect information. Inclusion of Level 1 grouping to this level would be an added advantage. A good starting point would be to analyze data captured from social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

LEVEL 3: ACTIVE

In this level, hand picked influencers are analyzed in depth from both an internal & external networks perspective. Right content (information, samples) is then pushed to this small group of handpicked few to create the impact. This levels termed “Active” because on identification of influencers, some amount of handshake/contact/personal touch happens with the influencer (user). Tools like Radian 6, Sysomos, Klout help in identifying these potential influencers. This level is hard, time-consuming and relatively expensive but has a higher pay-off .

Forrester’s User life-cycle

Forrester’s User life-cycle (Ref. Figure 2) categorizes users into 6 groups: Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators and In-actives. This user life-cycle maps to Level 2 mentioned above as it can easily group users primarily based on their age and characteristic alone. But this does not tell you how many creators or critics in a particular age group posted only once. It is also not possible to determine how many of the joiners became inactive after the first login.

 

User Profiler

The profiler designed here (Refer Figure 3) categorizes users into 6 major groups: Joiner, Information seeker, Active/Dynamic, Responder, Creator and In-active. It is possible to map these groups to the Forrester’s user life-cycle groups with the exception of the Collectors group.

 

What do these categories mean?

Joiner: Moment a user registers they enter the Joiner level and take a default maturity of 0

Info Seeker: Users who seek answers to questions are the information seekers. Quality of the question decides the users’ maturity. Typically this ranges between 1 and 3

Active / Dynamic: These users actively seek information and respond to others in the group regularly. The maturity for these users range between 2 and 3

Responder: Responders are mostly users within the organization or industry experts. They either have the information or the resources required to secure the information needed for information seekers. Maturity lies between 2 and 4

Listener: These users log in and search for answers but have not posted anything yet. Mostly spectators. Beyond a certain point the lack of user activity except for login’s is either a BOT or Information collector (RSS)

Transition: This is the phase where the users tend to break the routine and shift to other sites or become inactive. One possibility is that the user has found what he/she was looking for

In-active: If the user does not have a single login in a say 1 year, the user is in-active and their maturity score drops to 0. This bucket helps identify and purge records easily for maintenance & performance purposes

Creator: Top management, visionaries and industry experts who are capable of generating interest in the public are Creators. Default maturity is assumed as 5.

Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any queries or have suggestions around improving the above user profiler.

The aim of this blog was to develop a framework to assess the impact/influence of social media on the user(patients) for those healthcare providers who have invested in it. I am going to split this blog into pieces and the first part is going to build the foundation for the same.

The Common Definition for Social Media:
Social media is the creation and sharing of user-generated content. The content is nothing but unstructured data like dialogues (text), images, audio & video, etc. as a result of interaction and participation between individuals and/or groups.

There are eight pillars one needs to understand clearly to build a strong foundation. They are:

1. The Definition – How does Healthcare define Social Media?
2. The source – Social media sources for Healthcare
3. The Influencers – Who or What can impact/influence the outcome?
4. Trends – Where is the Healthcare industry headed with respect to Social media?
5. The Competition – What is the competition/peers in the industry doing to capture the users attention in the social media space?
6. Monitoring – How is Social Media monitored by the Healthcare companies?
7. What can hospitals do – with Social media
8. How to do – How can hospitals accomplish / get into social media?

Before expanding on the above eight pillars, a few facts on why this topic is relevant today and needs attention.

81% of all Cyberchondriacs have looked for health information online
17% have gone online to look for health information 10 or more times
86% satisfied with their ability to find the information they want online
85% believe the information they found is reliable

(SOURCE: The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive)

Moreover, social media has increased the awareness among users by letting them look up the internet for a variety of things like, facilities provided by a hospital, review about doctors, experience of other patients like themselves, comparison between treatment options given by doctors for the same disease, etc. This has put direct pressure on healthcare providers to not only excel in their services but also involve themselves in the social space.

Starting with the definition, expanding the eight pillars from a Healthcare providers perspective:

The Definition:
This is how Healthcare defines social media, “People trust ‘a person like me’ more than authority figures from business, government and media”, “Seeking ongoing dialogue, not one-way advertisement” and “Trust, transparency, openness, honesty”.

