The Marathon and beyond

Ever since my friend Raj ran the Bangalore Ultra last year and some of the other runners finished the Comrades this year, I have had this desire to run beyond the extremely testing distance (so far) of the standard marathon. While most of my fellow runners were planning distances of 75K and 100K, I thought, given my obnoxious training regimen, that I should just test myself for a 50K.

There were about 10 - 12 of us from our closely knit running group and the meet up at the airport was reminiscient of a school picnic. I enjoyed our flight and the jokes that were traded. Bangalore felt fresh and cool, and our transport to the apartment complex, where we were put up, was swift. The rooms were clean and freshly made up and there was a nice restaurant that dished out fare appropriate for our carbo-loading binge. I was not in the best of conditions and in fact, had often dwelled on cancelling my visit. I was afflicted with a chest cold that seemed to be tenacious and even an antibiotic course did not help in dislodging the phlegm in my lungs. I decided to play it by ear and run the race as best I could. Monsoon was extremely worried, fully aware that a 50K distance is something you don't screw with, especially when you are incapacitated with a cold.

Race day arrived with a 3am wake up call and a flurry of activity to use the bathroom and get ready. The drive to the race venue brought a rather disturbing sight for me. I saw that someone had run over a puppy in the pre-dawn darkness and I choked on my emotions as I saw that the poor fellow was actually trying to get away from the vehicle. There were four other puppies that seemed lost and despite my best effort they kept wandering below the tyres of my parked car. There were impatient honks from other cars that were now lined up because I was holding up traffic. Finally I caught each puppy and kept them as far away from the road as was possible and drove off. I think it worked because on the return after the race, I saw the same cute little fellows playing around.

The race venue was a beehive of activity with registrations and the 100K / 75K runners having already started their races. I took my bib and then a groan from my innards made me realize that I needed to visit the washroom. We got a big cheer from the organizers for Mumbai runners and the race began without too much of a fuss. Right from the word go I felt the exertions winding me and I had premonitions of not finishing. But then I am an experienced distance runner and have a finely tuned inner GPS. I adjusted pace and worried about hanging on without any care for my finishing time. I was more concerned about wearing the Tee given to me, which said, "BANGALORE ULTRA, ITS TOUGH. ARE YOU?". It reminded me of a "tank top" I once purchased when I used to strength train, which said, "DON'T WEAR IT, IF YOU DON'T MEAN IT". I intended to wear this one - and mean it!

The race is a loop of 12.5K to be run four times. I ran the first three loops keeping a close watch on my heart rate and realized I was now maxing out and in danger of deep exhaustion. The fourth loop arrived to my relief and I then allowed myself a brief walk to regain some strength in my legs. I caught up with most of the runners that had gone way ahead. This is the benefit of wisdom in distance running:-) I met Amit and perhaps it was not so good an idea to run together because we lost our seriousness about finishing in sub 6 hrs and instead made the last 6K into a walker' club, with Mahesh in tow. I do not regret it one bit because it was the best part of the race. The course was a trail that was full of deceptive inclines and uneven surfaces that tested your talo-calcanear joint' flexibility and strength. The sun was blazing mercilessly but we were a threesome of jocund runners that had nary a care in the world and ran - walked - danced our way to the finish line - holding hands, for good measure, just before we stepped onto the timing mat at the finish:-)

I unwound and paced around while my fellow runners went for lunch and decided to wait for Roshni and Madhu. Each of them came in completely exhausted and beat up. Madhu was the braveheart that ran this race despite a serious injury to her tibia, showing degeneration in places. I was amazed that she lasted the 37.5K that she ran before I convinced her that pushing for 50K was not worth it. Our entire group from Mumbai rocked at the Ultra and we got accolades for it. To my surprise I got the third position in the men' senior category and Roshni got a similar position in the female open category. We returned to our rooms at the apartment and had a brief but fun-filled tipple. Our flight back to Mumbai was delayed by more than an hour and we reached Mumbai at 1am, realizing that we had been on our feet for 22 hrs!! Amit commented that most people that do not understand us runners would wonder as to what it is that drives us to flog ourselves in this manner. Only a real runner will understand this:-)