The cool shades of Auroville are still fresh as I pen down my account of the 2nd Auroville Marathon . Yesterday I finished the Auroville half-marathon with a time of 1: 56. My goal was a sub 1.50 finish considering the track was flat & soft clay. The certificate (being brought over my friends still at Pondi ) will confirm the exact timings.
The race was well organized. The trail was scenic ( mostly shaded forest tracks )with distinctive markings across the route. Pitstops were at every 4 KM ( there spaced out during the initial 10 KM ), stocked with water, glucose, biscuits, bananas, lemons( not salt though ) etc. People running the full marathon started at 5 AM and were given torches ( they must have run the first hour in total dark ). The half marathon started at 6 AM.
The pre-race pasta and the post-race breakfast ( peanut butter sandwitch, idlis, dosa ) was really good.The race went well even though I expected a better timing.
Here's a short course of events.
We reached Chennai by Spicejet on Friday. Amit Ojha with wife & kids , me and Venkat. There was a 4 hour delay in taking off due to heavy fog in Delhi ( someone told me that only Indian Airlines & Indigo pilots are trained to take off using Cat3 systems ) . Anyhow landed at 2.00 PM . We then took a Innova & a ambassador to Pondi , just stopping for lunch at Swagath on the Byepass road for a quick southie thali meal.
I checked into Hotel Coromandel , a small place on Needaraja Pillai St. Evening was spent strolling on the beach ( just a km away from my hotel ) & a chilled beer with Amit. The beach at Pondi is rocky with a long promenade alongside where people came to stroll, enjoy the fresh sea & generally chill out.
On Saturday, we reached Auroville for a tour of the place. Its well hidden from the ECR with no road pointers , but could see a lot of foreigners on bikes & cycles going towards the road leading to Auroville. Went to the daily market (opp solar kitchen ) where I had my first taste of wheat grass juice (its really strong ) & some other organically grown fruits/vegetables & products. We also visited the main information centre ,boutique store, solar kitchen & matrimandir. In the evening , we collected our Bibs ( # 316 ) & kit bag with the blue T shirt.
I also visited the Pondi beach ( for a sunrise view & some snaps ) & the Mother’s Samadhi ( Aurobindo Ashram ) during the morning. The ashram is a serene grey bulding on a quite Pondi street ( No cameras, mobiles switched off & no shoes )
Race day ( Sunday ) started at 4 AM. I got ready & took the waiting Innova to pick up Amit & Venkat /Rajeshwari ( Venkat’s wife ) & reached Certitude ( starting point ) around 5.00 AM.
We warmed up with a bit of slow jogging / stretching , took snaps . Came across a group of runners from Nanded ( Maharashtra )..they looked really strong and claimed to run a half in 1.16. Anyhow post rubbing some gel /iodex on the arms & legs it was time to start the half run at 6.00 am ( the race started a bit late at 6.06 am ).
Amit & me started a slow pace till around 4 km. We had decided to run together & take our time to enjoy the track & the Auroville experience. But without realising it, both of us picked up pace till 12km. From then we decided to do a steady pace & reached the 18 km point on the road. The last 3 km were through a much looped forest course & Amit picked up during the last 1.5 km.
We finished within 2mins of each other amongst a lot of cheering from volunteers, friends & families of runners.
I returned to Chennai by the express Byepass Bus ( Tamil Nadu State Transport ) on Sunday itself & took the evening Spicejet flight to Delhi reaching home at 10.30 PM.
The race was well organized. The trail was scenic ( mostly shaded forest tracks )with distinctive markings across the route. Pitstops were at every 4 KM ( there spaced out during the initial 10 KM ), stocked with water, glucose, biscuits, bananas, lemons( not salt though ) etc. People running the full marathon started at 5 AM and were given torches ( they must have run the first hour in total dark ). The half marathon started at 6 AM.
The pre-race pasta and the post-race breakfast ( peanut butter sandwitch, idlis, dosa ) was really good.The race went well even though I expected a better timing.
Here's a short course of events.
We reached Chennai by Spicejet on Friday. Amit Ojha with wife & kids , me and Venkat. There was a 4 hour delay in taking off due to heavy fog in Delhi ( someone told me that only Indian Airlines & Indigo pilots are trained to take off using Cat3 systems ) . Anyhow landed at 2.00 PM . We then took a Innova & a ambassador to Pondi , just stopping for lunch at Swagath on the Byepass road for a quick southie thali meal.
I checked into Hotel Coromandel , a small place on Needaraja Pillai St. Evening was spent strolling on the beach ( just a km away from my hotel ) & a chilled beer with Amit. The beach at Pondi is rocky with a long promenade alongside where people came to stroll, enjoy the fresh sea & generally chill out.
On Saturday, we reached Auroville for a tour of the place. Its well hidden from the ECR with no road pointers , but could see a lot of foreigners on bikes & cycles going towards the road leading to Auroville. Went to the daily market (opp solar kitchen ) where I had my first taste of wheat grass juice (its really strong ) & some other organically grown fruits/vegetables & products. We also visited the main information centre ,boutique store, solar kitchen & matrimandir. In the evening , we collected our Bibs ( # 316 ) & kit bag with the blue T shirt.
I also visited the Pondi beach ( for a sunrise view & some snaps ) & the Mother’s Samadhi ( Aurobindo Ashram ) during the morning. The ashram is a serene grey bulding on a quite Pondi street ( No cameras, mobiles switched off & no shoes )
Race day ( Sunday ) started at 4 AM. I got ready & took the waiting Innova to pick up Amit & Venkat /Rajeshwari ( Venkat’s wife ) & reached Certitude ( starting point ) around 5.00 AM.
We warmed up with a bit of slow jogging / stretching , took snaps . Came across a group of runners from Nanded ( Maharashtra )..they looked really strong and claimed to run a half in 1.16. Anyhow post rubbing some gel /iodex on the arms & legs it was time to start the half run at 6.00 am ( the race started a bit late at 6.06 am ).
Amit & me started a slow pace till around 4 km. We had decided to run together & take our time to enjoy the track & the Auroville experience. But without realising it, both of us picked up pace till 12km. From then we decided to do a steady pace & reached the 18 km point on the road. The last 3 km were through a much looped forest course & Amit picked up during the last 1.5 km.
We finished within 2mins of each other amongst a lot of cheering from volunteers, friends & families of runners.
I returned to Chennai by the express Byepass Bus ( Tamil Nadu State Transport ) on Sunday itself & took the evening Spicejet flight to Delhi reaching home at 10.30 PM.
2 comments:
Great run, Param. You seem to be consistently hitting that 1:56 mark in all your 21Ks. I am sure the trail is always a bit tougher to run.
Alas thats so true..i am somehow not able to move up into that 1.40-1.50 kind of thing..i guess will have to improve on my stamina & strength..and also prepare for that first full marathon.
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