Maximum city, Maximum run, Maximum fun

Warning: I am very verbose in writing. Hence I tend to write very loooong blogs. As in the case with all my blogs, this blog too is very very long and I would request you to not read it or skip the paragraphs and read only those that would seem interesting to you.

Pre-SCMM blogs: I have written in great detail about my 11 months of preparation and 3 months of training for SCMM 2017 in earlier in case you are interested.

SCMM: 15^th January 2017:

Last weekend before race day: There was a lot of excitement and best wishes the weekend before race weekend. Since I had been nursing a niggle in my right ankle and had not run a single run during the three weeks of tapering post the 34K long run, I ran on Saturday. We had a race plan discussion meeting post the run which was very good and the points that Santhosh and Srini V touched upon were most important, even though they had emphasized upon the same points repeatedly right through our training, and stayed with me all through the week and through my run. Sunday, the discussion was more about at what points the RH volunteers and supporters would be stationed. Full marathoners would have RH cheering at 7 different points, which is quite a lot!!

At the Expo

Chandra always makes very elaborate plans for the RH aid stations at Mumbai. It is really astounding to see so many folks travel all the way to Mumbai, some children too, and stand for seven long hours in the hot sun, cheering us and handing out water and bananas to us. Since we knew the kilometer marks where the folks would be standing at, we look out for them constantly and I took bananas from them regularly. I really don’t know what we have done to deserve such care and pampering. It must be the collective good karma of many past lives that is giving rich dividends to us now. Chandra also takes great pains to organize the pre-race dinner and post-race lunch for us and believe me when I say this, I urge all the folks out there to train with RH and run SCMM just to be a part of these two events. Even if the race day turns out to be a no show or the worst disaster, these two are worth all the training that we go through and all the sweat (there is no blood as we are so well taken care of).

Bib collection: Ashok and my daughters along with my niece had driven to Mumbai on Friday and I

Bibs collected

took a flight to Mumbai on Saturday. Since it was a very early morning flight I did not have anyone with me and managed to catch a short nap on the flight. As I was carrying only a backpack, I got out of the airport very early and met up with a friend of mine and we went to have breakfast at my favorite Ramakrishna Hotel at Parla East station. I was supposed to meet Kavitha for breakfast and she arrived at Ramakrishna with Ravi and her son and post breakfast we took a local to Dadar and from Dadar central to Byculla to collect our bibs. Unknowingly we got into a handicapped compartment and met runners from Bhopal who gratuitously gave up their taxi to us at the Byculla station and we arrived at the bib collection and took many photos and had a whale of a time. We met

Pre-run dinner at Bombay

many other RH folks and Ashok and my daughters. Finally we headed to our hotel and took rest. Post lunch Kavitha and me had to come back to the expo as I had been given a men’s XL t-shirt. The organizers told me that they did not have my size and promised to courier mine to me in 60 days.

Pre-run dinner: The pre-run dinner at Bombay Blue was one big RH party and the atmosphere was electric and I just soaked in it. Post dinner when we returned back to the room, Kanchen, Kanika and I decided on our morning wake up and toilet timings and slept early.

Start point: As per previously decided, all of us marathoners met near Welcome Hotel at 5.00 am and started walking towards the start point. Jyothi handed me and Kavitha our small bottles of out hydration packs filled with her famous liquid curd rice. We stuck together but kept loosing and finding other RH-ers time and again. At the start point we were quite at the back and bumped into Abhi, the official 5.45 pacer and took quite a few pictures. All the 'fast-ies' had moved ahead and it was just Jyothi, Kavitha, Dilshad and me along with Parag, Raghu and Abhi. Abhi had a fan already who wanted to run with him and he was talking to her rather kindly J. Dilshad told her that we were all four hour (4.5 Hr & 5 hr) finishers and were just running slow today and I had a sense of déjà vu and wondered what’s with these Parsis?  Another Parsi (Zahver) had nonchalantly misled another runner in Hyderabad 2 years ago J. We were the noisiest lot and it was a wonderful few minutes of high decibel mirth and enjoyment.

Abhi - the official 5.45 bus pacer

 0K – 18K: The start was bang on time at 5.40. We kept walking to the start point and crossed the timing mat at 5.50.AM. We felt calm as we ran towards Flora Fountain, past the Oberoi hotel, to Nariman Point, past the Air India building. A gentleman with a hat on was playing an acoustic guitar and singing “hai apna dil to awara” while his wife played the tambourine.  We soon reached the Marine Drive where people were setting up the stages and music for the dream run which was to begin at 9.00 am. I kept watching out for the kilometer boards and missed the first couple and sighted the first one only at 3K and was pleasantly surprised to see that we were devouring distances without even realizing it. It was still dark. But the path was well lit and there were no incidents of people falling etc. No one had any headlamps. I did see a number of runners help themselves to water and electrolytes at water stations from the third kilometer onwards. We took our first salt pill at 6.5 km and second one at 15K as we reached the Bandra Worli Sealink. The sky was still cloudy and the sun had risen and we were treated to a glorious sight of sun dawn and sun rise through the Marine Drive and the sealink. It was very calm on the sealink and we were sticking to out run walk pattern of 6 min run and 1 min walk.

We suddenly saw some lead motorcycles and a media bus pass by us and knew that the elites were around the corner. We saw the elite runners whizz past us on the sealink. First it was the men and then the women. Their silent footsteps and long strides was awe inspiring. They were so fast that even if you blink your eye you can miss them. The men runners had two pacers ahead of them and I was quite surprised to see two men pacers for the women runners. The men were sticking together and ran like a pack. But the women had scattered and there were quite a few who had fallen behind. There was one seven feet tall European runner who had fallen behind but was still going strong. There was another who had fallen behind and was struggling. The atmosphere on the sealink was very quiet and the sun had not yet come out in full force due to a heavy haze. A media lady asked me what was written at the back of my t-shirt and asked me to pose and took many pictures of my t-shirt. I had poured some water on my neck and back by then and wondered if the picture would turn out all right.

