Comfortable 11th at Bellandur on 28th June

A bunch of us completed the Full Marathon at the RFL Bellandur run today. Besides myself the other runners who did 42Km+ were Rishikesh, Amrita, Prasad and Deepak. My 11th FM in as many months(and 22nd overall) turned out to be an easy comfortable run - without pushing hard and without undue stress I ended up doing 43Km in 4 hrs 43! Unlike the previous two marathons the run upto this one was not very hectic - I still was not very confident of a good run - my apprehension this time was due to a cold that lingered on for over two weeks and also a niggle in my left hamstring and calf post the Sunfeast world 10K on 31st May.

Eight of us started running at 530am. There was some trenches dug up in the route and the RFL markings were still not in place - thanks to Jugy and Sunil who also started running early we were able to take the alternate path without any trouble. Ran mostly with Rishi in the 1st loop; Uday joined us as we were returning to the start point. Just about 1Km from the start point we started seeing a stream of RFL runners. We completed the 1st loop at an easy average pace of 6:20 and did 21Km in about 2:20. Each loop was 5.3Km out and back with about 2Km consisting of a trail and the remaining tar road going through a sparsely populated area with open fields all around. Its not a flat course - there were a couple of gradual longish gradients. It was great to see several familiar RFL runners and many new ones too! Ran most of the 4rth loop with Partha - he joined the run for that loop and ran at a good pace. Trying to keep up with him the 4th loop ended up being faster than what it would otherwise have been. I did not realise when my Garmin hit the 42.2K mark and I continued running towards the start point. Ended up with 43Km - very satisfied with the effort- though my previous FM in December 2008 took 4:29. During the run I hardly thought about my niggles. The two factors that made it all very easy were the constant company of some wonderful runners and the fantastic weather. Only after 930am, in the 2nd half of the fourth loop did the sun come out. The support of the RFL staff was also very helpful.