The run of a century

Its exactly an year since I rediscovered running. For those who know me closely, they know that I have completed my first marathon in 2001 (at an age of 26) and my second one in 2002. For the next 10 years, I had just been living in the glory of those two marathons. While I havent kept away, my running had been inconsistent never extending beyond a few months at once. Mostly it was laziness, that kept me away. There can be other reasons, but those are just excuses.

Last year, I discovered that my health was failing in the middle of a demanding project, when I fell sick three times in a span of three months. It was an obvious decision to get back into running. A few close friends starting a running venture, provided another trigger and also the ideal platform.

Motivation...

The next few months saw me from crawling to the finish at Auroville (with an injury) to flying in TCS Bangalore 10K.  With the beginning of the year proving to be so good, I wanted to super-size
and participate at every event that happened. I was soon brought to earth by Ashok Nath, who I regard as one of my mentors. Ultra was toned down from 100K to 75K. (The 24H category didn't exist then).

And very soon, I crewed for Mark Woolley at La Ultra. There was some impending curiosity about other bigger and badder Ultra-marathon races like Badwater and Spartathlon. The target for Ultra was again upgraded to 100K as a entry requirement for Spartathlon. The only catch was it required me to complete the distance in under 10:30, which wasnt possible with my current pace.

The Preparation...

I have been running for 13 years (what if it isnt continuous). More importantly, I crewed for a 45-hour finisher at La Ultra. This got me loads of insight into Ultra running, even if I hadnt personally experienced it in my body. The previous longest that I had run was a 50K (upgraded from a 37.5K) at Bangalore Ultra 2009, with a finish time of over 6:30 hours.

As part of the Mumbai marathon training along with the Pacemakers group, I do three running workouts in a week, and am in reasonable shape. However, that wouldn't meet the requirements of running a 100K. As part of the Ultra training, I did a marathon distance (42K) and a 50K. By the time, I finished the 50K, I figured that the recovery will be tough for runs longer than 5 hours. The logistics also proved complicated for managing longer distance runs.

The plan to run longer distances was soon shelved, and I adopted a backup strategy to do a back-to-back long runs (two long runs on consecutive days), but never could execute it, except for one-time, when a long run was coupled with speed-work on the previous day.

The change of date in Mysore Celebration Run Half-marathon also robbed me of one precious weekend which could have been utilized for a practice long run. I effectively went to the start-line having run one 50K four weeks prior to the race.

Pre-Race

The week preceding the race was quiet, thanks to an upset stomach, and a business trip.

Knowing that carb-loading is very important for the distance, I researched on the web, and found about Western Australian Method. Just a three minute workout on the preceding day set me up for the race next day. I was already feeling the carbs on my thighs the previous day.

My close friend and classmate Manivannan joining in for the 50K, we went to pickup the race packet just in the nick of time. I also picked up a few GU gel packs. I also dropped off two bags for the organizers (1st one to be kept at 0K and the next one at 6.25K). The second bag was crucial  as I would cross that point every 12.5K, it was bigger and had a majority of the stuff.

Another friend, Dipankar (2-time Ironman finisher), offered me his Garmin 310 XT (20H runtime) for the race, which meant that I can forget about the tracking for the race. Dipankar also offered a few tips that would help me during the course of the race.

We arrived back home at 2230 and went to bed at 2300. After having finished our dinners earlier at 1900 hours, we did the last minute formalities, like getting the race clothes ready, pinning bibs to the shorts/t-shirts etc.

I promptly got up at 0230, as the alarm rang. I would have preferred a better night of sleep, but given the excitement preceding the race, I had the best I could get. We had pasta for pre-race meal, thanks to my wife, who painfully prepared it late the previous night sacrificing a few hours of her sleep. Our start had to be delayed from the planned 0330, as I had some stomach problems. We finally started at 0355 after realizing that we are getting late for the 0500 start.

We arrived at the race venue, just 10 minutes before the start, with me doing my warmup exercises from the car to the venue, on the run. Luckily, Mani could take care of my bags to be dropped off at the start.

The Race

The 5am start meant that we had to start in the dark. I greeted all the fellow runners, whoever I could find. In all the excitement, I forgot to press the Start button in the Garmin. I also realized late that my HR monitor wasnt pairing with it. 

