Momentum week with a bad ending

After a long while I managed a 55Km +  week with a 20Km  run with BHUKMP and Red Dragon runners on Saturday followed by a 18Km solo in  EGL. Add to this 12Kms of cycling and two strengthening sessions at Manipal hospital department of sports and excercise medicine. This is the highest mileage in a non marathon week in a long time. While the next event is the Sunfeast world 10K 2010 it was important for me do a high mileage week after a break of nearly two months after the Strides of hope. I also decided to resume strenght training again after a break of 2 months. While I have found it quite comfortable to do a 2 hour 20K run (have even managed a few 50 minutes 10Km solo runs recently) I found strength training to be much more challenging. Even though I re-started the excercises with weights of less than 15-20 pounds it has been a struggle to do sets of 2 minutes on most machines. Hopefully next week should be better from strength training perspective. Of course, next week will be a low mileage week running-wise as I am travelling to Chennai for a couple fo days for a wedding and I do not plan to run there.

A decent week was ruined with my Garmin 305 dying this morning. I have been having trouble with the buttons that change the display pages for the last few weeks. One of the buttons stopped working and the other has gradually worn out completely. As a result I have been unable to change the display to the page with the average pace which is my favourite parameter when I am targeting specific finish times. So I tinkered a bit with it this morning after the run and the power went off on the device and now I am unable to power it on again. Am extremely sad about this as for the last three years I have been so used to running with the Garmin that I felt quite lost whenever I had to run without one. I am going to try and get the device fixed in a local watch repair shop. However, if that does not work out then I will have to order a new device soon. I am not sure what the average life of the Garmin 305 is or should be. I have used my device for over 5400Km of running and 1600Km since July 2007.

2nd Science and Technology Run

Due to work related travel  I could not participate in the 1st edition of the Science and Technology run(http://www.sntrun.org/)  at IISc in 2009 though I had registered for it. So I was eagerly looking forward to this year's edition on 11th April - to go back and run a 10Km in the beautiful campus of my alma mater. To relive my early days of running for it is in this campus 30 years ago that I first started jogging. This year my son Rahul also decided to run this. He was prepared to run the fun 5K in this event. However, when we reached the venue around 7am we realised that I had registered him for a 10K instead of 5K. The longest he had run before was 5.7K as part of the Majja run in Sunfeast World 10K 2009. Recently he had done 4Km as start of  his training for the Sunfeast World 10K 2010.  He decided to run/walk and do as much as possible.

I left home around 620am with Rahul and Adam. Space for four wheeler parking was provided in the gymkhana grounds. Met Athreya and Reena at the parking lot. We took the overbridge to cross the main road and enter the main campus and walked over to the main building area with the statue of JRD Tata to collect our bibs. There were quite a few familiar runners from RFL there. The bib collection process was quite smooth and all runners were also given a cap and a T-shirt. Adam and I decided to warm up by running back to the parking lot to put the T-shirts in the car.

All runners moved to the starting line around 7:35 am and after a wait of nearly 10 minutes there the race was flagged off. There were probably around 500 runners for the 10K. I decided to try and keep a steady pace and target a below 50 minutes run. Ran the first 3 Kms or so with Nari at about 4:45 minutes per Km pace. The route was wonderful with fair amount of green cover. However it was quite a warm morning and soon the pace started to drop. However, I managed to keep the pace just around an average of 5 mins per Km. There were'nt any Km markers along the way. The route seemed to take a criss-cross path and if it were'nt for volunteers at vantage points the chances of taking a wrong turn was quite high.

Most of the route was on the road ; however there was a good trail section as well. There were water points every few Kms. While my intent was not to stop at the water points in the first half of the race the ehat got to me and I had to stop at least at every alternate water station.

When my Garmin showed just about 8Kms and I was looking to sprint after about 1.5Km I suddenly realised that the finish point was a few hundred meters away. Therefore I accelerated and finished in about 43 and a half minutes with my Garmin showing a little over 8.5Km. Athreya and Adam had finished a few minutes earlier. It was quite disappointing that the route fell short by nearly 1.5Km. When I spoke to the organiser he said that the route was marked for 10Kms and I must have missed a turn somewhere. That seemed unlikely as all runners I spoke to concurred that the route was well short of 10Km. See here for a discussion on this.