18K – 33K: At around 16K Jyothi was slowing down and I always find it difficult to run with smaller strides as my ankle hurts more with smaller strides. The wonderful person that she is, she sensed that I was struggling to run slow and told me to run faster and ahead of her and I started running at my pace ahead of her and at each walk break we would catch up with each other. At 18K I separated from her and started running continuously at my own pace. We passed each other at 18.5 where there was a loop we had to take before exciting from the Bandra-Worli Sealink and she told me to go ahead. I passed Padma Srinivas too at this point and another runner from Bhopal who we had met on the Mumbai local train when we were going to collect our bibs.

As the battery of my Garmin does not last for more than 3 hrs, I had not switched it on but use it just to see the time. So I started looking out for the kilometer boards. As we exit the sealink, we enter Mahim which was lined with the street kids who were cheering us loudly and I tapped the hands of as many street kids as I could. Their constant “aunty mujhe” or “arre! aunty miss kar gayi” egged me on to high five as many of them as I could.  I missed the 19K, 20K and the 21K board and was pleasantly surprised to see the 22K board at 9.06 at the Bandra fire station Flyover. I was very happy to realize that I has completed 22K in 3 hrs and 6 mins and decided to complete each kilometer in 9 mins. I was crossed Nanda at Hinduja Hospital after a few minutes and informed him that Jyothi is just behind me. I crossed Siddhivinayak temple at 9.23 and the 25K mark at 9.25. Ashok had been waiting for me at the 33K point along with Abhishek. I estimated that if I keep the 9 min pace I will reach them at 10.40.

I kept nibbling bananas, biscuits, small pieces of sandwiches, small bites of chapathis, Jyothi's liquid curd rice, dates, almonds, raisins and took my salt pills at the scheduled times and sipped water regularly. I even drank two packets of the ORSL ddrink provided by the organisers. Due to this I did not get the head ache I get during long runs neither during the run nor post run. Small sips and small bites regularly was the key. By now I was seeing that many aid stations were getting empty. But the people were still well stocked and were still handing out stuff. I had missed grabbing the wet sponges at quite a few places and saw an aid station with one last sponge. But I was beaten to it by another runner and she grabbed it. But as I ran past her she offered it to me and said that you use it and give it to me. When I returned it back to her with just one squeeze on my head she told me to squeeze on the neck and shoulders and told me “ there’s plenty for both us us. Use it generously so that water enters your t-shirt on the back”.

Once I crossed the 30K mark I saw Kavitha and Dilshad ahead of me. I decided to keep them in sight and continue with my 8.5 min/km pace.I found that I had done many kilometers with less than 9 min pace. I met Nagraj Adiga and Naveen Tangiah here and Naveen's ever smiling face and a sweet hug and 'you are lookign really strong' re-energized for a few more kilometers. I was able to maintain my race plan and met Vinay at the 32K mark. He asked me how I was and I told him what I was doing and that I was feeling good. He told me that Dilshad was up ahead and whether I wanted to catch up with them. But I was reluctant to increase my speed and told him that I had them in my sight from the past 2 kms  and even he advised to just maintain my pace and not speed up now. I reached Abhishek and Ashok who were at the 33K mark in between 10.35 and 10.40 and we started from there. I told Ashok tha I was doing good and asked him to just make me run as much as possible. He told me to do a 500 steps run and 100 steps walk and I told him to reduce it to 300 steps run. We passed Kaiwan and Dilshad after a short while and also met Parag, Kavitha and Raghu. Raghu had been on the 5.45 bus and had had a bad fall at 17k point and was continuing his run after a delay of 10 to 15 mins. Kavitha joined me and Raghu and Parag went at their pace.

33K – 41K: Things were going fine and I was tiring a bit. But with Kavitha and Ashok I was able to maintain some run walk pattern. Just when things were going according to plan and smoothly, we entered the dreaded Peddar road. We decided to walk the stretch completely. We saw Mukesh Ambani’s dreadful Antilia building and wondered which of the buildings had Lata mageshkar’s flat. We completed Peddar road with a walk and saw that I got slowed down slightly after this stretch and struggled to run for a couple of kilometers. We kept walking and the six hour bus passed us and the pacer urged us on to walk and told us home is the place to chat and we have to run here. I was quite surprised to see that we were well within a 6.10 or a 6.15 finish. I kept urging Kavitha to run ahead and get a sub-6 finish. But she just wouldn’t listen. She said ‘I will have none of this. I am going to finish holding hands with you as that is more important to me than getting a 10 minute less finish”. I really have to thank my stars that I am surrounded by such gems of people. I even saw a very elderly hunched lady standing with her daughter and grand daughter cheering and I went and thanked her and gave her a hug.

Once I was back on the Marine Drive, I started feeling exultant and euphoric. It was all I could do to not start celebrating right then and there. But since we had five more kilometers left and I was still struggling to run, the celebrations had to wait. After we crossed the Marine Lines station the police vehicle passed us making loud announcements in Marathi and I thought that there were asking all the

medal pedh pe nahin milte, unhe paana padta
hai, pyar se, mehnat se...lagan se - Dangal

non runners to get out of the streets. After a few minutes we saw cars whizzing past us and then I realized that they had announced that the traffic would be let and that the runners should run at the side. Immediately we saw that they were bringing down the cool zone station and all the aid stations were being packed up, boards and kilometer markers were being removed at great speeds and efficiency. But since the roads are wide we did not have any difficulty in running. We were also prepared for the eventuality of not finding water and had trained with our hydration packs for exactly this and were mentally prepared.

My struggle to run continued but I slowly started telling myself that the end is very near and that I must somehow run. I started feeling better after I crossed the 40^th kilomete mark. I said to myself that it was now or never and I pressed on. Once I exited the Marine Drive and ran past the Ambassador Hotel, I knew that I had won. But I hadn’t. It took my weary feet another fifteen odd minutes to get to within the sight of the finish line. They had removed all the directions signs and kilometer markers by now and we were just following the runners ahead of us. Thankfully they

had stopped the vehicles at one of the junctions we passed and we could cross it easily. Credit must be given to the Mumbaikars as we did not see any unruly honking or motorists fighting with the cops as is the case in Hyderabad, Chennai and Namma Bengaluru.

