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Friday, February 18, 2011

A Fantastic Half at Auroville, 13 Feb '11

Had a fantastic race at Auroville, Sun 13 Feb '11. I did a half marathon (HM) and I loved it!
The natural beauty of Auroville, the energy and kindness of the runners and volunteers, team RH being there - an almost spiritual experience!

In fact, a PB (personal best) for me - "official" time of 2:27 (though my garmin shows i finished in 2:26:05).

 Auroville Visitor's Centre

Key Learning's-

- Well before race day, I argued with myself, Santhosh and Preeti, saying that, man, what's the use of running a half when I've already run two FMs (although quite poorly). Today I stand corrected, and how! Running a good race is not just about the distance or the time you take or even if you're successful. I really enjoyed it.

- Any runner who's had (or has) ITB issues knows that sinking feeling when it hits; it happened to me soon after I took up running seriously, at the KTM '10 FM and at the Ultra. This time, I worked harder on strength training for my legs & core; I think it definitely paid off- I did not have any ITB pains. Whew, what a relief! You take out what you put in. No shortcuts. Yup.

- Sticking to the schedule (after my initial bumps & having Santhosh tell me off about doing my own distances!) is bloody important. (I know, I know, eye rolling from Santhosh; when will these people listen!). Thanks Chief!


Soon after completing, I picked up the book "Dare To Run" by Amit Sheth, mostly on impulse. I love to read and a book on running! Yeah. By today I've read about 60 pages of it and Wow! it is inspiring. Do read it. Even better, I saw Amit Sheth there; I paused, wanting to go up and say Hi but he was conversing with friends and I thought it rude to intrude. After reading just part of his book though, I wish I had!

An Update!
Here's the Amazon link to Amit's book "Dare To Run"; I reviewed it as well!



Reading all the RH (Runner's High) folks emails was very inspiring. Fantastic. Kudos to all the PBs; Ajay's sub-4, Pree's 4:30! Wow.

Many thanks to RH, especially all the coaches. Had a fun trip there and back with Chandra and  Preeti, get-together's with Surya, his wife and Gopalan Sir. Meghana and Sudarshan - thanks to their kindness I was offered a lift to the venue on race day from the (beautiful) Zest Big Beach resort.

Wish my family could have been there too, but hey, that will happen next time! Dilshad had quite a marathon day herself juggling two lively boys, Sheroy and Danesh (1.5 years old at that!).

Am really glad and thankful to be a part of the awesome RH group, to have a passion for running. What more could one ask.

Zest Big Beach resort


The sea @ Zest Big Beach resort!

Below, a 3d Google-Earth-powered view of the race! (courtesy of runningfreeonline.com).