After cooling off a bit I walked to the T-intersection in order to join Rahul for his finish. After a few minutes he came by and I did a run/walk with him for a little over a Km to help him finish his longest distance ever.

Considering that he was mentally prepared to run only 5Km in this event this was a great achievement. As we were leaving the 5Km run was starting. We returned home by about 10am quite satisfied with the event despite the route being shorter than 10Km.

Thoughts on Ideal racing weight

One of my key running goals is to continue to improve my full marathon finish time towards my long term objective of qualifying  for Boston in a few years. A recent article that I read  titled What is your ideal racing weight? written by Matt Fitzgerald (I hope to buy his book   'Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance' soon)  for Active.com triggered off some research on the topic. The article says that the optimal weight for a runner also optimises the body fat percentage. To quote from the article:

your (ideal) racing weight is defined as the weight that is associated with the lowest body fat percentage you can attain without overtraining or under-nourishing your body. Because of the strong influence of individual factors, there is no way to accurately predict your lowest healthy body fat percentage, although it is likely to fall in the range of 3 to 9 percent if you're a male under 40, 5 to 12 percent if you're a male over 40, 12 to 17 percent if you're a female under 40, and 15 to 20 percent if you're a female over 40.

Hmm..I guess that's where I need to focus ; however that is going to be  challenging.  All the distance running over the last 9 years has resulted in a weight reduction of 8-9 pounds but it has now stabilised at 140 pounds(+/- 2 pounds) for the last 4 years or so. I have found it almost impossible to reduce the weight any further - probably beacuse  I eat quite a bit and often succumb to temptation wrt to fried foods and desserts(As I have said before what is the point in running so much if one cannot eat and drink as one pleases.

Here are a  few more interesting (albeit conflicting) articles  I came across on the topic.

Amby Burfoot in an article in Runner's World titled 'What's your ideal weight' says that losing weight almost always helps with running performance. Some excerpts from the article: Lose too much weight, and you become weaker and slower, not stronger and faster. Still, there's no denying that healthy runners will race about two seconds per mile faster for every pound they lose. Weight loss boosts maximal aerobic capacity (VO2 max), an essential contributor to distance-running potential, because the less weight you carry around, the more miles per gallon you get from your oxygen. And because losing a few pounds makes running easier, you should be able to increase your workout distance and speed. So losing weight helps you train harder. The article refers to a 'Flyer Handicap Caclulator' devised by a runner and Physiologist from University of Dayton which "equalises"  performances across runners of different weights. As per this calculator, based on my current PB,  if I were 25 years old I would complete a FM in about 3 hours 23 minutes!!

Dr. Stillman's height/weight ratio table is discussed in an article on weight and performance in an interesting site called Peak Performance  He fixes the non-active man's average weight for height with a simple formula. He allocates 110lbs (56.2kg) for the first five feet (1.524m) in height and 5 1/2lbs (2.296kg) for every inch (0.025m) thereafter. He is harsher with women, giving them 100lbs (45.3kg) for the first five feet and 5lbs (2.268kg) for every inch above this. He then speculates on the ideal weight for athletic performance, as follows:

Sprinters (100-400m): 21/2 per cent lighter than average (6ft/176lbs - 21/2% = 4lbs)
Middle-distance runners (800m - 10K): 12 per cent lighter (or 19lbs)
Long-distance runners (10 miles onwards): 15 per cent lighter (or 251/2lbs)

As per this for my height of 5 ft 6 in. the non-active man's average weight  is 143 Lbs and as a long-distance runner my  weight should be 121 Lbs!. The article also states that as a runner one should aim to be at least 10% lower than the average weight which in my case is about 130 Lbs.  That's definitely not going to be possible in this lifetime!!

Both Stillman's height/Weight ratio and also a BMI table are illustrated in  the article Weight: The percentage factor. Peak Performance also has a nice article on Body Fat and Running Performance which explains how excess body fat is a disadvantage for endurance runners - the total amount of fat that is needed for energy supply does not exceed about 200g for the average marathon runner!

