With a trail weaving through the vast green landscape of Auroville giving you glimpses of its way of living, be ready to run for the JOY of RUNNING. Like Fred, the man behind this run, said on the previous day. “Don’t look at the kilometer marker or your watch. Enjoy the run and look around”.
As for me, I was attempting the Auroville marathon with no runs after the Mumbai Full and a cough which had refused to subside for almost two weeks. This had left me skeptical and in doubt of the full marathon that I had registered for. I had contemplated not making the trip at all. Then thought of just cheering others. Doubts and fears engulfed my mind as we reached Chennai at 9:00 AM on a humid day.
Unity Transport Service, the cab service to Pondicherry that I had booked was right on dot. I will recommend anybody planning a trip to use them. We waited for my brother and sister-in-law to arrive at the airport from Mumbai and had our first taste of Dosa and Idli in the land of Dosas at the Sangeeta restaurant near the International Departure outside the airport.
Our destination was Hotel Surguru in Pondicherry (Puducherry now). We decided to take a detour to Mahabalipuram (Mammallapuram now). Lovely stone and temple architecture but recommend that you make this trip either early morning or late afternoon.
Soon we reached Hotel Surguru in time for Lunch. This is again the most reasonable and one of the older Hotels known for its Veg meals as well. Late afternoon we planned to explore the east coast sea front and the old French town and buildings. Finished off the day with a dinner at Hotel Seagull – Dicey, in a dark alley and overlooking the sea at the end of the Promenade. The garlic prawns were fresh but not marinated enough. The rest of the dinner was a bit of a dampener.
Day 2
Next day we planned to reach Auro after lunch to collect the bibs and listen to BFT. I had my cough acting up again and decided to rest in the hotel room in the morning while the others left to explore the Ganesha temple and the Market for antique furniture.
After a special thali at the restaurant for lunch and we set off on our road trip for our first glimpse of Auroville which is around 13 km from where we stayed. The turn to Auroville from the main road is nondescript and can be missed easily. The road goes through some small villages and turns into a sprawling, green area. The devastation meted out by the Cyclone of December is evident by the logs of wood on the road side, coconut trees on the verge of falling down and huge tree branches hacked off. Life is limping back to normal but the green cover that is lost will take ages to replace.
Auroville Marathon is devoid of sponsors or celebrities and the bib collection itself is a low key affair. The organization is impeccable and messages out environmentally conscious way of living in everything that they do. No printouts of Registration confirmation - your email ID is looked up in a list and the bib number handed out. No goody bags with free samples of pills that will invigorate you or lozenges which you may need in a polluted city. No gait analysis and peddling of pronation correct shoes or other running paraphernalia.
The Auroville cafeteria, book stall and boutique were interesting and a dent on the pocket J but with Valentine day near the corner, what the heck !
We saw a 10 minute film on Auroville and the Matri Mandir after which my brother went off to take some pics of the same. I waited in the cafeteria with Siddhant for Barefoot Ted (BFT) talk to start.
BFT came, saw and impressed everybody with his take on Running. Well worth the wait. The talk had to be shifted to the open area after the Auditorium where it was originally planned got choked to the brim with more people waiting outside than inside like a Mumbai suburban train compartment.
The talk got over and we rushed to the cafeteria for the mouthwatering salads and pasta that we had seen on the menu. Alas, the kitchen was busy preparing for the pasta dinner for runners and was not taking any orders. We had to now plan to eat on our way back in Pondicherry as we had not registered for the Runners pasta dinner. And also call a cab to take us to Pondicherry.
We decided to try Le Club on the lane behind the Pondicherry seafront. But this restaurant did not allow kids inside and we had to scout for another one and started a long walk from the sea front to Hotel Promenade which we had seen the other night. As we made our way along the sea front there was a long display of Vintage cars with a huge crowd thronging for a glimpse and pictures. Despite of the marathon next day we were on our feet ogling at these cars as we made slow progress to the Restaurant. Dinner at the Promenade was more style than substance, a salty pasta and an oily Potato preparation made their way into my hungry belly as a pre-marathon dinner. Dessert was a mix of Caramel pudding, soufflé and some fruits. We decided to take a rick to the hotel and negotiated for 80 bucks, four of us and son, me sitting next to the driver. Finally back to the hotel at 9:30 PM to prepare for the next day start of 4:30 reporting time for which I had hired a taxi to pick me, Parag and Umesh up at 4:00 AM.