The Jeff Galloway of RH - Vinay

The finish:  I saw the mark 1000 mts written in white paint on the road and told Kavitha that we are just 1km away. I still could not run well and Kavitha asked me to hold on for the last 200 mts. Someone shouted 200 more but Kavitha warned me that it was still 600 more. At about 300 mts we started slow running and kept seeking each other’s hand as we did not want to loose each other. Once we took the left turn we started sprinting towards the finish line. We had planned to hold hands as we crossed the finish line and we did just that. We hooted as we crossed the finish line. I just could not hold in the sob that was threatening to erupt right from 25k in anymore and I burst out crying and even Kavitha burst out with me. A lady yelled to clear the timing mat and we dragged ourselves to a side.  We sighted my daughters and niece who were busy cheering us and filming us. My younger daughter was sobbing too. I hugged each of them and then saw Dilshad finish with Kaiwan in tow. Soon Ashok also finished his unofficial 9k.

Collecting the medal was one long walk and my tear dam burst open again once the volunteer put the medal around my neck. They were so alarmed that they gave me two post-run nutrition bags. Ashok rescued me immediately and they heaved a sigh of relief because wherever you might go in this world, no one knows how to handle a sobbing woman J. My daughters took more pictures of me with the medal. Meeting Abhi and Vinay was great as it was his run walk strategy and Jyothi’s encouragement that had got me this far. A few quick stretches at the recovery zone and we were off to the hotel to freshen up as we were very eager to meet everyone at the Irish Pub for the post-run lunch.

What next: It has taken me all these days for it all this enormous achievement to sink in and slowly I am feeling a sense of loss and lack of purpose. Many people say that that they need a break from running and that they will take a season’s break. For me running is the break from life. Running for me is cathartic and a wonderful release.  I run because I find peace and solace in running. For me movement is bliss. It is a great feeling everyday that I have to run and I really do not know what to do on rest days. So, I guess, I will just continue to run.

Hum hai Hyderabad ke Nawaab!!!

What is it that makes a great run? Is it getting a podium finish? Is it getting a PB? Is it getting a fantastic t-shirt? Is it the travel and the great time that we have with our running buddies? Is it some or all of the above? Different strokes for different folks. Right?

For me a great run or a great race would be where I finish strong and come out smiling. When I have something left in my tank to sprint the last 100 to 200 mts. 

My main motive to register for the Hyd half was to be able to register for the Mumbai Marathon as I did not have any timed half marathons timing link of the past year which I require to register for the Mumbai marathon. 

On race day, Ashok and me reached the People's Plaza on Necklace Road much earlier and found parking in the Imax parking lot. Since we were very early Ashok wanted to listen to some songs on the car music system and we sat there for sometime listening much to the amusement of some other runners who were in the parking lot as well. We then walked in to the start area and searched for RHers. The Hussain Sagar lake is a beautiful sight to behold as the sun had not yet risen as yet and it was dark. There is abeautiful Buddha Statue right in the middle of the lake which was lit by some green and white colour lights. The loud music and the electrifying atmosphere was enough to give an adrenaline rush and a heady feeling right before the start. 

We found Kaiwan and Dilshad and after exchanging hugs we started searching for other RHers whom we were supposed to meet at the baggage counter. They were all busy clicking groufies and selfies and we joined in to click many more groufies. I was glad to meet the boisterous HSR crowd, Rama, Priya, Usha, Hitesh and others. Again I was so glad that Dilshad would be running with me as we had run Mumbai Half together way back in 2014 and done fantastic timing. Dilshad had told me that she would help me to get my time for Mumbai Marathon registration and boy! was I glad for that!! I knew that if I just keep her in sight and stick with her I would be able to do it. Thank you Dilsh for being there with me throughout.

The MC on the stage was introducing the pacers and Dilshad and me were wondering whether we should take the 2.45 bus or do it on our own. We decided to try and stick with them and see how things go. The crowd was very boisterous and the lady on the mike did not have to do much to pep up the crowd. The loud cheering and clapping for no reason, the hugs, the high fives and the music and the noise was enough to pump us all up. She asked all the move to the holding area, but our group continued with their photo sessions. They will put high profile models and movie stars to shame with their posing and their pouting. I wanted to shout to them in Hyderabadi Urdu "Hai!! yeh potta pottiyan pozaan marne ich aaye hai Hyderabad ku?". In the meantime the sun rose to a glorious orange on the lake and it was a beautiful sight to behold. I was reminded of sunrises in Mumbai. 

Finally some of us saner ones put our foot down and urged them to get moving and we finally reached the start area. We were supposed to be in the E or F corals, but there were not many beyond the C and we stayed at C holding area. The speedsters moved to A or B.

It was a really good time to be there because we saw all the marathoners pass by us at that time. They had done 9k or 10k around the Hussain Sagar lake by then and would be going into the city from here on. We saw Siddhesh Hanumantappa speed past us and shouted out his name. It was really inspiring to see them breeze past us so strong, pumping fist in the air and hooting. Each of them got huge rounds of applause from all of us and no one bothered about the announcer's announcements. And before we knew it the race had started and we all gave each other final high fives and hugs and started. Since it was really crowded, we had to walk to the starting mat and it was a good 6 minutes by the time Dilshad and me crossed the mat and heard the continuous beep which signaled the start for us.

The AHM is one of the best organised races in India and is definitely comparable to SCMM in terms of aid station support, crowd support and attention to details paid by the organisers. Each aid station is managed by very courteous and friendly college students and are well stocked with biscuits, bananas, water and electral. This time around, I had packed our Namma Bengaluru weather in my bag and taken it along with me. So it was a beautiful 23 deg C at the start of the race and there was a cloud cover which kept the sun at bay and the humidity was very manageable. There has been good rain the previous night and the roads were still wet and I took all these as good signs and a way in which the universe was telling me that today is my day and that I am going to have a great race. 

Dilsh and I started slow and bam!! right at the 400mts mark comes the Flyover 1: Khairatabad flyover. We spotted the three 2.45 pacers and decided to stick with them. There was a lady who we thought looked too serious (no gender bias here). So we picked a guy who was loudly cheering and pepping the runners. The third pacer was behind us. We kept to this formation throughout the run. We were going real slow, the initial 2 kms and Dilsh struck up a conversation with our chosen pacer and told him that we are aiming to finish within 2.45 and he was very encouraging.