The last time I measured my body fat % in the SCMM 2010 expo in Janaury  it was 18%. So my goal over the next few years  is to try and bring it down to say 12% and perhaps  get the weight down  to 135 lbs. This is a tough ask based on my past experience -I easily tend to put on a few pounds in the off-season when I am not running long distances . To achieve my goal I need to seriously watch my diet . I am seriously thinking of procuring a body fat monitor scale to help in this objective. I welcome comments and enlightenment from other runners and experts on the physiology of running.

Contours International Adidas Women's day run

I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout for this run last Sunday organised by Contours International in support of Intenrational Women's day. There seemed to be over 500 runners participating in either 5K or 10K at Ulsoor Lake. Probably the convenience of the central location was one contributing factor. The run conducted by Runners for Life required 10K participants to do 3 loops around the Ulsoor lake starting and finishing in the Home Guards ground. I rode to the venue in the Red Dragon - we reached there just in the nick of time. The run started a few minutes after 630am before my Garmin could link up with the satellite. It was nice to run around the Ulsoor Lake after a long time specially with traffic blocked on one line. A few years ago RFL used to conduct its long runs quite regularly at this venue and I have actually done 11 laps around the lap ie 39K  in preparation for a marathon. This run reminded me of those early days of RFL runs.  I ran at a easy pace. My Garmin started working towards the end of Loop 1 after about 2.5Km. I ran a bit with Rishi and quite a lot with Srinivas. En route in the 3rd loop I saw my cousin Raji walking and also ger daughter Indu jogging. I completed the 10 K in approximately 53 minutes without sweating at all - this is 4-5 minutes slower than my performance in the 2009 Sunfeast 10K. Met with a lot of runners in the ground at the finish point and also my cousin and her daughter. It was great to see so many new faces there as well. Congrats to Ravi Shankar, Amrita, Neera and Pani for their podium finishes! Returned home after a hearty and boisterous breakfast at Konark. Overall it was a nice enjoyable morning. Click here for some photographs of the event.

Post run group photo

More thoughts from Strides of Hope experience

A little over two weeks after the  Strides of Hope run here are a few random musings and more pictures from the event(in  keeping with my recent habit of two posts related to every major event)

• The fact that I was able to do a run/walk for 13.5 hours without any specific training shows that the limits of human endurance can be stretched quite a bit

• This has  awakened my interest in ultra endurance events specially multi-day events. In the US and other 'running mature' countries there are quite a few such events. Multi-day events are at a nascent stage in India. Globracers is organising a couple of such events that sound quite exciting and challenging. I will look at doing one of these in years to come.

•  I feel I should have carried a change of shoes for the event. Using the same pair of shoes for over 13 hours was definitely not a good idea. A fresh pair of shoes might have given a new lease of life to my feet and enabled me to carry on a bit longer

• I also broke a cardinal principle of mine of 'Not trying anything new during an event' by helping myself to sumptous regular  (and very good) food during the dinner break. My digestive system was obviously not used to running after such a meal. If I had stayed with maybe sandwiches, nuts and dry fruits I may not have hit the GI stress at dawn. See here for an excellent post on GI Stress.

• Another realisation I had during the run was my addiction to running with a cap. I have  rarely done a long run or a run in any event without a cap. The cap of course helps when it is either very warm or cold or even if it drizzles. Apart from that it helps absorb the sweat around my forehead. And now it has become a pyschological requirement for me. During one of the loops at EGL, while changing my running shirt to a full sleeve shirt I forgot to wear back my cap. I felt very conscious of this during the entire lap and was anxious to get back to the aid station point and wear the cap again. Talking of sweat I think I sweat very little compared to many runners I know - not sure the reason for this. But in general I am not a sweating type.

