Auroville 2011 report..finally

Six weeks after Auroville marathon 2011  and after  my first 25K+ run   since that event this morning,  I decided it is hightime to post the detailed report that I have been doing usually after an event. This was the fourth edition of the event and my 3rd year of participation. I enjoyed the run, the trail, the volunteer support and overall ambience thoroughly and completed in 4:12 - my best ever finish in a trail marathon. Following is my  timings in all the five  trail marathons that I have run:

• Kaveri Trail Marathon 2008         4:42:19
• Auroville Marathon 2009             4:23:25
• Auroville Marathon 2010             4:36
• Kaveri Trail Marathon 2010         4:32
• Auroville Marathon 2011             4:12

The experience was even more enjoyable as this was the first time that my brothers and I participated in a long distance(>10Km) event together. Both Chandru and Mahesh ran the HM. This was also the first 10Km completion for my cousin Raji and my wife Asha - who mostly walked the distance without registering and without  any preparation whatsoever.

With Mahesh and Chandru







Asha and Raji

Of course the experience was not without its share of mis-adventures. First of all we left Bangalore aroun 1:15PM almost 2  hours later than originally planned. We stopped at Adyar Ananda Bhavan after Hosur for lunch. After an hour since we restarted from there I realised that I had forgotten my digital video camera there. Though I was able to reach the restaurant manager who confirmed that they had the camera and would keep it for me till Monday evening this was not a good start as it left me feeling a bit low. Thanks to fellow runner Ravi Venkatesam warning me about the bad road from Tiruvanamalai, we decided to take the longer route via Ginjee. We reached the Auroville visitors area at about 8PM - thanks to the confident driving  skills of Gopal.  The bib collection process took just a couple of minutes and we rushed for the pasta dinner immediately after that. While most of the runners had left after finishing their dinner there were still several familiar faces around - Rajesh Vetcha from Hyderabad, Athreya and then of course the BHUKMP runners Amrita, Rishi, Nari, Chandra etc who came for dinner even after us. The food was much better than last year - there was pasta, lasagne and salad and once could go for the seconds. After dinner we dropped my cousin Raji at her dorm accommodation and went to Ginger Hotel in Pondicherry. After checking in and a quick prep for the run(pinning the bib etc) I went to bed at about 1030 PM.

I slept reasonably well and woke up at 320am , as usual, before my alarm rang. After getting ready I met up with Jugy and others in the lobby a little after 4:10am. As we were about to leave in Jugy's vehicle a bunch of Mumbai FM runners(6-7 of them) who had missed the bus hitched a ride with us to the  visitors area of Auroville. The candle lit path from the parking area to the starting point was quite unique and eerie. As I got caught up chatting with other fellow runners I realised, with just 5 minutes, to go for the race start that I had forgotten to collect the torch. In my hurry to get one I bumped into a metal pole - I was fortunate not to get hurt. The race started a couple of minutes after 5am. It looked like there were about 175 FM runners.  Over 150 runners running with a torch for the first hour or so is a very unique feature of Auroville. The last two years the route had road surface the first 2 Kms or so going through a village. This year the route was changed with all but about 2Kms of the 21Km loop being trail. The course was mostly flat with the most difficult stretch being the one with the beach sand.

 I always tend to run the first hour slowly at Auroville as I am not sure of the surface with all its undulations and risk of injury due to a mis-step. I started the race with Prateek who had to dropout early due to a bad stomach. Then I had the wonderful company of Sridhar and Partha. Around the seventh Km or so my right leg got caught in a thorny branch which brought me to a grinding halt. I carefully removed the branch and re-started my run. Though there was some initial pricking ,I soon forgot about it and  covered the first 12Km in 75 minutes or so. From around the 18Km mark I ran with Senthil Anand of Chennai - we run at pretty much the same pace. I crossed the half way mark in about 2:05 - which meant I was well within my goal of finishing between 4:30 and 4:45.

As we started the 2nd loop we caught up with Rishi and Amrita and then the biggest mis-adventure happened. We missed a turn and got to the aid station around 23Km mark with our Garmins showing a lower distance. So the four of us ran back , in the opposite direction, to make for up this distance and then caught up with the regular route around 25Km. During this stretch I saw Asha doing her 10Km walk and stopped to take a couple of picutres with my Blackberry - sadly they did not come out very well. On top of everything else my shoelaces came off a couple of times. Regardless, around the 32Km mark I got a new burst of energy ,picked up pace and pulled ahead. I was able to run a strong pace of around 5:45 per Km finishing the race  in 4:12. During this stretch I ran alone completely focused on the run. I felt happy about beating my goal comfortably despite the getting entangled in a thorny branch and losing my way in the 2nd loop.