The course was 12.5K out and back, which had to be covered four times for a 100K distance.

The first hour was exciting as we ran as a pack in the dark. There was Gajendra, Chandra, Amar, Srinivas and a couple of others. A couple of us had torches, and the rest helped shouting the directions, LEFT, RIGHT, KEEP RIGHT, KEEP LEFT, etc.

The aid stations were just getting set up as we carried along. At one point, we had to skip the aid-station as they were just laying the table, and at another, I had to wait for two minutes before I could get my hands on a cup of water.

Once the daylight came on, I kept cheering anyone and everyone I could find on the course. At the 10th kilometer, I would have my biggest surprise. Nanjunda who was running the 100K passed me in the opposite direction. A quick calculation, and he was running at close to 15kph, I was wondering. This would further be confirmed at my 20K mark, where he would be crossing his 30K.

At the 25K mark, I would take a short break of 2 minutes, sitting on the chair. I also got my bag out, and used a cap. The decision to change the t-shirt was deferred to 31.25K as I didnt have the one I wanted in this bag. When I arrived at the 31.25K mark, I was surprised to find my bag missing. As part of my plan, I was running with a dark-blue t-shirt during the dark hours, and a bright t-shirt for the sunny hours (to reflect the heat). With the bag missing, I ended up running with the dark T-shirt. As the loop continued, I began feeling the heat, and my pace dropped considerably.

When I reached the 50K mart (at the 0-point), I got my misplaced bag out, and changed on to the T-shirt. Despite telling the volunteers multiple times, I wasn't convinced that the bag would reach the destination. I sought help from Juggy, and entrusted him to get the bag to 6.25K point. With all this confusion going on, I forgot about me gels as I had gone on for another 200 metres. I went back to the start point, took two packs of gel.

When I reached the 56K mark, I was relieved to see my bag. I took one ibuprofen tablet preemptively, and also changed to a hat which would give me more protection from the sun. Before crossing the 62.5K mark, I overtook Srinivas, who had slowed down very much and was in pain. Later during the loop, I would pass Jagan, who was also leading earlier. During the course of the loop, I also passed on a message to Sachin Pandey, that I'll need a couple of gel packs for the next loop.

At the 75K mark, I took a short break, and also left messages for my family about my finishing time. I also collected the two gel packs, which would be used later on in the course. During this loop, I saw Atmanand, a Chennai runner, who had earlier passed me, and spent 3-4 kms chasing him down. Finally, when I passed him and went to the 6.25K mark, there was a surprise waiting. The course had been curtailed to 12.5K and we have to do it twice to finish the distance. My instant reaction was a disappointment that I had to run the loop again. 

I would see Atma, another hundred metres ahead, and gave him the spare gel pack I had. On my way to the 88K mark, I will pass Kieren DSouza, who is a kid by our standards, yet running strong. I ran along with him for the next few kilometres chatting with him. On reaching the 88K mark, I realized that most competition had dropped off, and only Opendro (who held almost a 8K lead aginst me), at one point, was ahead by a kilometre. I would eventually cross him.

The loop was further curtailed to a 2K with the sun falling down, and we had to do it six times (the rest 500m being covered in the previous loop).

The finish

This left myself and Kieren in competition for the 3rd place. With my back to the wall for a podium finish, I had to turn the heat on Kieren. I picked up pace, and threw him a big challenge. As luck would have it, I caught cramps within another two kilometers. When I reached the 0-K point, took some water and salt to ease out the cramps, and kept walking. 

By this time, Kieren had picked up a 300 metre lead, and was running along with another "Uday Kumar" who was doing the 24H challenge. I took me a while to catch up with him, but I eventually did. During this time, I kept looking at the Irsid, the guy in running for the 2nd place, who lead was rapidly reducing. Though he was running weak, he had a bigger lead to carry him through to the 2nd place.

It all seemed magical when I crossed the finish line. I went on to congratulate Kieren who would finish a few minutes behind me, and then Atma and Opendro.

For me, it was extremely satisfactory to have crossed the finish line strong.

Heartfelt thanks to: Pani Sir, Dipankar, Manivannan, RFL, Anju, Bhasker, Ashok Nath, the entire Pacemakers gang.

Photo Courtesy: Raghavendra (Raghu) - Runners High

Garmin Link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242247032