The Hyderabad city is like a bowl, the Hussain Sagar lake being the lowest point in the city and the city going upwards from that central point on, in all directions. So the city is full of Jublilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Kachigudas and so many more gudas, Panchagutta and so many more guttas and Flyovers. In my opinion, Hyderabad must be the flyover capital of India or even of the world. Just when you think you have safely crossed one flyover comes another. But the roads are wide and tree lined. They are all six laned or eight laned roads. They must have tarred the road specially for the Marathon as there wasn't a single pothole on any of the roads and also the city was exceptionally clean without any garbage. Khudos! to Hyderabadis for this!.

The route was lined with people in many places cheering us on. There were school children, army personnel, citizens and runners lined up shouting 'All The Best' right on top of their voices. There was music, folk artistes performing, bands and singers at regular intervals. Even Airtel had its own stage and singers performing at a couple of places. There was a particular lady who was standing right on top of a very tough uphill shouting out 'you can do it'. I even told her that she had chosen the right spot to cheer us on and thanked her for it. But then again i wonder whether she was able to understand what I told her with all my panting. She might have got the gist of it or the spirit of it. The college students at the aid stations were ever attentive and used to rush to us with water, electral, pain spray or bananas and biscuits. We made sure that we drank water and electral at every aid station and also took our salt pills at regular and pre-determined times.

The previous time when we had run in Hyderabad in 2014, the Metro was under construction. But this time the construction work has been completed in many places.  Once we crossed the Khairatabad flyover it was a few ups and downs, but mostly flat up to the 4k mark where we took a U-turn at Somajiguda junction and entered the Panjagutta flyover. This was a 1k long flyover and from here we enter the toughest stretch. We have to cross Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills with lots of uphills from 5k point to almost 10k point. Also, this is the most colourful part of the city with shops and restaurants on both the sides. These and the regular aid stations and the spectators cheering on kept us entertained and I found that I was running all the hills right up to the 8k point from where I started struggling at the hills but made up for the time lost by the downhills. Also, I silently thanked Chandra's Sunday killer workouts for enabling me to run so many of the uphills effortlessly. we sing 'maar daala Chandraaaaaa maar daala' to thank her all the time :) ;)

Somewhere here, at around the 7.5k mark we even crossed a major traffic junction where the traffic had been stopped on all directions. In 2014, our Rowdy gang group must have passed this point at a much later time because by the time we passed it we had seen the drivers fighting and abusing the traffic cops and a lady and a guy in a red Maruthi car had forcibly entered through the barricade. But this time around I saw that the volume of traffic pile up was still low and the tempers had not flared as yet when we passed it. The cops did a really good job of maintaining traffic and also around this point even they were cheering us loudly and calling out 'all the best maam' which made running the uphills a little better.

We then passed Madhapur and Hi tech city where we could see the completed Metro work. This section from 10k to 14k was also flat with some gradual uphill from 14k. This is the new Hyderabad. It is the IT hub of Telangana state and we could see many modern buildings that housed the IT industry with modern architecture, glass and concrete. We could see the Cybercity building. Around this time, Dilshad saw that I was struggling the hills and she told me to drink electral and take the second salt pill. We had done about 15.5 k in 2 hrs and I was pleased with our progress. I also ate a couple of biscuits at an aid station and felt that it gave me some much needed sugar kick. So, from them on I started eating a couple of biscuits and piece of banana at each aid station which I feel helped me a lot to keep up my energy levels.

A note on the green-ness of the event - while they used reusable plates and spoon to serve breakfast, the usage of plastic water bottles was huge in the stadium. throughout the route they used the usual disposable plastic coated paper cups. The volunteers were constantly picking up the trash and cleaning the aid station areas very quickly. They did a commendable job in keeping the place squeaky clean. When we took an auto rickshaw from the Gacchibowli stadium to IMAX parking after the race, we drove on the very same roads and they had been cleaned up by then and there was no sign that such a huge event had taken place. But despite all this it is very alarming to see the amount of waste generated. Could the organisers think of purchasing about 10,000 steel tumblers and reuse them or even rent them out later and earn through it. Could the organisers think of encouraging the runners to carry their water bottles and refill them at various points. These are serious issues that event organisers have to ponder upon for making future events more eco friendly.

Back to the race, there were also many downhills and outright flats which made this my best section where I was able to make up for any lost time by maintaining a steady pace. After this came the killer flyover no 3, the Gachhibowli flyover. It raises its monstrous head at the 19k mark by which time you are spent and  ready to die. I walked up this entire flyover. Dilsh was throwing concerned looks at me and I was trying to give her a weak but brave smile. The encouraging sign was that we were well within our time and also the pacers were within our sight. The third pacer was shouting out encouragement at us and pepping the runners. When we tried to walk on one of the uphill, he asked us to not walk but run up to a particular sign board at the turn around and then walk from there which was a clever move by him because after that board it was downhill. I mentally thanked him for knowing his city and the race route so well and also knowing the mentality of runners so well. 

From the 20k point onwards it was gradual uphills and flats. I was again walking most of the uphills but tried to do a fast walk here as I knew that the finish line was well within reach and also in good time.  This portion of the gradual uphill is very mentally draining and almost all the runners around us were walking. Once we came to the 500 mts mark, I started running. I entered the Gacchbowli stadium gate and picked up pace. I found Dilshad there and we both held hands and started running really fast. It was such a good feeling because everyone around us was walking and we were the only ones running. I was reminded of all the Tuesday tempo runs and the Wednesday workouts that we are made to do. It's because of these sessions that even after 20.5 kms we had it in us to sprint. 

After running about 100 mts holding hands, we had to part ways as there were some walkers blocking our path and I had to traverse around them to take the right turn and run adjacent to the stadium wall. Then it is a left turn to enter the stadium. I thought that the finish would be seen as soon as we enter the stadium but it was a good 100 to 150 mts later. But I was surprised to see that I was still running strong and crossed the finish line running. It was a very satisfying moment as I walked to the lady giving out the medals and she put a medal around my neck. It had been 18 months since my last official half marathon, my last one being Auroville HM 2015 and it was a really good feeling to finally be able to do one.

Later we met Kaiwan. he had completed his 21k and collected his medal and gone back to do another 4k as he had to do 25k on that day according to his training. But he finished 25k right behind us!!!! When we told him about how tough the hills and the flyovers were he said "what hills? what flyovers?? There are none!! It's not as tough as you all make it out to be". We did not have any energy left in us to hit him. I could visualise the next day's newspaper with the headline "a male runner attacked and hit by two other exhausted and delirious women runners at the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon". But I did not have the energy to act upon it and make it a reality. :) 

The HSR gang was at it again. Posaan maar maar ke picturaan letey. Kaiku ine aisi baataan kartey? 