The Sources:
The social media sources for Healthcare not in any particular order.

• Blogs – DiabetesMine, HealthMatters, WebMD, NYT HealthBlog
• Social Networking – OrganizedWisdom, PatientsLikeMe, DailyStrength, JustAskANurse
• Microblogs – Livestrong, Stupid Cancer
• Podcasts – Johns Hopkins Medical Podcasts, Mayo Clinic
• Forums – Revolution Health Groups
• Social Sharing – Flickr, YouTube, ICYou
• Online events/campaigns

The sources mentioned above do not include sources like newspaper/journal advertisements, patient education, etc. Only the online media is in scope for this blog.

The Influencers:
The key influencers in this industry: Doctors, Patients, Patients relatives & friends, Hospital staff, Insurance agencies, Awards and Care givers.

Though these look pretty obvious, it is the word-of-mouth comments & reviews left by these people on the internet that has impacted the hospital most. A simple example, an eye care hospital (name cannot be disclosed) in India started off very well till a time came when a series of mistakes made by their doctors due to negligence changed the tables. Today, the patients do not even want to check if the doctors have changed or not. It will take another round of influencers to change this outlook about the hospital.

Trends:
When we say trends, its more around understanding what the leaders and emerging healthcare providers are doing in the social media space to influence and gain the visibility among the internet savvy public. Some of the interesting trends observed are below:

• Information sharing – Doctors come together to share research, exchange observations, and support one another
• Engaging e-patients – Connecting patients with similar disease processes, ailments, or conditions
• Rating – Of doctors, hospitals, service providers, etc. online
• Targeted search – Connect with patients and potential patients
• Managing a conversation – Q&A with surgeons
• Convergence with personal health records – Reminders to buy prescription medicines, Online personal health diary
• Location-based social media “check ins” – Inova Health System offers flu shot deals

The Competition:
The first mover advantage… and a big hit! It’s all about thinking differently and that idea clicking with the public. Few instances where such innovative/unique thinking resulted in positive visibility for the healthcare provider:

• Broadcast Emergency Room (ER) wait times every few hours across their Twitter feeds
• Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center, along with Mayo Clinic drew attention for hosting the first-ever “Sleep up.” The event, consisted of an all-night live stream following a patient undergoing sleep disorder testing and a Twitter Q&A session with physician sleep specialists, drew 10,000 visitors
• Live-tweet surgeries – Personally this is my favorite
• Interactive fitness program called “Fitfor50″ that incorporates video, Facebook, Twitter and user stories
• Disaster alerting and response
• Social media chats
• Daily health tips

Some of this have become common and no longer a differentiating factor. Example, health tips and social media chats. Users expect this by default though social media penetration by healthcare providers is still in the nascent stage.

Monitoring:
Currently there is a mix of in-house and outsourced social media monitoring and analysis. The major downside to this is setting up the platform for the users to interact and abandoning it. Here abandon means the lack of constant monitoring. When a patient posts a question in a Q&A platform setup by the provider, he/she expects a reply. When that does not happen, negative influence creeps in and the healthcare providers reputation goes for a toss.

Buzz vs. Prevalence analysis on datasets is one of the commonly found monitoring mechanism in the healthcare industry.

What can hospitals do with Social Media:
Few of the benefits healthcare providers can reap by getting involved in Social media are below:

• Help progress medical research when physicians start to interact more often with more social information available in hand
• Publish health news first (alerts, awareness, crisis communication, health hazard information, etc.)
• Monitor hospital reputation
• Introduce new products and service lines
• Strengthen patient provider relationships
• Bring patients with similar problems together
• Physician opinion sharing
• Enable better marketing and communications efforts

How can healthcare providers do this?
In simpler terms, where can they start? Based on my analysis, some of the key pointers are below:

• Dedicated team to monitor social activity
• Integrate marketing activities with social network
• Tools to monitor social activity
• Encourage physician to interact in social forums
• Dedicated team to check and respond to users grievances online
• Setup dashboards for executive team with metrics for social media monitoring

 

 

Here goes a listing of 230+ social media tools for extraction, monitoring and analysis. This was compiled in 2011 so some of the tools might not available today. You can leave a comment if you find any such tools in the list and I will have them updated in the next version (2012). Before you start looking at the list of tools, its better you get a clear understanding of the various terminologies so you know which tool is meant for what.

