Auroville Half-Marathon Feb 13th 2011

A crazy idea to run 2 half marathons in 2 months, to re-visit Auroville the place where we did our first half marathon last year prompted us to register for this years run as well. The usual suspects Spot, Anil, Harsha jumped in. From work along with Sandeep we had 2 new runners Rajesh and Vasanth wanting to run the 10 K run. Anils colleague Satish joined in and in no time we were around 12 of us registered for the Auroville run !

The traveling runners problem.

This is akin to the traveling salesman problem ! Another classic optimization problem. You have " n " number of runners and you would want to optimize the number of cars you want to go in. Sounds simple ? remember there is a variable called Harsha in the equation ! The problem is stated as follows : There are two cars Car A (5 Seater) : FFW: Friends from work Car B (8-seater) : LF ( local-friends). In car A ( 5-seater) Sandeep and Ranjana want to stay back a day after the run to see around Pondicherry while Vasanth and Rajesh want to head back to Bangalore after the run. In Car B Harsha and Beena want to stay back after the run to visit friends and relative in Pondicherry and return the next day. Ajay is the common link between Car A and Car B. Whats the most optimal solution ? yes of course the best solution is that we swap Harsha-Beena on the return journey with Vasanth-Rajesh. I propose this solution and all is well.

A week before the run as we are having Pasta over dinner at a restaurant I overhear Harsha saying that he would just return back with us and wont stay back in Pondicheery. So now we have 8 seats and 9 people while returning ! I enjoy the remaining pasta and hope that somehow this problem will get solved. Solved it did in two days as Rajesh had to go to Nellore straight from Pondicherry !

Friday Feb 11th 2011

I woke up with a soar throat in the morning a sure sign of much horrible things to proceed as the day progresses. I tried the saline gargle, the relief lasted for a few hours ! By the end of the day I had mild fever and no respite from my sour throat. When in pain/trouble like always I called up my sister Akhila and went to her place for dinner. After dinner Anil gave me the tried and tested Alrid cold and promised relief. I headed back home saying that I would decide on joining the run only if I wake up the next day feeling better.

Saturday Feb 12

5 AM I got up and the sour throat felt a little better. 3 rounds of Saline gargle later I convinced myself that I could make the 6 hour long journey to Pondicherry and would decide there if I could run the next day. Armed with a flask of warm water, shades and my running kit-bag I got into Anils Innova and off we went to pick up the rest of the gang. Harsha was waiting for us on the road not with his packed bags but with Gulab Jamoons and he forced us to have them. As usual he was at his casual best, dismissing any thoughts that tried to suggest that we were running late ! By 8:30 AM we had Satish, Vinay and Spot all picked and packed in the spacious Innova and having missed a U turn we found ourselves traveling back in the direction of Bangalore ! The next U turn finally arrived and now we finally started traveling east. At 9 AM We stopped for breakfast at Kamat and after the customary Idli -Vada combo and filling up the car with fuel we continued our journey towards Pondicherry.

The WAR of the DJ's

The stage was set for the two Dj's on board to show off their song collections. Spot started off with his Kannada classics which slowly turned into Tamil classics. The slow numbers did not go well with the people on board and Harsha was quick to to seize the opportunity to stream a few latest numbers from Bollywood before his mobile ran out of juice and we were back to listening to Kishore on the CD.

The Road that was not there !

From Krishnagiri all the way to Thiruvannamalai a distance of the 120 kms was studded with potholes of all sizes ! The Innova made the ride less bumpy but time and again a thud is what greeted it from the potholes on the road. It took us 2 hours 30 minutes to cover this distance thanks to Anils driving skills and Innovas superior suspensions. From Thiruvannamalai to Puducherry the road appeared to be in a good state and the distance of 88 kms was chewed up in an hours time. This meant we were in Pondicherry at around 3:00 PM.

Hotel Jayaram fiasco

We walked into the reception of hotel Jayaram with spot leading the way who like last year had taken the responsibility to book hotel rooms for our stay. We tried all possible names under which the rooms could have been booked by spots friend but could not find any reservation. A marriage party which was happening inside the hotel assured us that the hotel was running full. Spot flicked his mobile and with a touch and a slide he had the email confirmation staring at the front desk receptionist, who looked perplexed. Spot with his rapid fire Tamil convinced the receptionist that the booking was done well in advance and we had to have the rooms. The receptionist obliged and gave us 2 rooms and promised the third room in an hours time. We rushed to our rooms freshened up and headed for lunch at 4:00 PM. Half an hour later we were back in Innova heading towards Auroville to collect our bibs. Spot meanwhile got the call from his friend who had booked our stay saying that we were at the wrong hotel the booking was done at another hotel !! The fact that we had walked into a hotel which was running full and managed to get three rooms thanks to spots superior negotiation skills had us in splits. No wonder professionally spot has offers from far and wide (south-east Asia to be precise) for his pre-sales skills !

