Marathon Musings

My CS final exams finally got over on the 1^st week of June. I wanted to revive my practice after finishing my maiden half marathon at the TWCM’12. Even though I completed a half marathon 6 months ago I found it difficult to run during the initial stages of practice. I gained solid 10kgs after my brother’s wedding on April. All my pants became very tight in a limited time span. I started swimming and could see a little fat melting away.

I was little guilty that I abruptly stopped my practice after TWCM’12. I connected with Chennai Runners and ran small distances with them. I was back in my feet with the same glee I had during TWCM’12 practice. I witnessed lot of people signing up for Terry Fox Run at IIT madras which was scheduled to be held on August 25^th. The race day coincided with my exam result day. The run was named after Terry fox who ran across the world to create awareness about cancer after he contracted a rare kind of cancer. It was a 6km run. After finishing the run there was this huge white board where one can write on the board for dedicating their run. I dedicated the run to my aunt who passed away after having fought a tough battle against cancer.

My exam result was supposed to be declared at 11:00 am. I was refreshing the webpage from 10:30 am. I was very anxious and the tension shot up when the clock showed 11:00 am. Entered my roll number and the page was loading slowly which further increased my blood pressure. Lo & behold I cleared my final exam. I’m now a qualified Company Secretary. Unable to control my excitement I removed my T shirt and flung it continuously in the air like how Sourav Ganguly did after winning the NatWest series against England.

Soon I left to Bangalore for a break. Signed up for CTC’s Trail marathon (Half). I abruptly cut my practice run after I took a week’s break in Bangalore. After returning to Chennai my laziness was back to destroy me. I found it difficult to wake up in the morning. The race day was nearing with barely twenty days of practice left. I had my own doubts if I could run the half marathon. After lot of deliberate thoughts I decided to switch over to 10K run.

The running route was located in Sholavaram. The trail was muddy thanks to the heavy rains on the day of the marathon. The route was challenging both for the runners as well as the organizers as the route marks got washed away. Nevertheless the spirit was never lost and the organizers spared no effort to make it a wonderful event.     

After relaxing for a day or two I started practicing hard for TWCM’13. This time I was focused and made sure that I never miss my training sessions. Diwali was around the corner and I was engrossed in shopping and other stuffs. On the day before Diwali I was returning home in my bike with my friend. Unfortunately my bike skidded and we had a nasty fall. My head banged on the road first. I was wearing a helmet and thanked my stars for the miraculous escape. My hands & legs (near right knee) were badly bruised. My friend also suffered bruises.

The doc cleaned up the wound and gave a TT injection. It burned like hell and I felt like shouting at the top of my voice. He advised me not to run for a couple of days so that the pain subsides. I felt dejected. I was up for practice on nov 11^th and once again I had only 20 days left for training. I ran only 12kms during my training sessions before the accident. I was not very sure if I could finish the half marathon. Nevertheless I was determined to finish. I finished 15kms during my training a couple of days before the race day.

The D-day arrived. It was full of energy everywhere. This time there were close 11,000 runners which was more than half of those who signed up for TWCM’12. The race was flagged and we were on our heels. While nearing the Malar Hospital flyover there was a sudden spell of rain. I got terribly pissed off as the rains dampened my spirits. At one point of time I even thought of running directly to my home instead of finishing the race. Luckily the spell reduced to drizzles and eventually the skies cleared.

The race went off well with lot of volunteers cheering everyone on the route. The aid stations were well managed excepting for some minor glitches. At 2:05 hours I completed 18 kms. I thought I could complete the remaining 3kms in the next 15 minutes but the humidity took its toll. When I crossed the finish line I noticed that I completed at 2:37 hours, one minute late than TWCM’12. Even though I completed the half marathon I was not happy with my performance. I couldn’t understand what went wrong.

Dawn to Dusk:

I have heard a lot about Mr. Neville J Bilimoria who organizes this fund raising marathon every year for creating awareness on the difficulties faced by god’s own children. I made up my mind to run the half marathon and to better my previous timings. During practice I realized that my timings didn’t improve either. I called up my close friend who is a physiotherapist cum fitness expert and narrated the entire story to him. He told me that running 5-6 days every week is a grave mistake which every runner does. He adviced me to take up strength training for 3 days a week, running 2 days a week and the remaining 2 days for rest & recovery.

Initially I was not convinced but I could see some marginal improvement in my training runs.