After stretching I told the gang that I would go back to the gate to wait for Ashok. He came back fully exhausted and with cramps in his feet. But he was also able to finish. Then he gave some lectures to the organisers about how bad the post-run breakfast was and also advised them to give biryani for breakfast from next year.

I thank the day that Anu dragged me to join RH and I thank all the coaches of RH, ever smiling and patient Physios and Chandra's strengthening sessions. The buddies of Cubbon Queens, my carpool and our buddy group WTF 'Where's The finish' which is full of absolute crack pots with the most popular and sweetest coach of RH - Nanda at the helm. Srini P's and Srini V's timely valuable advice. My family and friends.

Next what? Mumbai ka daud!!!!!

AUROVILLE MARATHON : February 10, 2013

Distance: 10 km

Time : 1hr : 24mins : 53 secs

It all comes down to that moment in time when it  it does not matter who you are, what you have done or where you have come from or where you are going. You are just in the purity of the moment and just being there. It comes down to experiencing that joy, which I feel is the best form of gratitude and appreciation, at just being there for no rhyme or reason.

On Sunday it was all down to that for me. The training period was so full of ups and downs that the run day was actually quite, calm, relaxed, blissful and  peaceful and quite an anti climax  as compared to all the drama and happenings in the past three months.

I has started the season with a severe pain in my knees and right shin. For several weeks during my training period, I ran with the pain and came back to pain at home. The coaches and the physios (thank and bless both of them) helped me with exercises and tips on how to manage the pain.

We had a set back in my family due to my husband's aunt's demise. After that  I had to rush to Mysore due to my father's hospitalisation and subsequently had to stay back after his unfortunate demise. I missed many training sessions and runs during this period.  But getting back into training helped me to regain focus and also to come back on track. It helped me to not get swept off by emotions but gain some semblance of normalcy over myself. It helped me cope with everything that was going on around me.

I came back to Bangalore and started training and amazingly most of my pain in the knee just vanished. I was feeling better and running stronger with almost no pain at all. It was no short of a miracle and in the famous words of Paulo Coelho it was as if the whole universe was conspiring to help me to run. I felt very positive and said the same to Santhosh and he just shook my hands. I felt on top of this world.

On Thursday, two days before we were supposed to leave for Pondi, I came down with a severe bout of food poisoning caused by the late night dinner the previous night at my favorite north Indian restaurant. All the paneer thikhas masala and roti subjis came out both ways in full watery style again and again. But somehow, I was confident that this will pass and I will be fit the next day. I remembered Samantha Fox's old song "Nothings gonna stop me now".

It was a herculean task to organise a road trip for 100 absolutely insane runners and two very brave hearts took up this daunting task courageously and accomplished it with clock work precision and absolute finesse. The trip to Pondicherry itself was one big party. The bus ride was full of singing, dancing, laughter and enjoyment. After we landed at Pondicherry, we did a little bit of sight seing after lunch and then set out to have the pre race night pasta dinner. It was very tasty and we returned back and crashed early to be up and awake early the next day. 

On the race day, when the whole world was fast asleep, it was a glorious sight to see 100 odd very excited people at 4.30 in the morning very chatty and chirpy.  We all went to the Marathon starting area where the full marathoners had already started running. The half marathoners started their run to loud sheering. We had a wonderful warm up session with music and it was great to shake our hands and legs to 'I gotta feeling, tonight's gonna be a good night'. We were joined by Chief himself which filled us all with a sense of well being and a warm feeling.  

The run was just normal and just like any other training day. I did not actually do or feel anything extraordinary or new. The trail was beautiful and the weather was cloudy and a bit humid. I met a few runners from Bangalore whom I had met on the Bangalore Ultra run and we caught up with each other and exchanged tit bits about our training and other sundry topics. We drank a lot of water and electrolyte and ate a few chikkis. I finished strong and did my personal best time of 1 hr and 24 mins 53 secs. 

I immediately joined Padma who was cheering the runners and started yelling, screaming and shouting and cheering all the runners. We were joined by more runners and we formed a cheering squad and danced to the drum beats. We continued cheering for the next two hours non stop and shouted ourselves hoarse. We cheered almost all the RH runners except Karthik and Sharath. We had to go to have our breakfast as we were told the buses might leave. The return journey in the bus to Bangalore was even more riotous with a lot of games, leg pulling and friendly banter. 

What running has helped me achieve is that sense of freedom being on the trail and running as best as I can or as best as I want to on that given day. That sense of letting myself go and that feeling of lightness that comes with it is what I have discovered. I finally feel that I have arrived and that I have found something. I never knew that I was looking for this or that I was in need of this till I realised that this is what I always wanted to do but did not know about it. So running for me has begun to go way deeper. 

So here's to many many more years of running and improving every day and taking great joy and pleasure in each small victory and each new discovery. here's to many many more moments of euphoria and delirium and pure vivacity and pure bliss.

Week 9 - Jan 14 to Jan 20

By this Monday, it was a week since the demise of my father and due to the passage of time it was easier to cope. Since we were crowded around with relatives and well wishers who were more than willing to share the burden with us, offer us encouragement and advice on how to proceed with the ceremonies and what needed to be done, it became that much more easier. Those who had already made the journey gave us solid comfort and were a great source of support and strength. It was a very refining and enriching experience to see that we mattered to so many people and that so many people really cared. I will be forever indebted and thankful to each and everyone and this period of my life will be deeply entrenched into the recesses of my memories. 

My sister and I continued to run together this week also. We did a 30 minute run on both Tuesday and Wednesday at the Jayalakshmipuram Park followed by the stretches and foot drills. This week I had severe pain in my knees, especially the left knee and also my foot. Both the days, I ran less and walked more and felt very tired. I do not know whether it was due to the mental state I was in or whether the fatigue was real. But I did keep up the stretches and the drills. Maybe I was experiencing more pain due to the fact that I was not icing my legs.