Auroville here we come !

By 4:45 PM we found ourselves in Que to collect our running numbers along with familiar faces from Nike run club Bangalore. Balaji, one of the members from the organizing committee seemed to be in a less volatile mood than what we saw of him last year, dismissing off people without photos id's and with folly registrations. The setting sun created the perfect lighting and we jumped in along with others to take multiple photos at the location. After the photo session we had coffee and as usual found multiple things to buy at the Auroville store for folks back home. The shopping came in handy as it was valentines day the very next day.

Beach walk and Dinner

After collecting our bib numbers we got back to the hotel parked our car and headed towards the beach in an auto to avoid hunting for parking spot. The beach side MG road is closed to traffic in the evening and is filled with people enjoying the sea-breeze and the sight of the waves crashing on to the the rocky beach. We took a long walk along the beach and spot with his tripod and new camera meant that we could get a non-shaky group photos with everyone in the picture. It also served as an eye-opener to the non-remote support of the D3100 ! After the walk we headed to hotel Ajantha for dinner based on our previous years experience. We did not get sea facing seats and the food was not worth all the wait. The spaghetti arrived an hour after it was ordered and looked more like Maggi noddles gone completely wrong. The hot chocolate at the ice cream parlor below compensated a little for the horrible dinner. We were back at the hotel by 10:30 pm and headed straight to bed.

Race Day

At 4:00 AM I was woken up by the alarm as well as Anil cranking up the tea. By 5:15 am we were ready with our bib numbers in place, packed in the Innova and were heading towards Auroville. Inside Auroville we were greeted by loud music and calls for the runners to assemble near the holding area, the warm up was about to start. Volunteers took us through stretching routines from the toe to the Gluteus Maximus. At 5:55 AM we all assembled near the start line and at 6:00 AM sharp with the sky still dark, dotted with stars and the air crisp and fresh the run started.

143 minutes !

The first kilometer I had spot and Vinay running along with me with a herd of runners trying to squeeze past along the narrow path. Another kilometer and the road widened with enough room for runners. Anil was a distant spot somewhere in front and Harsha was not to be seen. Vinay and me slowly built up pace and caught up with Harsha around the 5 km mark. As we neared the 6 Km mark Vinay was itching to go full throttle and said good bye to me and Harsha and sped out on 5th gear to catch up with Anil. The organizers had announced that there would be water stops every 3 Kms and as soon as we saw one we knew we had crossed 6 Km. We did not stop for water, the strategy like always was to run the first 10 km without any interruption as we are used to this distance from our weekend runs. The path had now turned from the asphalted road to a narrow trail and could accommodate just 2 runners running side by side, this is where we heard a loud booming voice shout out "Hot stuff coming, make way" followed by a patter of footsteps carrying a well-built gentleman past us ! The trail weaved its way through the vast expanses of Auroville and it was a pleasure running amongst trees, chirping birds and the air filled with the scent of eucalyptus. After the 8 km mark I felt drained and found it hard to run but thanks to Harsha's company, who was running at the same pace as me, I could carry on. And company it was, we spoke about all things from running, swimming, SCUBA, cycling to Harsha's simulation game from his MBA strategy class. All this talking took us past the 9 KM mark. A faint sound of drummers going on a rampage gave a hint to what was in store for us a kilometer ahead, and soon the faint sound turned into a roar of drums with that catchy beat which made the adrenalin pump and the rhythm locked in our heads carried us through smoothly for the next few kilometers. we knew that the next water stop would be seen around the 12 KM and this would mean we would have completed half of the half marathon. Harsha as usual was bumping into known acquaintance all along the way and by the time he explained how he knew the person he had just waved to it was already the 12 KM mark. Hands outstretched we both reached out for the water-cups that were being handed out by the volunteers and continued our run taking little sips of water. The terrain now had completely changed to a sandy patch and it felt like running on a beach. We both maintained a steady pace, while countless people made way past us ! running is a great leveler it brings one to ground zero as you see old/young, thin/fat, men/women run past you while you helplessly watch ! It is also inspirational as we aspire to be at par with folks running past us. The heard of full marathon runners made their way in the opposite direction and we clapped and cheered for them. The 15 Km mark approached and we grabbed some more water and continued our run. Hari krishna from Nike run club Bangalore was as spot put it galloping past us. He turned and waved at us and told us he was doing a full marathon, he finished the whole run in 3 hrs 09 minutes !! a truly awesome performance from him. The real test of the half-marathon starts after the 16 KM as we venture into distance which we usually do not encounter in our practice sessions. The water stops seems non-existent and it seemed a long way from the finish line. Harsha and me were encouraging each other and maintained our pace, after what seemed like a long time we reached the 18 Km mark and were back on to the asphalted road. I saw Pameet Singh, a GE colleague run past us and shouted words of encouragement at him. All fellow runners had now more or less settled into a rhythm of foot fall which suited them best and made their way towards the finish line. The circuit was dotted with volunteers clapping cheering us all along. The route now lead us back on to the trail path and the last kilometer was all that remained to be chewed, a few more minutes and we could hear the shouts, cheers as runners poured past the finish line. Harsha and me after 2 + hours of running were still next to each other ! and as we approached the finish line, hands held high and clasped we crossed the finish line taking 143 minutes ( 2 hrs 23 minutes) for the run ! What seemed like an impossible task a few hours ago was done even though I was 10 minutes slower than last year !. We had Anil and Vinay waiting for us right at the finish line. Anil and Vinay just like me and Harsha ran together all along and finished in 1 hr 59 minutes !