With Vinod and Anjana: Ulsoor to EGL Feb 20th 2010

Ulsoor to EGL escorted by a cycle and a car : 20th Feb 2010

EGL in-between laps: Feb 20th 2010

Returning to the aid station after a lap at EGL :20th Feb 2010

Taking off for a lap at EGL :20th Feb 2010

Break from long distance running

With the end of the  running season in India,  I am taking a break from long distance running for a few months.  I am also taking a break from strengthening sessions at Manipal hospital after a period of 5 months. I plan to resume this in the beginning of May.  This year the break also coincides with the summer in Bangalore. Last year I took the break in August and September since my streak of 12 marathons in 12 months ended in July 2009 .That  break  definitely helped me get back rejuvanated and finish strongly at the Bangalore Ultra and SCMM 2010.  For the next couple of months I plan to run a weekly mileage of about 35K to 40K across 3-4 days a week and cycle 2-3 days with one day of rest. During this time my long run will be either 20Km or 25Km during this period.  My  next run beyond 25Km is likely to be in late June/early July as I commence preparations  for my next full marathon at the end of August in Hyderabad.

81Km run/walk as part of Strides of Hope

After the finish at Madhavan Park - 21st February 2010

I fell well short of my original, ambitous goal of being on my feet for 24 hours -  after over 13.5 hours of being on my feet my stomach and legs  were hurting bad and when I paused to consider whether I should go on or not at about 5:30am on 21st morning at EGL, both the body and mind chickened out. Later that afternoon as I comfortably ran the 2Km from Lalbagh to Madhavan park for the finale of Strides of Hope I felt a bit low that I had not pushed myself more and done one or two loops as part of the RFL run that morning and hit 100Km or at least 90Km. Now a few days after the event I have got over this and am satisified that I was able to achieve my longest ever run and along the way contribute my bit to this unique event  and help spread awareness about running and the wonderful work being done by Asha for under-privileged children.

Being a passionate running evangelist and also an ardent supporter of helping under-privileged children through my involvement with Dream A Dream it took me just a few minutes to decide to run/walk as much as possible  in the Strides of Hope.   A light cold and fever a few days before the event did not deter me at all. Since I was not targeting any particular pace I did not feel nervous as I usually do when leading up to a race. On Friday 19th night , I along with my wife, dropped in at EGL around 10:45 PM to check how things were going. There were quite a few runners and volunteers there. I met Sunand Sampath and Murtaza who had undertaken to walk the entire 48 hrs. I felt quite excited about the whole event. Nevertheless, I managed a good 7 and a half hours sleep on Friday night.

On 20th afternoon I reached Cubbon Park a little before 3:30PM.  Santosh who had been on his feet for nearly 24 hours had hurt his ankle and was resting. I along with Sam Reddy started a slow run to Ulsoor lake around 3:40PM. Within a few minutes we felt quite warm and started looking for water to buy which we got on Infantry road near Safina Plaza. The traffic along the route was high so the run was not much fun. However, Sam and I were meeting for the first time so we chatted all the way and covered the distance of about 6Kms in 45 minutes or so to reach the Home Guards parking lot opposite the Ulsoor lake.

With Santosh and Shanavas at Ulsoor Feb 20th evening

 I then ran the 3.3Km loop inside Ulsoor Lake for a little over 3 hours in the company of various runners at  different points in time.   This included Sam, Shanavas, a 15 year old (10K/35mts runner) called Puttaraj, Pratibha, Chandra, Gautam and of course Santosh. Sam who has moved back to Bangalore after living in South Africa has completed Comrades an impressive 11 times!Santosh's parents also walked a few rounds. I was running in the ground inside the lake for the first time- it seemed a fairly good place to run. There were quite a few walkers and runners there and also people including a few couples  generally hanging around. Running here was a bit tough after sunset due to lack of lights. Gautum and I did a couple of loops with torches. I maintained a steady pace of between 7:30 and 8:15 per Km and did a total of little over 29Km when we ended the run at the lake and took a break for dinner. The aid station there was well stocked with water melon, oranges, bananas, electral, coconut water, lemon juice and biscuits etc. During this period I finished a Power Bar energy bar. Santosh had stopped due to ankle pain about an hour earlier. Sunand and Murtaza were walking strongly and steadily. Also Jagadish and Sindhu completed their amazing 12 hour walk during this period.