Social Media Engagement (SME) tools are communication platforms where users take action and can respond, engage, interact or communicate directly on social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums, etc…Users provide the login credentials and offer OAuth permissions and can Tweet, comment on a blog post or respond to a question in a forum without leaving the SME platform. These are real-time, highly customized dashboards and often offer multiple accounts, a shared workspace for many users and the ability to respond in multiple places with one click.

Social Media Monitoring (SMM) tools, often called listening platforms, are where most social media strategies begin – monitoring and tracking mentions of your brand, products, competitors and industry issues. SMM tools offer countless ways to analyze, measure, display and report findings

Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) tools aggregate dozens of types of information from multiple social networks to give users the most complete view possible of each customer.

Social Media Specialized (SMS) tools fall into a handful of buckets. These tools are not stand alone tools or comprehensive platforms, but specialized tools focused on on analyzing and optimizing one aspect of your social media efforts. The intent is to use these tools to supplement, not replace, other tools. Some of these tools are available on SMM or SME platforms, for example, you can view Klout scores within Seesmic Desktop. These tools can be broken down into the following categories:

• Influence – Klout, PeerIndex, TwinFluence, Twitority, Zuberance
• Conversion tracking – Argyle Social
• Twitter analytics – Bit.ly, Tweetreach, Twitalyzer
• SEO – Hubspot, SEOMoz, Raven Tools
• Xefer
• Ad.ly
• Soovox

Social Media Content Management (SMCM) tools facilitate the creation, distribution, optimization and management of social media content. Each tool facilitates at least one specific activity. For example, Timely posts your tweets at a future time to achieve the most reach.

 

