I was certainly not one of the quick that ran the Auroville 2010 full marathon - that privilege belongs to Ashok Nath; but, I was certainly close to dead at the finish line. I arrived at Auroville, with Madhu and Roshni who were doing their first full marathon to collect our bibs which was pretty simple and organized; though, the same could not be said about the arrangements for the dorm accommodation and transport for women. I enjoyed the pasta party and could have done with a second helping, if permitted and I noticed with a sense of longing that the chocolate cake that was served last year was missing. It was nice to catch up with the running fraternity and to make new friends too.
I was sharing a guest-house room with Dr Oak and we had some interesting notes to exchange on training and our running lives, as we talked on into the night, unable to sleep. We woke up at 3am, showered and drank some coffee; my miniature heater comes in useful on such occasions when you need to get your “fix”. We set out at 4:08 as the race was to begin at 5am and my first premonition about the shape of things to come came by as we lost our way in the darkness, trying to find the road leading to the assembly point at the start. We blundered in the dark aided by a faint glow from my cell phone and after some wrong turns and a circuitous 4K, we reached the start point at 4:47. I felt a dull ache in my legs, an ominous signal of residual fatigue from my SCMM race. I realized that my marathon was going to be 46K
I hoped for the best and eased into a gentle pace as the race began in pitch darkness. I tripped a few times and found I was not the only one as I heard a shout of “watch it!” several times, before dawn. The trail was lit by eerie glows from hand held torches shone to the ground by runners. At the 4K mark I realized that I should revise my target time from 4:15 to 4:30. At the 15K mark I downgraded it again to a 4:40 as I found the going tough. I reached the halfway mark in 2:18, a far cry from the 1:57 I had done at SCMM and my RPE was still high. The sun was up now and it was getting warm and sultry. I wondered, as my RPE went thru’ the roof, as to how I would really finish this race. The pain had seized my limbs as I found several runners overtake me.
There is no time to think about how much I hurt; there is only time to run – Ben Logsdon
I managed to keep running at a shuffle with the simple desire to get to the 32K without walking, a milestone that is hardwired in my brain. I felt refreshed at some points along the trail as I looked ahead to see a lonely path with nary a runner except a bird twittering on a far off tree and the sun’ rays streaming thru’ the trees. I managed, quite commendably, to reach the 36K point at this shuffle and then relaxed my limbs by walking for about 300m to the aid station. I felt recovered enough to begin my painful sojourn to the finish line even as I heard a race official providing wishful encouragement with a, “Just 6K to go. You’re looking good”. I smiled as I fully well know what an eternity 6K will turn out to be. I staggered on looking for the signboard showing 39 kms for I knew that the finish from there is mentally within my grasp.
I was now looking for a face saving sub 5hrs, a time I had never done in any of my previous marathons. I realized that if I didn’t speed up, I would reach in about 5:01. The dire warning must reset neuromuscular pathways because I don’t remember the next 3K except that my legs were moving fast and my lungs were bursting. I somehow found myself on the path leading to the finish enclosure and added a zip to my finish as I saw Rajesh Vetcha cheering me on. I looked at my watch and heaved a sigh of relief as I saw it stop at 4:55:35 – I am still to fathom this miracle. The race had taken so much out of me that I suffered severe dehydration and threw up about 3 hours later. I guess it would have been worse, had I not received some gentle attention from the masseuse (actually two of them :-)) in the massage enclosure; a place that I was firmly led to by a woman who saw me fall to the ground in exhaustion, near the refreshments enclosure. Well, the race had taught me a lot about post race micro-trauma and the time to heal before racing another marathon. I was, as the title says, almost dead, at the finish line.
Men, today we die a little – Emil Zatopek at the start of the Olympic Marathon
I was sharing a guest-house room with Dr Oak and we had some interesting notes to exchange on training and our running lives, as we talked on into the night, unable to sleep. We woke up at 3am, showered and drank some coffee; my miniature heater comes in useful on such occasions when you need to get your “fix”. We set out at 4:08 as the race was to begin at 5am and my first premonition about the shape of things to come came by as we lost our way in the darkness, trying to find the road leading to the assembly point at the start. We blundered in the dark aided by a faint glow from my cell phone and after some wrong turns and a circuitous 4K, we reached the start point at 4:47. I felt a dull ache in my legs, an ominous signal of residual fatigue from my SCMM race. I realized that my marathon was going to be 46K
I hoped for the best and eased into a gentle pace as the race began in pitch darkness. I tripped a few times and found I was not the only one as I heard a shout of “watch it!” several times, before dawn. The trail was lit by eerie glows from hand held torches shone to the ground by runners. At the 4K mark I realized that I should revise my target time from 4:15 to 4:30. At the 15K mark I downgraded it again to a 4:40 as I found the going tough. I reached the halfway mark in 2:18, a far cry from the 1:57 I had done at SCMM and my RPE was still high. The sun was up now and it was getting warm and sultry. I wondered, as my RPE went thru’ the roof, as to how I would really finish this race. The pain had seized my limbs as I found several runners overtake me.
There is no time to think about how much I hurt; there is only time to run – Ben Logsdon
I managed to keep running at a shuffle with the simple desire to get to the 32K without walking, a milestone that is hardwired in my brain. I felt refreshed at some points along the trail as I looked ahead to see a lonely path with nary a runner except a bird twittering on a far off tree and the sun’ rays streaming thru’ the trees. I managed, quite commendably, to reach the 36K point at this shuffle and then relaxed my limbs by walking for about 300m to the aid station. I felt recovered enough to begin my painful sojourn to the finish line even as I heard a race official providing wishful encouragement with a, “Just 6K to go. You’re looking good”. I smiled as I fully well know what an eternity 6K will turn out to be. I staggered on looking for the signboard showing 39 kms for I knew that the finish from there is mentally within my grasp.
I was now looking for a face saving sub 5hrs, a time I had never done in any of my previous marathons. I realized that if I didn’t speed up, I would reach in about 5:01. The dire warning must reset neuromuscular pathways because I don’t remember the next 3K except that my legs were moving fast and my lungs were bursting. I somehow found myself on the path leading to the finish enclosure and added a zip to my finish as I saw Rajesh Vetcha cheering me on. I looked at my watch and heaved a sigh of relief as I saw it stop at 4:55:35 – I am still to fathom this miracle. The race had taken so much out of me that I suffered severe dehydration and threw up about 3 hours later. I guess it would have been worse, had I not received some gentle attention from the masseuse (actually two of them :-)) in the massage enclosure; a place that I was firmly led to by a woman who saw me fall to the ground in exhaustion, near the refreshments enclosure. Well, the race had taught me a lot about post race micro-trauma and the time to heal before racing another marathon. I was, as the title says, almost dead, at the finish line.
Men, today we die a little – Emil Zatopek at the start of the Olympic Marathon
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