We all had dinner in the parking lot of Home guardsI ate  a couple of paranthas, Pulodarai and banana chips and curd rice with pickles. The food was quite awesome and I probably ended up eating a bit more than I should have. While  eating I kept my Garmin for charging. After dinner I changed my shirt and socks and then along with  Vinod and Anjana  started our run to EGL. We were accompanied by Biju on the cycle and Gautam and Anjana's husband in their cars. We literally felt like VIPs/celebrities. Of course the traffic enroute was quite bad - specially around the Ulsoor lake and old Madras Road. We covered the 6 Kms in 50 minutes and entered the parking lot of Goldman Sachs in EGL to loud claps. It felt good and energising.

There were quite a few volunteers and runners at EGL. I ended up doing  a total of 5 loops of 9.2Km each. In every loop there were 7 or 8 runners with me and at least one cyclist . There were familiar faces like Manoj Bhat, Ambar and Amit Joshi. Plus I met and chatted up with a number of fantastic runners for the first time: Vikram Kamath, Manish, Deepak, Prakash etc. The aid station at EGL was well stocked through out the night and the volunteers and other runners there were extremely enthusiastic and helpful. Their cheering and clapping each time we left and each time we returned was a huge motivator. The route here was very familair to me as I run here during the weekdays as part of my regular training.Running here at night was a bit different but I did not find it much tougher. There was one part of the route that was dug up and quite difficult to navigate in the dark and there were also other parts of the route that were pitch dark - the torches that some of us were carrying were very useful. I tried to do a run/walk routine : 25 minutes of running with 5 minutes of walking. In the second loop I crossed my previous longest distance ie 52Km and entered uncharted territory. It felt a little cooler after midnight so for the 3rd loop onwards I changed to a full-sleeve shirt . Till the end of second loop (approx 53Km)I felt quite comfortable. However, towards  the second half  of third loop my stomach began to ache  -probably the effect of  running immediately after dinner - something that I was not used to. I used the rest room at Goldman Sachs - but that did not seem to help. For the 4rth loop I left my Garmin for charging. In this and the next loop I was part of some wonderful conversation with Manish and Prakash on various subjects. The amazing thing about Manish is that he was able to walk very comfortably at a steady pace of about 7Km/hr and he also ensured that I did not speed up. By the end of 4rth loop my stomach discomfort had increased significantly and of course my feet and legs were were also hurting. I sensed the beginning of an ITB issue. Preeti helped me stretch a bit and after a brief break I set off on my 5th loop. However, I could now feel  my resolve for going on diminishing quite rapidly.  It was both a physical and mental battle. Most of the 5th loop I ended up walking with Manish. I did very little running during this loop. On the return leg,  as the day was breaking, we started seeing some early morning walkers along the way. At the end of this loop I took off my shoes and socks and examined my feet. There were no blisters - however the feet were hurting quite badly. And my stomach felt extremely gassy. I pondered for several minutes whether to go on or not. During this period I also checked and rechecked with Rajeev, Preeti etc whether there were sufficient runners to carry on run through the 48 hours period. They had prepared a roster of runners to ensure this. After about 15 minutes or so of ' should I' or ' Should I not' I opted out though I did not feel great about it. At just about  6 am I left for home in Prakash's car - enroute we saw a bunch of RFL runners starting their run .

Lalbagh to Madhavan Park 21st Feb afternoon

I had to rush to the bathroom as soon as I reached home. I felt quite drained out and after eating a few biscuits slept solid for over 3 hours. I woke up feeling quite allright and a few hours later  landed up at Lalbagh with Amit Joshi for the finale of the event. A large bunch of us started a slow jog from Lalbagh to Madhavan park at 330PM. Though most of us were quite exhausted and it was a very warm afternoon the energy, excitement and enthusiasm of the group was very high. At Madhavan Park we(by now there were probably over 50 of us)  did a few loops on the track and counted down the last few seconds to loud shouts, cheers and Hi-5s bringing down the curtains on a unique event that was planned and executed very well. Happily for the running community in Bangalore this is now planned to be an annual event. I lost about 4 pounds during the run - of course I gained that back within 24 hours.  Though there were still a few aches and pains and my cold got a bit worse, I recovered almost completely in a couple of days.