The breakfast of Idli/Vada and pongal was quite fine. Also caught up with other fellow finishers, my brothers, wife and cousin before leaving the finish area.  Ashok's 3:13 finish(faster than even Mumbai) is really amazing. Sustaining such pace with the first hour in darkness and on the uneven surface is something. The volunteers at the aid stations were enthusisastic as usual - continually encouraging all the runners. The only disappointing bit , specially for first time finishers, was the absence of medals for finishers.  Anyway, most participants affirmed that they would certainly want to participate in this event in the future years.  While walking back to the car I bumped into Amit Seth (of Comrades marathon 'Dare to run' fame) and his wife and chatted briefly with him.

I had a relaxing time the rest of the Sunday - doing some sightseeing. There was hardly any fatigue due to the run - in fact the recovery also was quite quick.  Asha and I then drove back to Bangalore on Monday  14th reaching around 7 PM evening.





Ultra(2010) experience

As mentioned in my previous post I had a great 75Km run at Bangalore Ultra 2010. However, the last few hours leading up to the start of the race was not that good. As  usual I was  quite restless the previous evening/night. (Thankfully I had a pretty good night's sleep the previous two nights which is important as most runners end up being tense and restless the night before the actual event). Though I had dinner around 8PM and went to bed just after 9PM I kept getting up to check that I had packed everything: towel, extra shoes, socks, T-shirt, cap, the energy bars etc etc. Eventually went to sleep around 1030PM and woke up before my alarm went off at 2:20 am. Praveen Singh picked me up around 3:15. With a roadblock on MG road due to the metro cosntruction work we got delayed a bit getting to the parking area outside Bowring Institute on St. Marks Road. Meanwhile Dharam had reached Cubbon Park and called a couple of times. When we finally got dropped off at Cubbon Park by Jugy at about 3:40am and I got into Dharam's car I suddenly realised that a plastic bag with my running shoes and the timing chip was missing. I was extremely flustered at this discovery and quite unsure as to what to do next when , much to my relief, a runner waiting for the RFL transport came by and gave the bag with the shoes . I was still quite disturbed and forgot to thank the good samaritan properly. Dharam and I set off in his car with the Vasu, Nari, Praveen and Sumanth following in Vasu's car. It was several minutes before I calmed down.  Fortunately, our drive was quite quick and we were able to get to Our Native Village in Hessaraghatta by 4:30am. The  large flourescent sign boards  providing directions to ONV placed thoughtfully by RFL along the way were useful specially those driving to the Ultra for the first time.

On the podium before start of the race

Starting the race

Of course, the starting area was buzzing with the energy of runners - a lot of familiar ones plus many new faces from Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and outside India. At the beginning of the path inside ONV leading up to the start area was a 'on-the-runner' baggage counter where runners could store small items that they may need at a later stage during their run such as sunglasses, cap, gels, energy bars etc. This was a useful innovation from RFL. I stored one energy bar and cap here while I carried another 1.5 energy bars with me. Next to the stage was a second baggage counter where I stored my bag with extra shoes, socks, shirt and towel. Runners were busy taking pictures, checking on each others' training, timing goals etc while waiting for the start of the race. LED torches were given out to runners starting at 5am as it was pitch dark at this point. After a few announcements from A1 and A2 including the course records for the various distances the run was flagged off at 5am sharp. Running in the dark with a torch was quite an experience. Though I have done this at Auroville marathon a couple of times. I felt quite unsure of myself and started off much slower than planned.  By the time we approached the 2nd Aid Station I had to take my first of several comfort breaks. By this time Nari and I were together. We pretty much stayed together for 2 and a half loops. It was great to see Santosh Padmanabhan running comfortably despite having run over 100Km since 5PM on Saturday(13th) along with Kavitha pacing him on her bicycle. It was highly inspiring  and every time I saw them I got renewed strength to continue my run. The run route was mostly same as the previous year - vast green fields with sparse trees along the way, damp grass, mostly red mud, stretches of narrow, uneven paths and a couple of gradients - all making it  a challenging race. The one difference in the route was the turnaround point. The grove of trees through which we ran after the road section before turning around had unfortunately been destroyed.So the turnaround was on the road section itself. Once it was daylight I was able to pick up pace and maintain it in the second loop.  Nari and I completed 25KM in about 2:38 as against our goal of 2:35. By this time I had eaten half an energy bar. Unfortunately, the weather gods were not as kind to us this  time unlike the last two years. By the time we started our third loop the sun was out nice and bright. It was clear that runners, specially those doing longer distances, were going to have a tough time in the warm weather.

