Auroville Half-Marathon: Experienced the Spirit of Auroville

Started off with a frugal running month behind me. After Mumbai, I turned kinda lazy and was have-a-half-marathon behind me kinds. I wasn't sure if I should cancel. Decided to go there and see how everything goes. A rather longish van ride later along with a bunch of enthusiastic runners- ChennaiRunners(CR), reached auroville in time for the bib collection and pasta party ahem dinner.

We had a shuttle bus to pick us up from the dorms at 5:15. Hanging around in the darkness with all the other half-marathoners. Was chatting with Lakshmi Mahesh and mentally flexing myself. Thank God, it began in the darkness and the 100 or so people overtaking me didn't matter so much. :D. I ran for 20mins or so and was expecting the usual uneasiness I experience when I begin. To my surprise, I was quite fresh and quite enthu to run more. Funny, what the trees can do to you... With very little walk breaks, reached the turnaround point at 1:15 thats 10.5km.
The trail is simply superb. Tree covered route, good weather, markers to indicate that we aren't getting lost and at certain points I thought I was the only person around! About 250 runners and all of us were completely spread out. Cheering unknown people, awesome volunteers at the aid stations overwhelmed me.

At the 6km mark, they had a drums band playing some rustic village style drums that was awesome and catchy! There were dogs all along the way, they barked but didn't attack. One dog even accompanied us for a distance! Some runners were intimidated by the barking dogs though.

I was eyeing to keep pace with Rajesh from a distance of 100mts behind but lost him soon. Caught up with Rajesh Vetcha and Hari(from Hyderabad) instead. At one point of time, 4 of us were running in a single file and I said, we look like a train. We ended up doing an impromptu cat and mouse game -with me overtaking them, they catching up with me and crossing me when I took my walk breaks. And that continued until almost the 20th km. At some points during the run, I felt my running was smooth. I felt strong and happy. Very happy to be alive and be a runner.
Then this full marathoner (doing his second loop) overtakes you and proceeds out of sight -all in a few minutes and he has white hair and old enough to be your dad. Sigh! Hope to be like that one day.

Near the 17th km, there was this big bull who suddenly decided to charge an elderly man. It didn't touch him but he got scared and fell down and hurt his leg. It came near me, though I'd like to think its my I-love-all-animals-and-nature-person aura(aka ace ventura) that didn't make it charge me, it(not me) decided not to bother me. Helped the man to his feet and walked a bit with him, thankfully the aid station was nearby and they took care of him.

There were cyclists going up and down with their "Good Job", "Keep going". Loved meeting them, made so much difference...

When the extended walking started near the 18.5km mark, I knew I had reached my breaking point. When the palms of my feet begin to feel stretched and painful(not a lot though), that is my sign. First, I was thinking Are we there yet?, then Aargh! How much longer?, then Where's the friggin finish point?, then How can 2.5km be so faaar? Bah! Then the 21km Half-Marathon board, the turn towards the finish line, the cheering crowd. Gave my winning smile -for the photographers. Nope, I didn't drop to my knees and kiss the ground. But I was quite happy with the 2:41 timing considering how ill-prepared I was. The runner's high hit me after the run and I was all smiles.

Was hunting around for the CRs to interrogate them on their timings and no one was around! Went to the massage tent, aah there they were, most of them had finished a good 30-40mins before and were soaking up the salt water and the pain lotion.

Lakshmi Mahesh finished in 3:10, I thought of her many times during the run wondering where she was and I was extremely happy for her. Ecstatic! More than my run and timing.

After oohing and aahing each other's timing and generally agreeing on what a beautiful place this was, I had good foot massage myself and proceeded to breakfast. Simple and nice PBJ sandwich and Idly-Sambar-Chutney. Watching and being a part of this scene with 100s of runners chatting vividly was quite a feeling. Stood near the finish line to cheer for the other runners and the full marathoners who were finishing. Towards the end, the full marathoners had a cyclist escorting them and announcing their arrival by honking. What a scene. I was quite touched...
Unfortunately, I had to board a shuttle bus back to the stay and couldn't wait and watch the rest of the runners finish or Ram handing over medals and certificates to the kids from Sagrolli Sunrise Project who were supported by the ChennaiRunners. Felt bad for missing this.

After an excellent meal at a restaurant in Puducherry, the ride back was full of discussing and dissecting the run, future running aims and other things under the sun (incl recession, books) among many yawns.

Once again, lots of thanks to the wonderful people I've met at ChennaiRunners. I am lucky to have wonderful friends and support from Sujit, Mom, Sis makes my running life almost perfect.
I don't have enough words to thank the organisers and volunteers, Balaji in particular who was point of contact for us and took so much effort and time in making this smooth for us.

Recounted the whole thing to Sujit in the evening hoping to make him jealous enough to join this next year. I have decided to make the Auroville Marathon (or Half) an annual ritual. Its so close home, its a beautiful trail and very well organised. More than anything else, the spirit of Auroville was something that we all carried back home and will cherish for a long long time and relive it next year.

Pics at Picasa. Courtesy: Kavya Vijaykumar. Thaanks Kavya.
Not a pretty sight.. I warn you. But my gear is better though.