I got over the disappointement of  stopping after 81Km quickly and felt good that I was able to   run a good 30KM more than I have ever done before in life and that too without specifically training for it. And doing this 1 week after Auroville marathon meant that I had done 42K+ on back to back weekends clocking a mileage of over 130Kms in a space of 8 days! Also, for the first time I ran through the night - I did not find that different from day time running probably due to the wonderful company I had.  Doing run/walk at one's own pace without having to worry about timing was a wonderful finale to the long distance running season- thanks to Santosh and Strides of Hope for making this happen. A unique thing about this event is that at no point in time was I alone - I always had company. Participating in this event has reinforced my confidence that I can scale between doing fast full marathons and running slow ultras comfrotably and enjoy doing both!

Strides of Hope..a unique event coming up this weekend

The Strides of Hope is a unique event- probably the first of its kind. It is a 48 hrs endurance run  organized by the running community of Bangalore to encourage more and more of its citizens to take up a healthy and environment friendly lifestyle. The event in itself will be a 48 hour continuous run by various runners around parks and popular roads in Bangalore. This is also an effort to raise awareness about education for the underprivileged children in India by raising money for Asha. The run starts at Ulsoor lake on Friday 19th Feb at 4PM and will end on Sunday 21st Feb at 4PM in Lal Bagh covering EGL(Embassy Golf Link) and Cubbon Park in between.  The idea came from  Santosh Padmanabhan who plans to run/walk the entire 48 hrs. He has the experience of doing about 156Kms in 24 hours at the 2008 Bangalore Ultra and is now challenging himself to go much beyond! Runners are expected to join in and give him company at various points and/or times which willd efintiely increase the awareness of running in the city. Participants who do not want to run can of course walk or even cycle.

When I first heard of this event a week before the Auroville  race  I immediately felt I had  to participate and impulsively decided to run at EGL through Saturday(20th Feb) night.  Later it occurred to me  that maybe I can even attempt a 24 hours run/walk from Saturday 4PM and test the limits of my endurance. Crazy thouhght immediately frowned upon by family members but then running like any other addiction can drive one to do crazy stuff. That is another reason why I took it easy at Auroville. Now with just about one and a half days to go before Saturday afternoon things are a bit uncertain. I have come down with a medium severity cold and may be heading for a light fever. However,  I am very keen on participating and am doing whatever I can do get better including salt water gargling 2-3 times a day. Depending on how I feel Saturday AM I might end up doing the originally planned 12 hours. However bad I feel healthwise I am certain to be around providing support to the participants of this unique event. I also wish Santosh the very best in this endeavour !

More on Auroville 2010..mostly pictures

As mentioned in my previous post I did not come across any runner in Auroville who did not enjoy the experience. One of the areas of improvement is the limited portion of  pasta dinner the night before the race. The lack of Km markers in the last stretch of the route was another thing. And the third thing is the women's dorm. Apparently it was quite uncomfortable and not very hygenic.The only other point that comes to mind is the red mud soaked socks and shoes.

Due to the relatively slow pace that I did in the race(50 seconds per Km slower than the pace at SCMM 2010) I recovered quite quickly and did a couple of easy runs of 4.5Km  and 8Km during the week.

The pictures here were taken by me 'on the run' using my Blackberry 8520. The official timings and pictures are still awaited - perhaps that is another area of improvement. They should be published within 72 hours of the race.

Maitri Mandir on the first loop

Aid station #4 at 39Km

Aid station with volunteer on cycle

Sun just coming out - a little after 6am

Amrita, Rishi, Sunil and Ashok after the race

Ran easy, Ran to the beat of my heart..

'Run easy,run to the beat of your heart' said the tag line on the bib of the 3rd Auroville marathon held on 14th February  and that was exactly what I did! The course, the atmosphere, the ensthusiastic volunteers etc resulted in a  wonderful race day experience once again this year - exceeding the high expectations of the event that I and many other runners had. I completed my 26th Full marthon(including 3 ultras) comfortably in under 4:36 within  my target time of 4:40 without pushing too hard. Over 24 hours after the run I feel that I am well on the way to recovery -  the recovery seems much faster say compared to my Mumbai run 4 weeks ago probably because I run at much slower pace and also because most of the route was not as hard as an asphalted road .  When I set my running goals for 2010 I had anyway decided that I will push hard in SCMM 2010 and Hyderabad marathon and take it easy and enjoy the scenery and the runs at Auroville and Bangalore Ultra. In the days leading up to the Auroville run I even toyed with the idea of switching from FM to HM after I heard about the 48 hours run as part of Strides of Hope. As soon as I learnt about this event, on an impulse, I felt  that with no pressure of pace and timing I should try and run as much as possible between 12 and 24 hours as part of this event just to test my limits of endurance. However, I finally decided to stay with the FM at Auroville - somehow I am not motivated to travel out of town to run anything less than a FM.