That week's Saturday run was planned to be the longest run of the season of 12 km. I missed running that run as I got deterred by the pain in my legs. But on Sunday I thought that I must not give up now. I have come this far into the training and I have run in the past two weeks through the most difficult periods. I must not stop now. Keeping aside all gloomy thoughts I just wore my running shoes and set out to run with my sister. We ran around the Lake 'Kukkanahalli Kere'. Its about 0.6 km from our house to the lake and its a   4 km route around the lake. So we covered 5.6 km that day. We sprinted the last 400 mts for good measure  and walked back home to gulp some yummy tender coconut 

and do our stretches, foot drills and Yoga. 

Week 10 - Jan 21 to Jan 27

By this week all the ceremonies were over. My sister left to the US. I could not run on Tuesday and Wednesday as I had some official work to complete for my mother's pension. I got back to Bangalore on Thursday. It felt good to be back to routine and normal life. I was all set to get back to running and was eagerly waiting for the Saturday run.

Santosh had formed buddy groups at the beginning of the training season  of runners with similar goals to finish strong. Eighteen of us who were put together called our Buddy Group 'Awesome Finishers'. During the past weeks we had all planned to get a T shirt made for our group. Mandhar took the lead to find a Printer, Bipra gave a cool design to the T shirt and the entire group chose a beautiful blue colour. The T shirt was delivered on Saturday.

The Saturday run was planned by the Ananya kids in aid of the children of Snehadaan Children's Home called 'Run Along Friend'. We had to run 6 km. It was a very chilly and foggy typically Bangalore winter morning and I felt exhilarated to be back. The Ananya kids had done a great job in organising the run and we had a very good run. After the run there was some music going on and a few of the boys were dancing beautifully. I joined them along with Rashmi and others and we went wild dancing with the boys. It felt really good to dance with young boys after a long time. As it was the Republic day, we had flag hoisting after the run and a wonderful cultural program by the children. The children had arranged breakfast for us and we distributed our buddy group T shirts decided to wear it the next day and show off in front of the whole community. 

The Sunday run was at IIMB and our entire buddy group turned up with our T shirts. We were the envy of the whole community and everyone admired our t shirt. We all felt really awesome and unique and special. We had a short warm up and form exercises. After which we did a 3 km run. I had a little difficulty in running and walked half the distance. I was among the last few to finish to great cheering and clapping from the entire group. It felt really nice and to be back and running and I felt that I am ready to run the distance of 10km. It does not matter if I have to walk or crawl, but I can do it. 

Week 7 - Dec 31 to Jan 6

Week 7 started normally like all new weeks. Monday or the rest day was the December 31st and we had a blast of a New year party to ring in the new year. After a night of partying, dancing and making merry, the next day morning, I did not do the Tuesday short run as I had a very valid excuse :) that I had partied hard last night, it was the New Year and blah blah blah, bluh, bluh, bluh. But added to all this, I had developed severe pain in my legs due to dancing and wanted to rest and added to that, after many days the hubby adn the kids were at home on a holiday and wanted to spend a lazy holiday with them at home.

The Wednesday quality workout (killer workout!) was the 400 mts strides. We are divided into groups according to our running pace and we all run as a group for 400 mts, wait for the last person to catch up, give that person 100 counts to catch her breath and then all run again at the fastest speed possible. So the person who reaches the group last, which is always invariably me :(, always gets to rest the least.  Our coaches really pushed us a lot and we all gave it our best shot and ran our hearts out. We had to do 8 laps. After the 7th lap our group was the last and we all started chatting and lost count of time. Santosh came in search of us and we ran like kindergarten kids who have been caught red handed and running away from their teachers. It was the most hilarious moment and we all laughed our heads off. Santosh really pushed me to run the last lap and not give up and start walking. But for his urging and encouragement, I am sure I would not have run the last lap but would have walked it through. 

I developed severe pain in my knee and shins after the run and iced my leg after coming home. I did the exercises given by the physios all through the day in the office.

My exercise week was cut short by the hospitalization of my father on Thursday. I had to rush to Mysore to be with my mother and father. He needed to be given blood and I got hundreds of calls from the running community and friends all over the globe through my message on facebook. It was overwhelming to see so many people responding and reaching to me. So many strangers came to give blood, to drop donors at the blood bank etc. An auto driver heard me speaking to people over the phone explaining my need and soliciting blood of AB+ and he organised for two of his rickshaw driver friends who had that blood group type to come and donate blood. 

Week 8 - Jan 7 to Jan 13

But alas! none of the efforts could save my father and he passed away on Monday, 7th January. It was a very sensitive moment for our family and all our friends and relatives reached out to us and helped us in many ways which enabled us to get the immediate formalities done and also helped us to get over our grief. Our house was filled with people from morning to night and not once did we feel that we were alone. Not once did we have a moment to feel helpless or hopeless.

On Tuesday I felt that at this time it was important for me to focus. Focus on the positives that I have in my life. I have many reasons to smile. I have many reasons to be thankful for. No matter how sad I am or how dejected I am, every opportunity to live, persevere and succeed are within my reach. I cannot let the darkness that threatens to engulf me to overpower me as I have to be strong for my sisters and my mother. Just when these thoughts were going on in my head, Santhosh called me and as I was talking to him I decided then and there that I will start running. maybe I will not be able to run or maybe I will tire out. But, I will just put on my running shoes and track pants and just go out to the park. Thankfully for me, maybe the whole universe was conspiring to ensure that I do not miss my runs for too long, I had worn my running shoes to come to Mysore as my feet were paining a lot and wearing my running shoes made the pain bearable and less. 

Since I had my running shoes and the blessings of Santosh, I went out to the Jayalakshmipuram park on Wednesday and ran for 30 minutes. My feet were aching a lot and there was some clicking sounds in my knees. I was tiring out too much and added to all this my phone did not have good songs and I had to switch to FM radio. I am not much of a music listener during my runs as I like all the noise around me and like to listen to the natural sounds going on rather than blocking it all out with loud music playing in my ears. So it was a first for me to run with music.  But it felt good to at least get out of the house and do something normal and routine again.

