12th in 12 months...a great morning!

After a nervous weekend spent hoping that everything goes off well I am pleased that the day(26th July 2009) went off fantastically well. With the help of a very large number of fellow RFL runners running along side and cheering me on and also aided by the wonderful running route at Olde Bangalore and great Bangalore weather I managed a very comfortable 4:29 finish in my 12th Full marathon in 12 months. Thereby I accomplished the goal I had set myself about 16 months ago April 2008. The high point of the day was unarguably the enthusiasm and support of fellow runners specially from the Red Dragon Gang and BHUKMP runners. The two cool and unexpected gifts: a T-shirt and a wooden plaque listing the twelve marathons (see pictures below) left me quite overwhelmed and speechless. I shall truly cherish these mementos for years to come !.

I started from Domlur layout at 430am and after picking up Rishikesh and Amrita at Brigade towers and connecting with Vasu, Nari , Chandra, Prasad and Ram at GKVK we reached the resort just before 530am. We started running at 535 am just as dawn was breaking out. We ran out from Olde Bangalore resort on the route of the Urban Stampede , went past Prakruthi resorts and at the T-junction took a right and ran up to the point of 7.5Km from Olde Bangalore. It was a fantastic route – pollution free, traffic free with chirping birds and greenery all around. We did not see even a dog for a long time. The route so good that had we carried water with us we would definitely have continued on for a few more Kms. However, without water we did not want to take any chances of risking cramps later in the run. On our way back to the resort as we hit the water point at the 2.5Km point we were joined by a number of other runners: Pankaj, Praveen, Meher, Shantanu, Partha etc. So a much bigger gang set off on the second loop from the water point in which we took a different road. This area turned out to be a great area for running and cycling with numerous peaceful roads crisscrossing around. By the time we returned to Olde Bangalore we had done about 22.7Kms in 2 hrs 20 minutes.

Rishi and I then decided to do two loops of 10K and 9.5K respectively to compelte the FM. I was accompanies by Nitin Gupta for these loops. Though the pace slowed down a bit as the weather warmed up I was feeling very comfortable and able to keep the target of a 4:30 finish well in sight. With Nitin and Manoj pacing me I managed to complete just under that time to cheers from A2, Nikhil, Praveen, Pankaj and others at the finish point. Felt really wonderful at the end to have accomplished my goal . Rishi, Prasad and Amrita also crossed the finished line a few minutes after me. After celebrating with the T-shirt, Plaque and a birthday cake for Pankaj Rai and a hearty breakfast we started the return drive around 11:15am with myself pretty much on cloud 9!.