Since the Auroville run was on a long weekend (12th Friday being Maha Shivaratri) I had originally planned to drive to Pondy on 12th morning with my wife and do a bit of sightseeing in the area. I had booked a room in the Center Guesthouse in the centre of Auroville - same place where I stayed last year. However, due to my wife and son falling sick earlier in the week I had to change my plans and ended up take a ride in Pankaj's Red Dragon on Saturday 13th morning. Other than this change of plans I had a pretty cool week in the run up to the race – maybe because I was not targeting any aggressive time target and had decided to take it easy and enjoy the trail and the race I felt less pressure and stress.

Left home at about 6:15 am and joined Pankaj and co in Koramangla. Others in the car were Ashok Nath, Sonit Chadha and Wing Commander Vinod. We had a great time during the drive to Pondy though we ended up driving about 80km more than we should have. The highly energetic and enthusiastic fighter pilot was asked a lot of questions by the rest of us which he answered very patiently. There were several cars full of runners going to Pondy that morning. Some of us stopped at Kamat Uphaar just before Krishnagiri for breakfast and later at Krishna Grand near Vellore for a comfort break and tea/coffee. We reached Hotel Ginger in Pondy just before 3 nearly 8 hours after leaving Koramangla.

After cleaning up whatever food was availabl in the restaurant at Ginger we reached the visitor's center in Auroville to collect the bib. The collection of the bib and bagage tag(no bag or T-shirt/torch up front this time) took less than 5 minutes. Meant a number of runners from Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. While a bunch of Bangalore runners went to the Auroville beach I decided to hand around in the visitor's area talking to other fellow runners. It was really nice - I enjoyed the camraderie and the interactions thoroughly. Runners in T-shirts of Hyderabad runners, Chennai runners, Runners for Life showed the increasing popularity of running in the country. Around 645PM the pasta dinner was served. The food was good but it was not adequate for most runners. The choice was to eat either lasagne or pasta with salad. It would have been nice to have had both. I felt so hungry that I bought and ate two chocolate brownies. A video tape of last year's race was playing on a large screen in the courtyard. After dinner I walked back , in pitch darkness, to the Center guesthouse and located my room after a bit of an anxious time. I shared the room with Jaideep Pegu another Bangalore runner.

I went to bed by 9:45and though the room was comfortable it took me a while to sleep and as always I woke up on my own at 3:15am a few minutes before the alarm went off. Jaideep and I left the room a little after 4:15am and walked the 2 Kms to the start point , that is, Certitude. Along the way we met with Ram Viswanathan - veteran runner and founder of Chennai runners group and Ram Prasad Dasari - also a Chennai runner now living in Bangalore.  When we reached the start point at Certitude around 4:40 am it was already buzzing with lots of runners - greeting each other, warming up. I checked in my bag at the baggage counter, signed in the sign-up sheet and collected my torch. Just after we got there an anchor  started announcements in a baritone voice egging on the runners to get ready for the race. He kicked off the race a couple of minutes after 5.