The race day arrived with much enthusiasm. Ex tennis star Vijay Amritraj, actor(s) karthi & Arvindswami were present to grace the occasion. The full & half marathon was flagged and we were on our heels. I was running in IIT campus for the second time amidst the pristine Ghats. It was a pleasure to see Deer’s crossing the roads and monkeys scaring some runners. Even though the race was flagged only at 8:00 am I couldn’t feel the humidity thanks to the trees.

The finish line was approaching. I couldn’t believe myself when I saw my watch. It was only 2:17 hours. I was rejoicing over the fact that I improved by 20 minutes from my immediate previous half marathon. My happiness doubled after my mom completed her maiden 10K run-walk. I hogged on to a huge pizza and garlic bread after the run.

Cool Runners Half Marathon:

The cool runners group were ready to organize their next half marathon & 10K on Feb 2^nd and Auroville Marathon was scheduled to be held on Feb 9^th. I was very excited to run back to back half marathons. I started training after a decent finish at Dawn-to-Dusk run.   

The Marathon was flagged off inside the YMCA ground. The route was from Saidapet to Elliot’s beach and back passing through Anna university, IIT Madras, Adyar River Bridge, Greenways Road, Chamiers road.

The race was flagged off at sharp 5. Being in Chennai for the past 25 years I was elated to run through Mount Road for the very first time. The energy levels were charged up by drummers along the way. I was elated when my clock displayed 1:35 hours on finishing 16K. I was not sure like if I could finish within 2 hours. On finishing 20K the clock displayed it at 1:59 hours and finished the marathon at 2:05 hours.

I was elated to the core and considered it as my personal best. The race was well organized. The post race events were a thing to be cherished. The breakfast was delicious, the musical concert was rocking, the kalari performance was too good and the bike stunt show burned the roads. Actor Karthi was present to grace the occasion. He shared some of his running experiences and the fitness regime followed by his father & brother.

Auroville Marathon:

I have read in many blogs that Auroville marathon is one of the finest in India. Last year I registered for the marathon but dropped out due to non preparation. Rajkumar after finishing his maiden half marathon at Auroville strongly suggested me to run there. I was excited to run in Auroville after a strong finish in Cool Runners half marathon. I was also told that Auroville course is pretty tough than the city marathons.

I & Rajkumar stayed at my friend’s house in his native village ‘Akasampattu’ which is around 5k from Auroville. It’s a sleepy village amidst pristine green backdrop. I loved the serenity of his village. There were no honking, no irritating bus & auto drivers, no noise, no pollution and vast tracts of agri lands everywhere. By evening the temperature dipped and I felt like I was in a hill station. We were up early next day. The entire village was engulfed by thick fog. It was very cold. The race was scheduled to start at 6:15 for the first batch of half marathon. Rajkumar started off at 6:15 and me at 6:20 batch.

The course was neatly laid out. It resembled the jeep trails. The mists were dominating the landscape until 7:30 am and made way after the sun gods gave a tough battle. The mile stones were present at every 1K. Unlike the city roads the trail was completely different. It was never flat and had its own ups & downs, twist & turns, hair pin bends etc. The chirping of birds and my favourite songs made everything fantastic. I’m running short of words to describe about the lovely trail. One should simply experience the pleasure of running in Auroville.

The aid stations were well organized and was sufficiently stocked with water, bananas, oranges, chocolates, biscuits, nutri bars etc.

I could feel the heat after finishing 14K and felt little tired. I made a big blunder by running 17K a couple days before the marathon which completely exhausted me. I knew that I could not complete it in sub 2. I completed 20K at 2:03 hours. The last 1K was like hell. The exhaustion took its toll. To my joy there were volunteers who were spraying water to cool down the profusely sweating runners. The spray gave me instant energy. I saw Rajkumar cheering me up near the finish line and I completed my 6^th half marathon at 2:09 hours thus bringing the running season to an end. I was extremely happy that I could complete one of the toughest marathons in a decent time frame.

After the marathon I had yummy breakfast comprising of pongal, vada, sambar, coffee and headed straight to my friend’s house and took a nice hot water shower. He then took me to his agri lands which were running into several acres. My legs felt relieved to sit and relax in the airy fields under the shady trees. We then got a call from his home with the most delicious words ‘Lunch is ready’. Sumptuous homemade food was served and we gobbled it up in no time. As we were getting ready to leave from Akasampattu I made it a point to run Auroville marathon every year.

Like everyone I was also bit by the running bug. I’m neither a hardcore sportsman nor a couch potato. I enjoy being fit and I feel running is the one of the best among them. If you want to be fit just grab on to a pair of shoes and start running. The body will start loving you more sooner than you start hating it.

Cheeeeersssssssss