Company	Platform	Media type	Market Type	Type	Cost
Actionly	Actionly	All		Paid	$20/month
Crowd Favorite	Addictomatic	All		Free
New Media Strategies	AIM	All		Paid
Alterian	Alterian (formerly SM2)		SMM	Paid	$500/month
PeopleBrowsr	Analytic.ly	All		Paid
Socialware	Asomo	All	SMM	Paid
Awareness	Awareness Networks			Paid
Bantam Networks	Bantam Live	Twitter	SCRM	Paid
Beevolve	Beevolve	All	Sentiment	Paid
Biz360 Inc.	Biz360	All		Paid
Hubspot	Blog Grader			Free
Blogmeter	Blogmeter	All		Paid
Nielsen	Blogpulse	Blogs		Free
Google	Blogsearch	Blogs		Free
Technorati	Blogsearch	Blogs		Free
Cognita AG	blueReport	Blogs, Twitter		Paid
Effyis	Boardreader	Forums		Free
Pidgin Technologies	Boardtracker	Forums		Free
Tick Tock Boom Digital	BoomSonar	All		Paid
Position2	Brand Monitor	All		Paid
Tinval Sistemes S.L.	BrandChats	All		Paid
BrandMetric	BrandMetric	All		Paid
Brandmonitor	Brandmonitor	All		Paid
Brands Eye	Brands Eye	All		Paid
Brandwatch	Brandwatch	All	SMM	Paid	$300/month
BuiltWith	Built With			Paid
Meltwater	Buzz	All	Sentiment	Paid
Sports Media Challenge	Buzz Manager	All		Paid	$13000/year
Attentio	Buzz Report	All	Sentiment	Paid	$775/month
Buzzcapture B.V.	Buzzcapture	All	Sentiment	Paid
BuzzDetector	BuzzDetector	All		Paid
BitConfused	BuzzDing	All		Paid
Buzzersation	Buzzersation	All		Paid
BuzzGain	BuzzGain	All		Paid
Buzzient	Buzzient Enterprise	All		Paid
BuzzLogic	BuzzLogic Insight	All	SMM	Paid
BuzzNumbers	BuzzNumbers	All		Paid
CustomScoop	BuzzPerception	Blogs		Paid	$299/month
BuzzStream	BuzzStream	All	Sentiment	Trial/Paid	$49/month
AT Internet	BuzzWatcher	All		Paid
Betaworks	Chartbear	Twitter		Paid
ChatterBeacon	ChatterBeacon	Facebook		Free
Collective Intellect	CI:View and CI:Insight	All	Sentiment	Paid	$300/month
Cision	Cision Social Media	All		Paid
CustomScoop	ClipIQ	All		Paid
Clipit News	Clipit – online media monitoring	All (dutch)		Paid
Expert System	Cognito Monitor	All		Paid
Collecta	Collecta	Micromedia, Blogs, Video		Free
Netbreeze	CommMonitor	All		Paid
SiteQuest Technologies	Compliance WatchDog	All		Paid
Backtype	Connect	Blogs, Twitter, Friendfeed		Free
ContextVoice	ContextVoice			Paid
eCairn	Conversation	All	SMM	Paid	$99/month
Converseon	Conversation Miner	All	Sentiment	Paid
CoTweet	CoTweet	Twitter	SME	Trial/Paid
Cyveillance	Cyveillance	All		Paid
Brandtology	DCMS	All	Measuring tool	Paid
Decooda	Decooda	All		Paid
e-CBD	Dialogix	All	SMM/SME	Paid
Digimind	Digimind Meta-Search	All		Paid
Onalytica	Direct Access – InfluenceMonitor	All		Paid
Direct Message Lab	Direct Message Lab			Paid
DNA13	dna MediaVantage/Monitor	All	SMM	Paid	$560/month
Dow Jones	Dow Jones Insight	All		Paid	$5000/month
Kaleidico	Eavesdropper	All		Paid
Teezir	eCare	All		Paid
Engagor	Engagor Insights	All		Paid
Martiz Research	Evolve24	The Mirror		Paid
PR Newswire	eWatch	Blogs		Paid
Hubspot	Facebook Grader			Free
Factualz	Factualz	All		Paid
FollowThing	FollowThing			Free
Glerts	Glerts	All media indexed by Google		Free
Gnip	Gnip			Paid
Polaris Ventures	GraphEdge			Paid
Ethority	Gridmaster	All		Paid
HootSuite	HootSuite		SME	Paid	$5.99/month
Inuda Innovations	HowSociable	All		Free
Icerocket	Icerocket	Blogs		Free
infoFactory	ifMONITOR	All		Paid
iMonitoring	iMonitoring	All		Paid
iMooty	iMooty	News		Free
Bivings Group	Impactwatch	All		Paid
Insttant	Insttant	Twitter		Paid
JamIQ	JamIQ	All		Paid
JitterJam	JitterJam	All	SCRM	Paid
Jive Software	Jive Social Media Engagement	All	SMM	Paid
Katapedia	Katapedia	All		Paid
Klout	Klout	Twitter		Free
Landau Media	Landau Media Monitoring Internet	All		Paid
Facebook	Lexicon	Facebook		Free
Linkfluence	Linkfluence	All		Paid
Lithium Technologies/Scoutlabs	Lithium Social Media Monitoring	All	Sentiment, Enterprise Apps	Paid	$249/month
Market Sentinel	LiveBuzz	All	Sentiment	Free/Paid
mReplay	Livedash	All		Free
Looxii	Looxii	Social Media		Paid