Race day
The night before an event like a Marathon is always sleep deprived. With me having a coughing bout this was all the more difficult and the icing on the cake was a 1:30 AM SMS from KingFisher airlines announcing that our 9:00 PM return flight to Pune was rescheduled to 11:40 PM. This left me with little or no sleep. I woke up before the alarm went off and started the preparations for the run. Down in the lobby the Taxi driver was already waiting at the reception desk. Parag and Umesh joined me and we were soon on our way. Nitin was going to drive his friend’s car and my brother and sister-in-law were joining him for the half marathon later. Our cheerleaders (our family) were to follow suit at 8:30 AM and I had booked a taxi for them separately.
Barefoot Umesh
Umesh planned to run this barefoot and I marveled at his courage and determination. I am a convert to barefoot running as well, but taking it slow and easy not having run beyond 30 km in barefoot and experimenting with minimalist shoes as well. The fear of the unknown keeps me from plunging head on into barefooting during events like these but Umesh is a different animal altogether. The silent crusader, his actions speak louder than words and he was going to create history today, at least from the Pune gang.
My Race Plan
My plan was to have a 6:00 hour finish, having run Kaveri I knew that trails are more difficult than road runs. The cough had not left me and I had packed the Alex lozenges and kanthil in the waist pouch along with the cereal bar. I was planning to take one loop at a time and evaluate my condition. I would abort if a cough bout started or the run left me panting. Secondly I wanted to enjoy this run and not worry about PR’s.
We reached to see very few people gathered around the bib collection booth. I met Ram and a few Mumbai runners. I have been meeting Ram for all the events ever since we first met in Corbett in April 2011. Looking back I think he is my lucky charm J.
The start was preceded by a warm up session accompanied with music and the atmosphere was electric. The sky was dark with stars and we were in the middle of nature with the music and fluroscent lights lighting the route for not more than a few hundred metres after which it was pitch dark except for moon light or stray light from some dwelling. The thoughtful organisers had given us small LED torches, some of the runners were carrying head torches. We started on time and me, Umesh and Parag were at the back. I met Venkat from Pune / Mumbai, we exchanged a few notes as we made our way along the route, picking up the path in the narrow beam of our torches.
I have always dreaded cycling in the night which is one reason for me not attempting a Brevet beyond 300 km. Now running in the dark was almost giving me the same feeling of disorientation. At least I was not on a saddle but the feel was different to running in daylight or on a lit road. The early birds were calling out and it was both fantastic and eerie at the same time. Parag had gone ahead and Umesh went ahead as well, I was running at 7 – 8 min/km pace looking around at fellow runners passing by. Checking on myself whether I was wheezing, whether I was able to talk to myself watching my step in the torch light and also my head as at some pace the branches were really low. There were some volunteers on Mountain bikes and torches lighting the way and passing us by. A perfect transportation device in this narrow trail. Broad sections had water stations which were well equipped not only with water, lemon, biscuits, bananas, electoral ( no Gatorade !) which was appropriately diluted, salt and most importantly smiling, eager beaver families and kids. The thoughtful volunteers had cut the bananas in pieces, one could just press the end of the piece, pop it in the mouth and throw way the bio degradable peel J. The water / electoral holding volunteers cried out loud to ease the task of fast runner. I was in no hurry and chatted and thanked each one. At one water station made myself a salted lemon juice with the squeezer which the volunteer was holding. It felt like a picnic. And the pace I was running was perfect LSD for me. No sign of cough, no sign of travel fatigue, everything in place for a 6 hr finish. Till I took a wrong turn as I watched the rising sun light up the geodesic dome called Matrimandir on my left. Aprox 800 m down the road and somebody hollered at me from behind. Two more runners had followed me to the wrong path and one of them pointed at the arrow on the road which was pointing in the opposite direction. Well, no harm done, we back tracked and joined the course and got Matrimandir to my right.