Though it gets a bit boring to do 6.25Km out and back multiple times the great thing about this loop is that one gets to see the other  runners multiple times irrespective of the distance they are doing. The energy and enthusiasm that the comradarie and cheering each other generates is  amazing. As we were completing the 1st loop we met numerous familiar 50K runners. And then of course the 37.5K, 25K and eventually the 12.5K runners when doing the 3rd loop. Around the middle of the 3rd loop Nari started to slow down and fall behind.  I picked up my 2nd energy bar from the 'on-the-run' counter at the start of the 4rth loop. In this loop a few runner friends who were not participating in the event this year namely Gopal, Prasad and Mac joined me for a short while. Gopal actually ran with me almost the entire 4rth loop and this helped me tremendously Without his company and engaging conversation I would have definitely done a much slower time. I ended up doing the second 25Km  in a little over 3 hours nearly 10 minutes faster than my target.  Each time one went through the start point Atul or one of the other organisers enthusiastically called out the names of the runners - this was a nice tonic to start the next loop with.

Before starting my 5th loop I walked to the baggage counter and changed my shirt and also my socks and shoes. This of course involved transferring the bib and the chip. While transferring the chip and tying the shoe laces my quads cramped quite severely giving me a bit of a scare. However, I felt OK after I ran slowly to the aid station and refueled myself. Needless to say, the last two loops were very challenging. After about 55Km or so the legs started to hurt all over , specially the Quads, with occasional (mild) cramping. From this point on I stopped at every aid station, drank a lot of water and Lucozade, ate oranges and generously used the Volini spray on my legs. I then stretched for a few seconds and walked briskly for a few minutes before starting to run again. This is something that I had experimented with during my additional 16Km run/walk at KTM 2010. That  experience enabled me to cope with the tired legs and body and warm weather in a pre-determined manner and I was able to do close to 7:30 per Km pace when running.  I caught up with Chandra at the Aid Station around the 60Km  mark in the 5th loop and was able to slowly push ahead. By this time I was certain that I would be able to finish in about 9:15 or so.    

Surprisingly for me I felt really great in the 2nd half of the last loop even though it was past 1PM and  the few  runners on the trail were distributed sparsely. Once I realised that a sub 9 hr timing was within the realm of possibility I picked up pace and almost sprinted the last 2Kms finishing the race in just over 8 hours 56 minutes!! At this point in time I felt strong enough to  perhaps turn around and attempt one more loop - however I decided against that.  I think I am very fortunate that my body is able to handle heat better than most other runners.  Chandra finished a few minutes after me in 9:09. Praveen completed in 9:41 and Nari in 10:22 - the 3 of us doing our 1st 75Km at the Ultra!! I thought the lunch was quite ok this time around though many other runners felt otherwise.

Overall very satisfactory event including great organisation from the RFL team -despite the harsh warm weather runners enjoyed themselves thoroughly! Several runners did their longest ever distance and many achieved their PBs. And hats off  to the 100K runners ! Of course I was aching all over for a couple of days. Special mention must be made of the stiff upper back and a new purple toe that I collected . And the fact that the right glut and hamstrings were sore for longer than normal - it is ususally the left side that is weaker and hurts more.

Now on to the last event of the calendar year which will be a Half Marathon for me at the Midnight marathon on 11th December.

Great 75K run at Bangalore Ultra 2010

A quick post exactly one week after Bangalore Ultra 2010 to say that everything went as per plan on race day and I had an excellent run bettering my goal of 9:30 by a good margin. I finished my 75Km run quite strongly  in 8:56:04  - a course record for the distance - this despite the weather being much warmer than it has been the past two years. With an easy paced 11Km run today the recovery has also been quite smooth.

Lots of runners did amazing timings this year specially from BHUKMP. Click here for the list of winners and here for full results. Here are the top timings for some of the distances/categories.