Loudpixel	Loudpixel			Paid
Cymfony	Maestro	All	Sentiment	Paid
MambaIQ	MambaIQ			Paid
Sysomos Owned by MarketWire	MAP, Heartbeat	All	Enterprise Apps	Paid	$500/month
Attensity	Market Voice	All	SMM	Paid	$399/month
Marketo	Marketo B2B Social Marketing			Paid
M-Brain	M-Brain	All		Paid
Simpleweb Ltd.	Media Genius	All		Paid
Eurospider Information Technology AG	Media Monitoring & Management	All		Paid
MediaMiser	MediaMiser Enterprise	All		Paid
MediaBadger	Mediasphere360	All		Paid
Asterisq	Mentionmap	Twitter		Free
Wildfire	Monitor	Twitter, Facebook		Free/Paid
Monitter	Monitter	Twitter		Free
MotiveQuest	MotiveQuest	All		Paid	$70,000/project
MutualMind, Inc.	MutualMind			Paid	$500/month
Nielsen / McKinsey company	My BuzzMetrics	All		Paid
ReputationHQ	My Reputation Manager	All		Paid
Needium	Needium	Twitter		Paid
net-clipping	net-clipping	Online, Social Media, amazon, facebook		Paid
Mindlab Solutions GmbH	netmind Sphere	All		Paid
Moreover Technologies	Newsdesk	All		Paid
Mashape.com	NLP APIs			Free
Nielsen / McKinsey company	NM Incite (formerly Buzzmetrics)			Paid
Noteca	Noteca	All		Paid
NutShellMail	NutShellMail	Social Networks		Free
Omllion	Omllion	All		Paid
OneRiot	OneRiot	Twitter, Digg, YouTube		Free
Overtone	Open Mic	All	Sentiment	Paid
Pear Analytics	Pear Analytics			Free
Iterasi	Positive Press	All		Paid
PostRank Inc	PostRank	RSS Enabled Content, Blogs, Social Networks & Hubs		Free
Radian6	Radian6	All	Enterprise Apps	Paid	$600/month
Raven	Raven	All		Paid
Rees Bradley Hepburn Ltd	RBH Radar	All		Paid
Reaction Engine	Reaction Engine			Paid
New Communication	Reputation Control	All		Paid
Reputation Defender	Reputation Defender	All		Paid
Reputationobserver	Reputationobserver	All		Paid
RepuMetrix	RepuTrace, RepuTrack	All		Paid	$350/month
ReSearch.ly	ReSearch.ly			Paid	$99/month
ListenLogic	Resonate	All		Paid
Retriever	Retriever	Blogs, Twitter, Facebook		Paid
ReviewIQ	ReviewIQ	All		Paid
Revinate	Revinate	All	SMM	Paid
RightNow	RightNow CX Social Experience	All		Paid
Frank Westphal	Rivva	Blogs, Twitter		Free
Samepoint	Samepoint	All		Free
SAS	SAS Social Media Analytics		Measuring tool	Paid
Medimix	Scanbuzz	All (niche – pharma)		Paid
Facebook	Search	Facebook		Free
Macranet	Sentiment Metrics	All		Paid
Patch6 AB	Silverbakk Briefing Room	All	SMM	Paid
Techrigy	SM2	All		Paid	$500/month
Cierzo Development S.L	Smmart	All		Paid
Overdrive Interactive	Social Media Dashboard	All		Paid
Chleba Agencia digital	Social Media Monitor	Google Blogs, News, Orkut, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Respostas, Comunidades, Reclame Aqui		Paid
Social Mention	Social Mention	All		Free
Social Oomph	Social Oomph		SMCM	Paid
SocialPointer	Social Pointer	All		Free
Infegy	Social Radar	All		Paid
Social Report	Social Report	All		Paid
SocialMetrix	SocialMetrix	All		Paid
Emerge Technology Group	Socialscape	All		Paid
Sensidea	SocialSeek	Blogs, Video, Micromedia, Photos		Free
Networked Insights	SocialSense (SaaS and API)	All	Sentiment	Paid
Syncapse Corp	Socialtalk	Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, Moveable Type	Analytic aggregators	Paid
	SocialToo			Paid
Sodash	Sodash	Twitter, Facebook, email, specific blogs via RSS		Paid
Spiral16	Spark	All	SMM	Paid	500
Social Agency Inc	SpredFast	All	SMM	Paid	$250/month
Sprinklr	Sprinklr	Twitter,Facebook		Paid
Sprout Social	Sprout Social	All	SME	Trial/Paid	$9/month
Inifinimedia	StartPR	All		Paid
Statsit	Statsit	All		Paid
Ascent Labs, Inc.	StatsMix	All		Free
MyFrontSteps	StepRep Reputation Intelligence	All		Free/Paid
StreamWall	StreamWall	All		Paid
SWIX	SWIX Social Marketer	All		Paid
Synthesio	Synthesio	All	SMM	Paid
Tealium	Tealium Social Media	All		Paid
Telligent	Telligent Analytics	All		Paid
The Search Monitor	The Search Monitor (Starter and Pro)	All		Free/Paid
