and the bangalore ultramarathon
Wow what a fabulous run it was!! Amazing people be it the organisation (RFL) (click on www.thefullerlife.com to know more), its team, volunteers, doctors and their team, the partners and of course the runners. Everything was great. As mentioned, I got into RFL office where there was a buzz of activity; all of them busy collecting things for the trip to Hesserghatta (outskirts of bangalore - takes about 2 hours to reach) and in the midst of that handing over (with lots of patience ) to the runners; explaining the runners about the route, helping them collect correct T shirt (lovely T shirt - designed by Farah one of the runners - she runs very fast). They took down all things needed for the run and we left in a tempo (about 16 of us) -a bit crowded but who cares? The group consisted of a couple from chennai, one guy from mumbai, another from hyderabad and other runners from Bangalore - siva, bhaskar, partha, hari, etc. We chatted about running and other runners and where all we ran and so on.. time flew swiftly and we went past the city and were on the outskirts where my god there was lot of work going on; roads getting repaired!! lots of dust!! Closer to the place nicely named as "own native village" or popularly called ONV, the place looked fabulous even in darkness; weather was nice and cold. I think it was Chatura (Chats) I think who was the navigator and the driver was Mohammad who finally led us to ONV, a ecofriendly resort where we were to stay for the night - my room mate was Nitin who went to run 52K inspite of his injuries - fabulous guy! We were welcomed with panagam (a south indian preparation consisting of jaggery dissolved in water while being warmed with elaichi and lemon)- felt refreshed after having it. We were welcomed by other runners Sabine and Madhu and Rajat- it was great to meet all these guys who i only know through their emails!! met kieran from manipal hospital - amazing guy - he ran about 40k and not showing it at all! more of that later
We went to our rooms, had a bath in hot hot shower - works v. well - the room was neat and clean with wonder of wonder - water in an earthen vessel - loved it! Even shampoo was stored in earthen vessel and one knocks on the door with bells that reminds one of a village bell tied round bullocks or the temple bells. Refreshed, we went straight back to the reception and met Rajat and madhu sabine nischal partha farah nitin and so many others. We had nice soup followed by pasta - wow it was delicious and a lot of hogged away to glory including me - i of course didnt take the dessert as usual :(. Nischal, Farah and Sanine were ebullient and giggling away and generally the atmosphere was abs jolly - they planned to have early breakfast (reminds me of enid blyton's midnight feast) at about 4 am; we went to bed, read for some time and glory of glory i woke up at 4 am feeling quite rested. I was to leave only at 7 pm having registered to run 26k. At about 5.30 i think there was lots of noise with announcements and people going to the starting point; I too went to see off the ultra marathon guys - who were to run 52k, 78k and the 104 k. There was the instructions and speeches by the runner/organiser groups - wow no politics!! It was exciting to be part of this crowd and at dot 6 am the run was flagged off. I went back to my room to bathe, had some oranges and did a bit of warm up exercises. At dot 7 am the 26k run was flagged off and to our good fortune (and thanks to Bangalore police) the route was cut down from a round trip to a one way loop trip i.e. we had to do 6.5 km and return for another 6.5 and so on. It was a blessing as we got to meet all other runners more often and had more places to catch up on water and gatorade and sandwich and medical stuff and so on. The route was magnificent with cloudy sky to begin with, grass and soil for running, many trees on either side, hills and mountains for your view and the company of runners/volunteers who not only volunteered amazingly but some of them also ran...the volunteers not only helped us with water and so on but also medically helped us - stretching, taking care of cramps, applying bandaids, etc. Sabine and gang lightened up the run by greeting every runner as if meeting them for the first time for the day; there was so much energy in the run. Nisha at the starting point greeted every runner with their name motivating them further if that was possible! It was so motivating to see so many runners that i actually ran 39 km using 4:1 formula. Of course the tiredness did hit me later in the day but the run was out of this world - thanks RFL and the whole gang of runners and volunteers - amazing outfit. Post the run, Kieran helped me in stretching, we had ice for reducing swelling and then later lunch. There was the fantastic act of cheering every runner while handing over them the certificates and the medal - RFL three cheers and keep it up!!
We then :( finally (at least me as i had to catch a flight to bombay) got into the bus and returned to bangalore city and then onwards to Bombay - i travelled by kingfisher and the airhostess organised the first seat (my knees were hurting after the run) - (and always useful asking - no downside right!) for me - i practically slept while returning.
A fantastic run!! am i glad that i participated - thanks to madhu and rajat for encouraging me by urging me to run 39 and encouraging me everytime we met during the run!!!!!
We went to our rooms, had a bath in hot hot shower - works v. well - the room was neat and clean with wonder of wonder - water in an earthen vessel - loved it! Even shampoo was stored in earthen vessel and one knocks on the door with bells that reminds one of a village bell tied round bullocks or the temple bells. Refreshed, we went straight back to the reception and met Rajat and madhu sabine nischal partha farah nitin and so many others. We had nice soup followed by pasta - wow it was delicious and a lot of hogged away to glory including me - i of course didnt take the dessert as usual :(. Nischal, Farah and Sanine were ebullient and giggling away and generally the atmosphere was abs jolly - they planned to have early breakfast (reminds me of enid blyton's midnight feast) at about 4 am; we went to bed, read for some time and glory of glory i woke up at 4 am feeling quite rested. I was to leave only at 7 pm having registered to run 26k. At about 5.30 i think there was lots of noise with announcements and people going to the starting point; I too went to see off the ultra marathon guys - who were to run 52k, 78k and the 104 k. There was the instructions and speeches by the runner/organiser groups - wow no politics!! It was exciting to be part of this crowd and at dot 6 am the run was flagged off. I went back to my room to bathe, had some oranges and did a bit of warm up exercises. At dot 7 am the 26k run was flagged off and to our good fortune (and thanks to Bangalore police) the route was cut down from a round trip to a one way loop trip i.e. we had to do 6.5 km and return for another 6.5 and so on. It was a blessing as we got to meet all other runners more often and had more places to catch up on water and gatorade and sandwich and medical stuff and so on. The route was magnificent with cloudy sky to begin with, grass and soil for running, many trees on either side, hills and mountains for your view and the company of runners/volunteers who not only volunteered amazingly but some of them also ran...the volunteers not only helped us with water and so on but also medically helped us - stretching, taking care of cramps, applying bandaids, etc. Sabine and gang lightened up the run by greeting every runner as if meeting them for the first time for the day; there was so much energy in the run. Nisha at the starting point greeted every runner with their name motivating them further if that was possible! It was so motivating to see so many runners that i actually ran 39 km using 4:1 formula. Of course the tiredness did hit me later in the day but the run was out of this world - thanks RFL and the whole gang of runners and volunteers - amazing outfit. Post the run, Kieran helped me in stretching, we had ice for reducing swelling and then later lunch. There was the fantastic act of cheering every runner while handing over them the certificates and the medal - RFL three cheers and keep it up!!
We then :( finally (at least me as i had to catch a flight to bombay) got into the bus and returned to bangalore city and then onwards to Bombay - i travelled by kingfisher and the airhostess organised the first seat (my knees were hurting after the run) - (and always useful asking - no downside right!) for me - i practically slept while returning.
A fantastic run!! am i glad that i participated - thanks to madhu and rajat for encouraging me by urging me to run 39 and encouraging me everytime we met during the run!!!!!
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