37.5K Men's Open
1. Nitin Gupta 3:14:54     2. Thomas Bobby Philip 3:21:35  3. Abhishek Roy 3:32:39 

37.5K Men's Senior
1. Ashok Nath 2:58:26   2. Kothandapani K C 3:17:12    3. Ajith K 4:17:01 
37.5K Women's Open
1. Shilpa Deo 4:24:44     2. Vaishali Kasture 5:03:38 

50K Men's Open
1. Nigel Armstrong 3:57:04   2. R.Srinivasan 5:06:10   3. Priyankar Mukund 5:19:33 

50K Men's Senior
1. Paul Hemson 4:54:24  2. Siddesha 5:07:06  3. Daniel Richarad Vaz 6:14:27 

50K Women's Open
1. Meher D'Mello 5:09:12  2. Amrita Mitra 5:37:04 3. Roshni N Rai 7:01:12 

75K Men's Open
1. Bhasker Sharma 8:56:04 2. Chandra Sekhar Katuri 9:09:31 3. P Sundar 9:22:09

75K Men's Senior
1. Randeep Singh Arora 11:17:16 2. Jagdish Damania 12:27:34 3. Ravi Raman 13:09:54

75K Women's Open
1. Fumie Terahata 11:07:31 2. Vineeta Singh 11:23:20 3. Sabine Tietge 12:35:53

75K Women's Senior
1. Chandra Gopalan 12:59:39 

100K Men's Open
1. Jacob Boopalan 11:09:59 2. Athreya Chidambi 12:06:19 3. Praveen Kumar Vakde 12:39:04 

100K Women's Open
1. Cath Todd 11:03:00  2. Emma Rogan 11:33:12 

SW10K 2010- official timings and some pictures

'Official' pictures from Marathon-photos.com

In my previous post I wrote about the clutter and chaos at the start of this race. With the growing number of runners the organisers must seriously think of either wave starts or have runners line up at the starting point  in groups based on their past finish times. This practice is followed in many international races with large number of participants. For this to be feasible at the SW10K a longer lead time is required between the time runners move out of the holding area and the start of the race .


However, apart from this issue I must say that from the overall organisation perspective the race was quite satisfactory.There was complete traffic control, there were aid stations every few Kms and also Km markers. I noticed portable toilets in at least one location on the route and there was even a water shower to relieve runners from the heat though I did not run through it. There were water counters   right next to the finish point and refreshment counters had streamlined queues, that is, the finish area was well managed.There was a bit of confusion and some errors when the chip timings and photos were first uploaded - even now a few runners are unsatisfied with their timings.

My official chip timing was 49:05 - pretty much what I had expected. I ranked 222 overall and 6th in my age category(50 to 59).RFL and BHUKMP runners Honda-San and Pani finished 1st and 2nd respectively in this category - kudos to these amazing runners!  BTW - this is probably the first event that I ran without a cap. I have decided that the cap is more a hindrance rather than an advantage for shorter distance events(5K/10K) where one is trying to complete at an average pace faster than 5 minutes per Km. Rahul's official chip timing was 1:18:42. Official results are available here.

Rahul, Akshay, Chandru in the holding area before the race

With Rahul and Akshay after the race

Rahul,Chandru and Akshay after the race

More on Bangalore Ultra 2009..

Had a pretty nervous and restless week leading up to the Ultra on 15th November 2009 - sensing a few aches and pains and a mild sore throat. The gloomy weather also added to the lethargy. However, the weather became a bit better toward the end of the week and the excitement of participating in the 3rd Bangalore Ultra became palpable as I interacted with a number of fellow runners while collecting the running bib on 14th afternoon.

As has now become the norm for any long run I woke up on 15th November a few minutes before my alarm rang. Partha and Sridharan reached the Domlur signal as planned at 4:20 after picking up Rohit from Diamond district. Due to the discussions we were having while driving and the construction work happening in the area we missed the right turn to Hesaraghatta and had to drive up 3-4 Kms before we could make a U-turn and return. We were fortunate that we decided on Saturday evening to advance our departure time by 15-20 minutes - else we may not have reached the venue on time. We managed to get there barely  20  minutes before the start time. The direction banners with the ultra logo enroute were quite helpful .  We crossed a few runners runnign with torches - these runners had started their race at 5am. The energy and the comraderie at the holding area was amazing - lots of familiar runners and many new ones too!