We helped ourselves with the ample breakfast that was served and T shirt which was provided to us by the organizers as more and more runners poured in past the finish line . A 3 year old kid finishing a 2 Km run as her dad rode a cycle behind her was truly a jaw-dropping moment. Spot came in 20 minutes later improving on his previous best run time. We met up with Sandeep/ Vasanth and Rajesh near the visitor center and co-ordinated on our return trip. It was a pleasure to see Sandeep donning his new white canvas shoes reminiscent from our school days in which he completed his run. The white canvas shoes was what he had managed to buy the previous evening after realizing that he had packed everything except his running shoes for his trip to Pondicherry! We made our way to the parked car and headed straight to hotel Jayaram for that well deserved shower.

12:00 PM with all the bills settled and Vasanth joining in, the 7 of us headed for lunch at hotel Jayaram and by 1:00 PM after deliberating which route to head back we decided to take the Vellore route, longer but much better road back home. We took NH66 towards Tindivanam and then NH45 towards Chengalpattu and the state-highway 58 towards kanchipuram. We had Vasanth jumping out from the seat and sticking his neck out (quiet literally) for us at all junctions to confirm the direction for us. After a few attempts in perfect co-ordination he could could jump off his seat, roll down the window and ask for direction all in one fluid motion.
On reaching kanchipuram, right from the comfort of the car seats we offered our prayers as we passed the huge temple complex. Beena could not be coaxed to buy kanchi sarees for herself and so off we went towards Vellore without stopping. Spot had a splitting headache and had switched himself off, Vinay went through quick nap sessions while Vasanth stuck in the middle was the backseat navigator. The front seat had Satish as navigator and Anil was at the driver seat keeping a steady speed of 110 kms/hr. The last seat was shared by Beena Harsha and me. Since Vasanth was new to the group I took the privilege of introducing the multi-faceted personality to others. From his (long lost) taekwondo skills to his oil paintings all were discussed, He had pointers for Vinay and spot with examples from how he had impressed his now wife during their first meet up. By 4:00 PM we were in Vellore and the road was perfect for the 2.5 Liter engine under the hood to show its prowess. By 6:30 PM we were close to Krishnagiri and we made our first stop at Adyar Anand Bhavan for a quick cup of coffee, plum cake and savories.

Mission accomplished

In another hour we weaved our way through traffic on Hosur road, which included a huge truck carrying a wind-turbine blade and gave Vasanth a good opportunity to educate the rest of us on wind turbines. We arrived at the entrance of NICE road, Satishs car was waiting and we said goodbye to Vinay Satish and Vasanth, took the NICE road yes paid more toll and were finally back where we started at 7:30 PM. The next few weeks went in discussing about our run with friends, family and colleagues and exchanging stories from other participants, Kumar from work completing the full marathon running barefoot in ~ 4 hours was again jaw-dropping and inspiring. Hope to do the Auroville again next year with a bigger set of friends and family !