On Saturday, we were scheduled to run 7 km as a group.  My sister, who had come down from US and who is a half marathoner ran with me. She had tried to migrate to Vibram and had injured her calf and was on a long lay over and recovering. Despite all that she is in good form. We both decided to run around the beautiful lake called 'Kukkanahalli Kere' outside the Mysore University campus. The serene lake is home to many migratory birds during the months of September to December. So we did not get to see many birds of the feathered kind except for a few cranes. We also missed the sun rise by a few minutes as we had started late. But we were able to do the 7 km and my sister whose pace is faster than mine ran at my pace and gave me company throughout. Wee came back home and did the stretches and foot drills. She taught me a few yoga poses of the Bikram Yoga school which she practices regularly. Our one year old nephew gave us comic relief by crawling under us and climbing over us and giving us much needed cheer, joy and laughter by just being cute and cuddly.

On Sunday, we both ran at the Jayalakshmipuram park. It was a short recovery run of 30 mins and we came back home to  complete our stretches and foot drills. 

It was a week of great learning where I learnt that there there is nothing more to be done after all that is done. We have to just move on and move forward. Once we decide to do what needs to be done, the rest is just doing it. It is all in the mine, really! They say Kaya, Vaacha, Manasa has to be aligned. I say, let eh Manasa alignment happen, Kaaya and Vaacha are just corollaries that simply follow.   

Auroville Marathon Training Program : Week 6

December 24 - December 30, 2012

Up to the 5th week of our training for the Auroville 10 km run, I was suffering with severe pains in my knees. Especially the left knee was very painfully. The stiffness of my knees was so severe that I could not squat on the floor with the knees folded. I could only run very slowly with a few walk breaks in between. Also, the knees stiffen and tighten and it used to be difficult to climb stairs and generally walk.

I have come to believe that we are always able to run come what may. Irrespective of how we feel both physically and mentally, once we start running, we are able to run and finish the distance, no matter what. Its only later that the recovery is hard. The pains start to surface and the muscles stiffen and tighten. 

But, this week has turned out to be the miracle week! I must have done some things right. I followed the icing advice given by the coaches and the physios, used the foam roller, though only sparingly which has helped. Especially, icing the knees or the injured areas after the run for about three to four times a day on the rest days is the best possible solution for all aches and injuries. 

Consequently, I was able to run with a lot more ease this week and also the pains in my knees have all but disappeared. My knees are still stiff and I still am not able to completely fold my knees to do the cooling yoga posture or sit with folded knees. But it is much better than what it was for the past 5 weeks.

The week began with the arrival of Santosh's mail. I did the Tuesday run in a park close to our house along with Meena and her kids. Little Sirish who is 10 yrs old and Tanvi who is 13 yrs old. It was great fun to run with them and then to do the stretches and the drills amidst their continuous chattering and ribbing each other.  I hope that we can form this into a group this and do our Tuesday runs and Friday yoga on a regular basis as a group. It will be fun and also it will help us to be regular and not miss a single aession.

The Wednesday running was in Cubbon park and me and my daughter went thirty minutes early and completed our run and stretches ahead of the group and left so that she could catch the bus to her college.

Bangalore is a city with salubrious climate throughout the year. The weather is perfect for us to run any distance and we never get tired, dehydrated or suffer from a heat stroke or sun stroke ever, But on the flip side, since we are so used to running in this beautiful weather, Bangaloreans who run in other hotter cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai or Delhi occasionally suffer due to the heat. Since we are all preparing for the Auroville marathon in Pondicherry which is again situated by the sea side and is a very hot town our coach Santosh had planned to train give us some 'heat-training' and had planned the Saturday to start at 7:00 am.

We al hoped that the sun would come out by 7 am at the very least and we would get some much needed 'run out in the sun'. But much to Santosh's dismay and to our amusement, Saturday remained a fully cloudy day with even a little bit of light drizzle towards the afternoon and the evening. The run took place on a beautiful and quite road off Kanakpura road. It was an eight km stretch and has a few inclines which are not very steep and are fairly gentle slopes. The run was very exhilarating with a lot of chatter and friendly banter among our girl gang. The stretch is a bit lonely and there are a few rowdy elements who pass comments and tease the girls. So, we were very thankful to Santosh for going up and down the road on his scooter to keep a watchful eye on us and to look out for our safety and well being. After the run, our buddy group went for a hot breakfast to Adigas.

The Sunday recovery run was in Cubbon park. We did the warm up and the form drills. After that we did a short run of 4 km. We had the core training session and it was a very tough and strenuous session. As our coach Chandra wanted it to be intense, she gave us just 10 sec break between two exercise and due to my earlier sedentary avatar, none of my muscles are strong and hence they cried and screamed on being awakened after such a long slumber.

There are many things that keeps me going in this runner's group like the camaraderie, the friendships and the buddies and community feeling. Looking forward to the next week and more fun and enjoyment.

Auroville Marathon Training Program : Week 2

November 26 to December 2

This was the most fulfilling week and a week of great learning for me. The week began with the arrival of Santosh's mail on Monday morning. As soon as I got the mail, I read through it and saw that the run for Sunday was scheduled to be a charity run which we will be running in aid of the children who are affected by HIV aids, of the Sneha Care Home. The run was a training cum fund raising event for these children. Earlier the previous Sunday, Santosh had asked me if I can get the children of JGRV school (www.jgrvidyalaya.weebly.com) to run in this event and I had told him yes, as I am a 'yes person' and say yes without thinking about the why, how, where, when etc.

 I spoke to our P E master and he asked the children of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Std if they wanted to run. I had 25 children in mind and we got an overwhelming 44 children who gave their names. I sent the list to Santosh and appealed to my friends in the Runner's High community if they would support the children's registrations. Within hours of my mail, all the 44 children got sponsorships and Santosh magnanimously offered to pay for the transportation. We even got a runner who offered to buy the children breakfast. 

All this was too good to be true and I realised Paulo Coelho's famous quote that if you really desire something,  the whole world conspires to help you. In this case I had just wished that the JGRV school children get an opportunity to run along with the Runner's High community and the Ananya children and the entire Runner's High community joined hands and made it happen!

The first day of the week, Monday is a rest day and the next day, Tuesday is the short run of 25 minutes on our own. I usually drop my younger daughter at her bus stop and run around the storm water drain. After my second loop, I meet Rashmi and her cute daughter Ruthu and we spend time chatting as I do my stretches. 

