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| Barefoot Ted |
So, went with family (Dilshad & kids, Darius, parents, in-laws) to Pondy! Good fun. Dilshad & Darius are running the 10k event!
Heard some of "Barefoot Ted's" talk at the Visitor's Centre. It was good.
We picked up our bibs, went to the hotel. I was quite tense about how i'll reach Auroville early morning as my hotel (Green Palace :) seemed unknown (it's near the bus stand). So i booked a cab... later found that the pickup was at the hotel next to mine (Hotel "Mass")!
Things did not pan out all that smoothly; like life 
. (Echoes of Chief Santhosh ;)
I did not have my garmin- it decided to stop working a week before the event. Ok not so bad...
Darius borrowed my ipod- the plan being i'll take it back on the 2nd loop...
Meanwhile, in the taxi (after a bit of a late start at 4.10am) it suddenly hit me i had no money- it was in the ipod pouch! Luckily, the taxi guy said "no problem saar, i'll collect it from the hotel". Whew.
Got there, nice to meet up with a few RH (Runner's High) folk- Kalpana, Siva, Asad, Karthik..
Then, 5 min before the race started, i realized i had no torch- so i "warmed up" by running back to the tent & collecting it :)
The we were off! Though i've had the good fortune to experience this a few times now, starting a marathon is always a great experience- a surge of adrenalin, so many people, so much energy, one & all locked into the fact that Hey, this is the easiest part! and still smiling & happy. Yeah, we know, we're all crazy ;)
Very quickly, all thoughts of "how easy & suitable for a PB Auroville FM is" just vanished. Honestly! I was almost shocked at the trail & the _really_ slow pace i was crawling along at... (also had some pain, bit of an internal injury)..it took me nearly 1h20m to do the first 10k! Thoughts of giving this one up went through my mind often in the early part...once the sun was up though, i felt better, the pain subsided.
Well, from then on it was your typical hot, difficult, run-of-the-mill marathon :-)
Some highlights-
I ran alongside a guy running in socks. Yes, socks. Asked him- what boss, you ok with that? And of course he said- yes, am fine. Okay. He pointed out another guy ahead doing it barefoot; and of course, Barefoot Ted was there. Hm. Not for me. Yet.
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| At 36k. Notice the cyclone damage. |
I met Srini. Frankly, i was amazed- our Srini P lounging around enjoying the scenery, not eating up the trail! Will wonders never cease ;)
At about 27k down for me, I met the Chief! Hey, his voice calling out my name & as usual encouraging me on was just what the doc ordered! Another good break. We chat for a few minutes while running along, Santhosh helping pace some Ananya kids...(how they run! Gosh).
Spoke a bit on the phone w/ family, friends :) that helped.
Met Asad (another RH runner) at an aid station at about 29k & we ran together for a while...always helps! But by some 33k i just could not run..fatigue engulfed me, i just wanted to sit down & forget all about this thing. Yeah.
That's when the run-walk thingy becomes the walk-run-if-u-can thingy. So, i walked, probably about 3k. Actually, it helped me get stronger. I also knew that Darius would meet me at abt 39k, kept me motivated. Hey, Darius did a great run- 10k 18th place! As did so many of our runners. Go RH!!!
Sure enough, we hooked up there .. then, a very pleasant surprise - the wife, Dilshad, and Cyrus Dhabar (also with RH)- met us at the 40-41k mark. Am feeling quite special & content now, not caring about the time, just looking forward to finishing, very happy to have my own personal convoy guiding me through...Thanks guys!
And who do i see when my legs have almost given way about 500m to the finish- Ajay Gupta! Ah, you look familiar, I say, and Ajay says So do you! It goes without saying- he complimented (read bull-sh*tted) me about how strong i looked, and had me really running! I finished strong- almost sprinting the last 100m. Took me 5:52 but i really didn't care.
As usual, an awesome experience.
As usual, an awesome experience.