Soon after I saw Umesh and caught up with him. I have always noticed him keeping a constant pace and thought of running along with him. There was one more guy running in socks and few others trying barefoot. One runner I met later at the third loop had discarded his shoes at a water station.
The darkness had already made way for the morning light as we finished the first loop and found the 10 km runners joining us, the half marathoners had already been flagged off and they were ahead of us. At no point was the trail crowded as it was a circular loop. I had forgotten to hand over my torch at the water station and gave it to a volunteer on the bike. My hands were now free and I removed my cell click some pics and started a walk – run routine. Umesh’s pace was slightly faster than my walking pace and I was very comfortable enjoying, talking and looking around.
Now we were passing more 10k and half marathoners, one of the stone benches had a runner lying down. I asked him whether he needed help. He was just taking a breather. Soon the sun was getting hotter, Umesh had started doing the walk - run as well, his walk pace was slower because he was barefoot. I told him to run when there was no shade and walk in the shade. We passed Venkat and a fellow runner. And I was wondering whether we would miss Sharat, Sunita and Nitin altogether when Sharat, my brother passed me at the end of the second loop, he was targeting a 2:30 and looked strong. He had a camera and I told him to forget the target time and take our pics J. He obliged but still finished in 2:30. We were now starting the third loop and the trail became sparser as the half marathoners got separated. Our pace was slowing down to 11:00 min a km and I checked on Umesh. Did not want to push him too hard but we were going to miss the 6:00 hr target at this pace. I had started pouring water from a bucket at each water station on my head and shoulders. It was a bucket bath at each water station along with chewing some lemons and eating a banana or biscuit. One of them had kept five star chocolate pieces. Chewed one for a while and spat it out because of the dryness.
Checked on my cell and it appeared switched off. I had forgotten to put the cell in a plastic pouch and now I was not sure whether the cell was drained or the display had conked off because of the water. Borrowed Umesh’s cell and called Sona told her about my expected time of 6 to 6:15 which means 11:00 AM to 11:15 AM. Umesh told me to carry on as he had slowed down considerably and would probably make it by 11:30 or 11:45. I now picked up pace and started my walk run at an average of 8 to 9 min/ km passing a lot of full marathoners. As it was the last loop I thanked all the volunteers and told them it was the last time they will be seeing me until next year. The distance in the Garmin was off by atleast a km because of the wrong turn I had taken early on. And I finished the 42.2 at just past 6:00 hrs. the road marker for the finish came in sight and I picked up pace to sight the finish. There was a girl with medals in her hand cheering me to come fast and Siddhant, Sona and Nitin’s family were at the end cheering my completion.
It was the most wonderful end to a very beautiful course that I had ever run a marathon in. I almost regretted that it had to end and was satisfied with my strong finish. To top it all there was a massage area and because of my late finish not much of a crowd. Had to wait for some time before the volunteer masseur, an Auroville resident, got free and started attending to me. I chatted with her and she said they were here since 8:30 AM. It was a marathon for her as well. Big respect to their selfless service and thoughtfulness. Such a wonderful gesture from the organisers, I was ready for another half marathon after she finished with my calves and feet.
Barefoot Umesh came in around 40 min later. What an effort ! He was his usual cool self and did not show any sign of discomfort. We all posed for a group pic and made our way back to the hotel in an autorickshaw.
It was going to be a perfect end to a small vacation marathon. Little did we know what was in store at the airport for our return. Although the flight was delayed to 11:30 PM we reached Chennai airport at 7:30 as my brother had an earlier flight to Mumbai. We ate outside the airport and entered the airport to catch some sleep before the flight departed. We were shocked when the announcement was made that the flight was further delayed and will take off only at 1:10 AM !! I and Parag took our kids on our laps so that they could catch some sleep as we chatted and swatted some mosquitoes all around.
Finally reached home at 3:45 AM but then probably a marathon teaches you to face all eventualities. And this was just a minor setback to an otherwise perfect weekend of Nature in its bounty, barefooting Ted talks, dosas and iddi appams, Prawns and fish and a perfect trail run inside Auroville.
What more could one ask for to fall in love ? Auroville 2013 ... can't stop falling in love ...