Starting off in complete darkness with light bobbing from torches was a fascinating and unique experience. Though I had done it last year still I felt quite apprehensive taking each step cautiously and running at quite a slow pace. Since most of my fellow runners take off quite quickly I was pretty much alone. I saw Ram Viswanathan pull ahead. Apart from the light from runners torchers there were volunteer cyclists with headlights and also some relief from lights in the village that we ran through as the inhabitants were just waking up and starting their day. After about 3Kms on the road we entered the trail area and things became tougher. Negotiating uneven terrain with its ups and downs and bumps was challenging - more than once I almost tripped but luckily for me I managed to hold my balance. I am quite amazed how so many runners are able to keep a fast apce even in this darkness. Several runners from bangalore did a sub 4 hour finish here which is quite incredible. Whenever I glanced at my Garmin and could make out the reading I seemed to be running between 6:30 and 6:40 average pace which was as per my target. The day break around 5:50am is the best part of the Auroville experience, for me. The sun rays slowly streaking through the trees, sound of birds and often running alone - it is an amazing feeling. Around this time I met Ajit - a Bangalore based runner doing his first Full marathon. We ran pretty much together from about 6Km or so till almost 27Km or so. The trail itself was extremely scenic going through various parts of Auroville at times what semed like going past the back yards of people living there. Any Aurovillan we met whether standing, walking or riding their bicycle, scooter or motorbike cheered the runners on. The aid stations were well stocked with water, electral, fruits and energy bars and manned by helpful and enthusiastic volunteers. While the route was shaded by trees most of the way once could feel the heat and humidity quite early on in the run.

The Full marathon consists of 2 loops. The route was same as last year - there were perhaps a few minor changes. I completed the first in about 2:15. At the start of the second loop I met MS Suresh an ex-colleague from Mumbai who I had also met at the start point. He was doing a run-walk routine. And then I passed Prateek. I managed to keep a steady average pace despite stopping for several seconds at each aid station and stopping to take pictures - the only run in which I tend to take pictures. I took pictures of the Maitri Mandir in booth loops - all my photos in the next post. The pictures here are borrowed from others.  Around the 35Km mark I met Amrita who was tiring and asked me to go ahead. I reached the 37Km  mark after 4 hours of running(while in Mumbai I made it at least 30 minutes earlier). The road stretch after the last aid station at 39Km was challenging due to the heat and fatigue setting here. It was around here that I overtook Ram from Chennai. It is sense of relief to enter th trail again. This part of the route did not have distance markers - having those would definitely motivate tiring runners. I ran this stretch alone and as I made the turn for the final stretch of 400m or so like last year there was a cyclist escorting each runner into the gate of certitude. And from the gate Balaji(one of the organisers of the event and a marathoner himself) took over. He paced each runner to the finish point accompanied by loud  cheering from the bystanders - spectators and runners who had completed their run. And not to forget the anchor who was welcoming each finisher with the same energy and enthusiasm with which he had flagged the runners off several hours earlier. I finished with my Garmin showing 4:35:03- average pace of 6:34 - as per my goal. This time a medal was given to each runner at the finish point. Talking to the runners there I concluded that there was'nt a single runner who did not enjoy the trail, the hospitality of the organisers and volunteers and have a great time that day. There are very races in India about which one can say this. And this with no sponsors and very reasonable cost to runners. Kudos to Aurovillans and the organisers. No wonder the event has grown from barely 150 runners in its 1st edition to over 800 this year.

I had pongal and vada breakfast(the queue for Dosas was too long!), collected my T-shirt , chatted with several runners and then went back to my guesthouse. After a quick shower I checked out of the room . Rishi and gang picked me up and we went back to Pondicherry for lunch. We had lunch at a place called Rendezvous. The food was very good but service was pathetic felt more so because we were all extremely hungry. We left for Bangalore around 3PM and amazingly Pankaj drove pretty much non-stop and got us to Koramangla a little after 8PM. I will never be able to run like this after running a full marathon though of course I was significantly less tired compared to the run in Mumbai. I got home by 9PM after a wonderful weekend resolving yet again that I will come back year after year to participate in this event!!

Recently acquired books

The last couple of years I have been collecting books on running. See the list on LHS. After a haitus of not buying anything in 2009, in a frenzied session, I bought the following books from Amazon in January 2010.
Hope to read them and a few from my existing collection by the end of the year!

50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days -- and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance! by Dean Karnazes and Matt Fitzgerald

I Run, Therefore I Am--Nuts! by Bob Schwartz

Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach By  Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald

Wired to Run: The Runaholics Anonymous Guide to Living with Running Addiction  By Scoop Skupien

Zen and the Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace By  Larry Shapiro