Echometrix	ThePulse	All		Paid
Oxford University Spin-out	They Say (AffectR)			Paid
ThoughtBuzz	ThoughtBuzz	All		Paid
Thrive	Thrive			Paid	$99/month
Glam Media	Tinker	Twitter		Free
TipTop Technologies	TipTop	Twitter, Amazon reviews		Free
Todaypulse	Todaypulse	All		Paid
Topsy Labs	Topsy	Twitter		Free
TraceBuzz	TraceBuzz	All		Paid
Trackur LLC.	Trackur	All	SMM	Paid	$18/month
Flaptor	Trendistic (formerly Twist)	Twitter		Free/Paid
Wiredset LLC	Trendrr	All	SMM	Free/Paid	$499/month
New Music Labs BV	Tribe Monitor	MySpace, Hyves, Last.fm, Twitter, Google Analytics, FaceBook, Youtube		Free
Visible Measures	TruReach, Video Engagement	Video		Paid
Twazzup	Twazzup	Twitter		Free
Tweet Effect	Tweet Effect			Free
Tweet Scan	Tweet Scan	Twitter		Free
Tweet Stats	Tweet Stats			Free
Wowza	Tweet Volume			Paid
TweetBeep	TweetBeep	Twitter		Free
Conversition	TweetFeel	Twitter		Free
Tweetlytics	Tweetlytics	Twitter		Paid
TweetReach	TweetReach	Twitter		Free/Paid
Waggener Edstrom	Twendz			Free
Web Analytics Demystified	Twitalyzer	Twitter		Free
Twitoria	Twitoria			Free
Xerocity Design Group	twitt(url)y	Twitter		Free
Twitter Analyzer	Twitter Analyzer	Twitter		Free
Hubspot	Twitter Grader	Twitter		Free
Twitter	Twitter Search	Twitter		Free
TwitterCounter	TwitterCounter	Twitter		Free/Paid
uberVU	uberVU	All	SMM	Trial/Paid	$49.99/month
Daumsoft	UCCmetrics	All		Paid
JD Power	Umbria	All		Paid
Kantar Video	Videolytics	Video		Paid
Viralheat	Viralheat	All	SMM	Paid
Visible Technologies	Visible Intelligence	All	Sentiment	Paid
Vitrue	Vitrue Social Media Index			Free
Vocus, Inc.	Vocus PR	All		Paid
Crimson Hexagon	Voxtrot	All	Sentiment	Paid
Walkley	Walkley	All		Paid
WaveMetrix	WaveMetrix			Paid
infospeed	web2monitor	All		Paid
Wool.Labs	WebDig, DigTV, AdSlider	All Internet + TV/Radio		Paid
Webtrends	Webtrends		SMM	Paid	$15,000/year
Circulo Rojo	WhatHashtag	Twitter		Free
White Noise Inc.	White Noise	All		Paid
Whitevector	Whitevector	All		Paid
Who’s Talkin	Who’s Talkin	ALL		Free/Paid
WhoUnfollowedMe	WhoUnfollowedMe	Twitter		Free
Integrasco AS	WoMPortal	All	Measuring tool	Paid
Woo Rank	Woo Rank			Free
Woopra	Woopra			Paid
WorkStreamer	Workstreamer			Free
SiteTrail	Xinu Returns			Free
YackTrack	YackTrack	Blogs		Free
YouScan	YouScan	All		Paid
TreeWorks	Zelist Monitor	All (Romania)		Paid

 

Click here to download the Excel. The price mentioned is only a ball park as it can vary from time to time and client to client. Any ratings mentioned by the author are based on very small in-house research and might not reflect true ratings.

Tools like Klout, PeerIndex, Kred[1], ProSkore and EmpireAvenue have been making noise recently and Kred’s the new social influence tracker on the block. Klout has been around for a while and has gained enough visibility & traction and hence the focus on Klout. All these tools use a series of algorithms to gauge the users influence in the social world. Off late, this is used by HRs during recruitment process and Sales & Marketing professionals during campaigns.

Influence score is similar to having a credit score. Recently at a “Fashion’s Night Out party” at Bal Harbour Shops in Florida guests had to have a Klout score of 40 or higher to gain entry. Samples are given out to users with a good influence score. This article is about understanding what the score comprises of to improve your social score.

Parameters that influence the Klout score to a significant level are captured based on the analysis of Klout for about four months between May and September 2011. One objective of the study was to maintain a consistent Klout score of 30+ for two months. The result of ~250 tweets and study of ~100 twitter handles, gives you some of the parameters that impacted the Klout score. Twitter handle primarily used for this study was _jk82.