The race started bang on time at 6am after a few announcements from A1, A2 and Atul of Runners For Life. I started at a moderate pace - my goal was to do the first 25K(2 loops) in about 2 and a half hours and then do the remaining 25K in as close to 3 hours as possible. It was perfect weather for distance running and stayed that way through out the day - partly cloudy, breezy at times and intermittent ligt drizzle - what more can one ask for of the weather gods? The route is 6.25K out and back - the number of loops varies depending on the distance one is running. This provides a great opportunity to see and cheer other runners multiple times during the run - a unique characteristic of the Bangalore Ultra.    At about the 2Km mark I sighted Honda San  and other 100K/75K runners on their way back. And what an incredible race Honda had - completing 100Km in 10:23 in what seemed to many of us effortlessly.

I completed the first loop in under 1:15 and the second one in just about 2:30. In the second loop I ate my energy bar.  I ran a bit with Saptagirish and also with Rohit. I  met Amit from Delhi runners and Masao Nakayama who had come over from Singapore to run the Ultra. A stretch of the route in the forest route was wet due to overnight rain and one had to be careful. Also, once the 25K and 12.5K runners hit the trail the route was cramped for space in sections. Though it was great to see so many runners coming all the way to run these different distances and it is great for promoting running and also for RFL's business, opening up the 12.5K distance at the ultra is a subject of debate and diasgreement among distance runners.  I started to slow down a bit in the third round as my stomache was hurting. Nevertheless, I pushed on the cheering from other runners helping me quite a lot. Unlike the last two Ultras I was more focused on timing this time and did not stop for too long at any of the aid stations - which were as usual well stocked. However, apart from the 3 bananas before the start and the energy bar during the run I did not eat anything else. I mostly drank only water - only in  the 4rth loop I had some electral. By the time I started my 4rth round I was quite confident of comfortably bettering my previous year's time of 5:50. And felt that the target of  sub 5:30 was achievable.  I managed to push my tiring legs and wavering mind to finish in 5:22:29 - 2nd in the senior men's and 7th overall. I had to immediately dash off to the loo - as A1 said when I crossed him towards finishing the 4rth loop- a price well worth paying for sahving 28 minutes off my last years time! Rohit finished shortly thereafter completing his first run beyond 35K in an excellent time of 5:40:30.  I was quite happy with the race and the event overall. Not having digital clocks at the start point was disappointing and the food was a huge let down again.

The Ultra is by far the best race in India for any runner to run their longest distance ever. And this is testified by the number of runners who ran 75K and 100K this year. And the numerous runners who did their first 25K, 37.5K and 50K!  It was truly amazing to see runners like Jugy, Rahul Verghese and Leona complete 75K and then Athreya, Melvin and Sunil Chainani completing 100K! And what about the ever smiling Chandra who ran a strong 75K for a second year in a row in 9:23! Overall all the runners from BHUKMP had a great outing at this year's ultra. Click here for RFL's fortnightly newsletter covering this year's ultra and a couple of the standout runners.  And here for complete results. The winners of the 50K,75K and 100K events are listed here in a friend's blog. Pictures from Monica's album and Ramesh's album on Facebook.

To run or not to run Nike+ Human Race on 24rth October?

The Nike 10K Human race is not an ideal one for long distance runners training for the Bangalore ultra on November 15th. Plus the race is on a Saturday afternoon and at Clark’s Exotica located quite far from the city. Therefore, it is not surprising that many RFL runners have decided to give it a miss. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead and register for it mainly because the NGO partner for the race is Dream A Dream and also a few others from my apartment community were interested in participating. The thinking was if I did a 10K in around 48 minutes , the same time as I took in Sunfeast 10K 2009, then it could serve as a good tempo run. Also I had planned my long runs in such a way that I could take it easy the weekend of 24th/25th October . The intent was to do a 4 hour/35K+ run on October 18th with a bunch of BHUKMP runners after gorging on Diwali sweets and savories on 17th. And follow this up with a 30K run on 31st October. Unfortunately, due to a massive stomach upset I could neither hog nor do my long run this weekend. For the 2nd time in less than 8 weeks I fell sick(does exercise increase or decrease immunity – a topic that needs to be researched further!). Due to this I am now in two minds about participating in this race. I am thinking maybe I will skip the 10K race and get in the 4hour/35K+ run instead. Will need to decide latest by Thursday. The irony is that I felt well enough by Sunday night to do a solo 21K/2:01 run this morning!.