I had planned the Wednesday session with Santosh such that me and my elder daughter go to Cubbon early and we start our warm up at 5.30 am itself. Coach George was there as ever marking the routes for the runners. We started our warm up and he guided us through the drills. After the drills, I was able to do my Time Trial that I had missed the previous Wednesday and I did the 3.2 km in 30min19sec. I dropped my daughter to the Shivajinagar bus stand from where she catches the bus to her college and came home. 

The Saturday run was at Cubbon Park and we had to run a distance of 7.5 km. I was quite satisfied with the way I ran and I was slowly able to run longer and longer distances without having to stop and walk. Even though my pace is still slow and I am usually the last person running once the whole pack runs ahead, personally I was getting better. My strides were longer, my lungs were supporting me more and not threatening to burst and I was running at a steady pace for longer distances and the walk breaks that i require are also shorter and I am able to catch my breath and recover faster than earlier. These are all personal mile stones that I crossed which gave me confidence. All the fellow runners from the Runner's High community who had committed themselves to supporting the JGRV school children's participation in the next day's run, true to their word, handed over the amounts that they had committed themselves to. 

The Sunday was the most memorable day. Anupama and Subhashini joined the JGRV bus along with Anupama's daughter and my daughters. We drove to Decathlon, Sarjapur, with a bus load of highly energetic children who were very excited by this outing, amidst loud singing and chattering. Just before we reached Decathlon, we instructed the children to stick together and run together and not leave the pack. That advice turned out to be the wrong advice as there were prizes to be won at the end of the 5 km run which I did not know about. If we had allowed our JGRV children to run to their potential, who knows, they might have run a few trophies. Lesson learnt. 

Once we arriver at Decathlon, the place was buzzing with activity and energy. The registrations were completed with quick efficiency as the organisers had organised several counters and we were all given our bibs. The race set off after a short oath taking ceremony by all the participants in support of HIV affected children. 

The runners set off nice and strong. Santosh had asked the Ananya kids to guide our JGRV kids. I though that it was a very nice gesture on the part of the Ananya kids. If they had decided to run at their pace, they would have all won the trophies, but instead they decided to support the JGRV kids which was a highly commendable gesture. We were guided through the traffic by traffic wardens and pretty soon we had passed the main roads and were running through village lanes. We passed by many small and quaint temples through the route and arrived at the first aid station that was manned by the Sneha Care Home kids with great efficiency looking bright in their green uniforms. They greeted us in a very friendly way and were smart in distributing the water glasses. Santosh came riding on his cycle to check on the progress.

We later ran through the Shining Star School to loud cheering by the children who had lined up on either sides of the road and were cheering all the runners. We then ran through Sneha Care Home and even here there were children lined up on both sides of the route with glasses of water in their hands. Their continuous cheering infused fresh energy into my legs.

We had to run the last part with some amount of heat and sun and the route had a slight gradient. After the previous day's 7 km run I had developed a slight pain in my left knee and the heat was making each and every step difficult. As we reached the main road, we were again greeted by volunteers and traffic wardens who cheered us along and helped us to finish with flourish.

Our JGRV kids had run very fast and had reached the destination quite a while ago and even they cheered me as I entered Decathlon. They were all thrilled to receive certificates from the organisers. As we started our way back to Kalyan Nagar in the bus, they all expressed their desire to run again and they wanted to know if they will have more opportunities like this in the future. Finally, they were treated to a sumptuous and yummylicious breakfast of hot hot Poori Saagu and searing Masala Dosa (thanks to the donor who does not want to be named) at Srinidhi Upachaar and they ate like little princes and princesses which they deserved and had earned it as a right as they had all run in aid of other children.

Auroville Marathon Training Program - Intro session

November 18

We completed the Bangalore Ultra on November 11. We provided the feedback about our training program. We also wrote some stories and read all the stories written by the running community about the training program, the Ultra run itself, what worked for them, what did not work for them, what memories will remain etched in their hearts and the inspiration.

The week was a week of relaxation and also of basking in the shining glory of having completed our task and having achieved our goals. The most significant feeling was that it is not some reflected glory but its your own achievement that has been earned through one's own sweat and blood. Ok.. ok.. I know that I am being a bit over dramatic but that was the feelign that prevailed throughout the week.

The intro session for the Auroville training program was scheduled for the coming Sunday, November 18. My neighbour and our driver who ferries us to and from each training session apart from training himself for the half marathon, had left for Japan to learn to speak more Japanese than moshi moshi and sayonara.:). Of course not, he has gone on work. But that sounds boring. Going to Japan to learn to speak Japanese sounds more interesting :)

I was the driver for the next two weeks. I packed my car with Rashmi, my friend Meena and her children adn my two daughters and we all went to Cubbon park. As we had arrived a few minutes early, there were only a few coaches and a half a dozen odd people. But as the seconds were passing by more and more people kept pouring in and phew! I will not be exaggerating if I say that there were more than two hundred people who had registered. And I will not be wrong if I say that at least half the faces were new faces.

The session was full of humour, friendly bantering and congratulating each other on the Ultra run. Subhashini was the star among the women for having come first in the 10K run in her category. Santosh then started with a brief introduction about Runner's High and a short overview of the Auroville marathon training program and how the entire program will be spread and how the sessions will be each week. Even though I had heard it before, it certainly felt new and like I was hearing it for the first time.

The highlight of the session was the novel method adopted by Santosh to introduce the coaches. He introduced the first coach and then he made each of them introduce the next coach. This added an element of freshness and also gave us an opportunity to hear all of them as we usually do not get to hear all of them speaking but only get to know the coaches whom we interact with directly.

Santosh asked the newcomers to run two rounds around the Queen's park. The pain in my left shin and left knee that I had developed during my Ultra run had reduced considerably to the extent of having disappeared. Even though I did not have to run, I ran the two rounds to check if the pain would return back. It did return back with such a short run. We have two guardian angels and miracle workers in the Runner's High community. If Santosh forms the foundation and the coaches are the pillars then these two form the roof or the protective umbrella like cover to the community. They are the physios or the physiotherapists. They patiently hear each and every runner's complaints and give a set of dos and donts and exercises. If followed carefully and diligently, the pains disappear and we emerge stronger. That is how it worked with me also and by next week I was as good as new.

Armed with new confidence and a general sense of well being I was eagerly looking forward to beginning the new training season and a new chapter.