Kaveri Trail Marathon - 09

Kaveri Trail Marathon (www.kaveritrailmarathon.com) event is one of its kind. The route is picturesque all the way with the canvas painted with lush green fields, coconut trees and the water body running all along the route. The running surface itself is a mud trail. It is a 10.55km long, so for a half marathon we go till the end and back. All the wonderful pictures here are courtesy of my friend Ramesh.


Myself along with Devyani, Hari Natarajan and HariHaran sir left on friday 11th by Yeswantpur express. These train trips are always fun as we get to sit back and catch up on all the running stories and also do a little bit of bragging. We landed in B'lore on saturday at 11:00am and took a cab all the way to Srirangapatnam. We booked accommodation at FortViewResorts which also happens to be the race day camp for the RFL, which organizes this run. The hotel itself is very mediocre with ragged carpets and not very clean for the price they charge (Rs.1300). Given that the buses to the race start point leave from here in the morning, it is really convenient as you can leave right from the hotel and then once back from the run you can go take a shower. A few of the runners had stayed at Ginger in Mysore which is much better for the same price but you need to travel 20km in the morning to get to the start and the same on the way back. We reached the hotel at 1:30pm. We quickly freshened up and went sightseeing around Srirangapatnam (Tipu's summer palace, Sangam and Ranganathaswamy temple - must see). We returned back to the hotel and ordered room service. The food was very good and very economical.

The next day morning we woke up at 5:30am and went and collected the bibs in the counter setup in the Hotel. At 6:30am we were shuttled by the buses, which came with runners from Bangalore, to the start point which is about 2km from the hotel near the Ranganthittu bird sanctuary. At the start point I met up with a few of the runners from the Tibetan marathon (Deepthi, Ken, Sunil, Ramesh) and a few others Mahesh Srinivas, Rohit reddy. We also met Niranjan there. The full marathoners were flagged off at 7:20am and the half marathoners a few min later.

The weather was nice and cool at the start of the run with a thin cloud cover but the sun was threatening to come out. Even though there were 400 odd runners for HM and the trail some what narrow, within half a kilometer the crowd had thinned out and there was enough room to run freely. A few km into the run, we started to feel the humidity. The trail was a little uneven and needed to watch the step along the way. After the half-way point it started to heat up and the humidity and the uneven trail started to take its toll. I decided to take it a little easy. The beautiful surroundings definitely made it a little easy.

With the sun and the humidity it was very important to be well hydrated. I made sure I stopped and walked every water stop and loaded up on water/electrolyte and also bananas at the end. The aid stations were well stocked with water, electrolyte, bananas, PB&J sandwiches. Finally crossed the finish line with a time of 2:05.



There was a canal right next to the end point and many of us took a dip into it. After a really exhausting run you can't beat the joy of taking a dip into a cold gushing water with really pretty surroundings. I ended up staying in the water for an hour or so and then went back to the hotel in the bus arranged by RFL. Freshened up and had lunch at the garden by the river at the Hotel . After lunch I headed back to B'lore with my friend Deepthi. A couple of my old friends from college met up in B'lore and we pigged out at Dwaraka near Basavannagudi which is famous for its "Khali Dosa". If you ever get a chance to feast at this place, dont miss it. Finally boarded Rajdhani express from B'lore and got back to Hyd on monday morning. All in all it was a wonderul event and it is really wonderful to meet the running fraternity at all these running events. Next stop Bangalore ultra in Nov ......

Tibetan Marathon - Concise version

When I was preparing for the Tibetan marathon, I was very curious to know the affects of the altitude and also how ones feels during the run itself. I figured I put together a concise version of my experience which addresses these two aspects. Unlike other marathons which one just goes the day before, participates in the marathon and heads back, Tibetan Marathon requires you to be in Leh for 7 days and for those who want to know how one goes through the 7 days can read the details version -

Travel & Acclimatization : There are flights out of Delhi which fly into Leh, mostly in the early hours of the day. One can also get to Leh by road. The most popular route is via Manali. Leh is about 450km from Manali and takes 19 hours. Given the long journey, most of them make their night stay midway at Sarchu. Till I experienced it I didn't quite know what it was, but AMS-Acute Mountain Sickness is for real. Head aches, light headed, cold, cough etc are some of the symptoms and it affects different individuals differently on different days. Apart from the AMS, the thin air in Leh is quite obvious. The day one lands, even trying to climb up a flight of stairs is a huge effort. If one tries to ignore and over do it (physically), you are bound to pay the price as one develops headache, body ache. As for medication for AMS, of the 13 of us who were staying together, more than half of us had Diamox at some point or the other. I did not have any.

Practice runs and the race day : The first time I tried to run in Leh was on my 4th day. I went to a nearby ground and tried to run very very slowly. Even with that slow pace, it was still pretty bad.I only did 2k that day and all along I felt like I was running with a 50kg weight over my chest. It is really hard to put it in words. It is almost like you can't breathe below your chest, and deep breaths are out of question. That night I had a little headache and was difficult to sleep. I hoped the next day would be better, it was but not that different. I started to really worry of how would I run 42km if I was having problems with just 2/3k. The day before the marathon, there is a breakfast run which covered a route of 1k uphill and 1k downhill. Shamelessly I just walked the 1k uphill and ran the 1k downhill. I had already made up my mind that there was going to be a lot of walking involved in the marathon. Race day, after the ceremonies were over at Hemis monastery, we started the 6k (400mts) descent down the road. Myself and a couple of others kept ourselves at a very slow pace. All the other runners just raced ahead of us. Even going downhill I was still feeling a little out of breath even with the slow pace (Phew!!! my mind was going "it is going to be a long day"). Once on the flat road, I just tried to keep a pace where I was breathing a little comfortably. The same pace at sea level I would have been very comfortable to even carry out a conversation, but not here. Every time there was even a tiny incline, I used that as an excuse to walk. So pretty much from the first 10k itself I added walk to my run. The toughest part of the run was to get a rhythm going. I somehow just couldn't find that rhythm. Especially with the walks in-between, getting a rhythm going became that much more difficult. I did not have a watch on me, neither did I bother to ask. When I passed the half way point, slowly the fatigue was setting in. I had water at every water stop (every 4k) and electral and banana at 30k, 21k, 10k. After halfway, for the next 5km I was walking for 200mts and running the next 100. The 100mts of running just made me out of breath and somehow I also started to feel my legs lock up. With 16k to go I asked some on the side of the road for time and they mentioned 11:50am, which meant I had been running for the last 3:20 hours. For the first time I felt that "yes I could complete the marathon within cut off time", which is 7 hours. After this point I just couldn't bring my self to run at all. I did one odd little but of jogging just before the water points, atleast show off that "hey I was still running", but I was just walking the last 16k. I was just looking for the next mile marker, I just couldn't think beyond that. Luckily my spirits were still high and figured even if I walked at 6k an hour, I would still finish off the marathon in another 2:30 hours. The doctors and the ambulance were available at a couple of points in the race and they were checking with us to see if we were doing fine. Given the picturesque surroundings, I tried to make the most of my walk even though back of my mind I was itching to finish the race. The saving grace was that all along there was a cloud cover. The sun out in Leh is so bright, its almost impossible to stay out in the sun without sunscreen, a cap and sun glasses. The last 6k, the route turns into a dirt path, more like a trail. Even on a normal day one would need to be very careful running over those as they can easily twist their ankles, as for me more the reason to walk. The last 2k of the run is a loop where we go past the Spituk monastery and then go 1km to the indus river over the old bridge and comeback to the monastery over the new bridge. The last 2k somehow the cloud cover wasn't there and I started to feel a little light headed. I can't even imagine what it would have been like had the sun been out for the whole run, it would have atleast added another 1hour to my time. I gathered all my energy and tried running the last 100mts and the final turn into the monastery. I atleast finished the race running and there was a cute Ladakhi girl giving us the medals. Surprisingly I was still in good shape after 5:35hours of running/walking. I did a few stretches and gobbled up a few banana's and tons of water. It still hadn't sunk in that I had finished the race. It was an awesome experience but once is enough. I don't know if I would ever drag myself to do this race again. Then again I wouldn't have missed this one for anything. This marathon experience was a complete package and boy !!! what a mind game it was .........