It has been a while since I started my tryst with running, but it was going nowhere. I stopped going to the training, citing time as an excuse and was doing something on my own at my own pace and time. I was doing walking-running routine and was doing a 4-5k gig on a daily basis. Post my first 5K (Confessions of a first time runner) and 10k (My Tryst with Running), I had restricted my runs to the Club Run (since it was conducted at my alma mater) and Freedom 10k (despite its stench I love Hussain Sagar).
I happen to come across Auroville Marathon, i was intrigued. We had been to Pondicherry and Auroville around 10 years back and I loved both the places. How would it be running at Auroville, amidst all that greenery, I wondered. I had always wanted to do something like that and locally I keep missing the ICRISAT run, which is closest to such an experience in Hyderabad I understand. Then came a mail from Hyderabad Runners saying they would be organising the travel and stay for any interested runners. I grabbed the opportunity and signed up. I had never understood why people would travel places for marathons, I was about to find out.
Signing up was fine but then explaining to family and friends was the tough part. My husband said sure, I will accompany you. You see he is very much attached to Chennai and wouldn't miss an opportunity to go there and going to Pondicherry meant going via Chennai. Now I was in a dilemma, I had already signed up with the Hyderabad Runners and to be honest, did not want him to come along. I had wanted to do this on my own. Alone. I gently let him down. He backed off immediately, ever supportive. Next were my parents. But then they stopped trying to make any sense of my decisions since I quit not one but two cushy and comfortable jobs for no apparent reasons. So they said fine, all the best. My friends were surprised and in general reacted with "Really!!! Seriously!!!".
Run was on a Sunday and we were booked by a train to Chennai on a Friday evening, bus from Chennai to Pondicherry on Saturday, run on Sunday and return by train the same evening. By the time the actual date of travel arrived, I was developing butterflies in my stomach and arranged to leave Pondicherry on Sunday by flight. Friday night we boarded the train and somehow I could not get a shut-eye the entire night, not sure whether it was anxiety or anticipation. As luck would have it the train was late by over an hour (this train is almost always on time). The train itself was not well maintained and by the time Chennai arrived, we were glad to be off it. A bus was hired to be with us for the next couple of days. We boarded it and stopped for breakfast. The breakfast place seemed to take forever to reach. Another stroke of luck, the place ran out of food!!!!! Some of us, self included, had to wait for almost half an hour for breakfast to arrive.
Some of the runners came to Pondicherry directly and were to meet us at the hotel. Due to our delayed start, everything was getting delayed. By the time we reached the hotel, they took off for lunch. We hurriedly freshened up and rushed for lunch. Luckily it was pre-booked so food was waiting for us. The staff were trying to hurry us up, might be due to the delay or might be it was supposed to be their lunch!!!!!
Post lunch we went to Auroville to collect our bibs. En route, we were introduced to our fellow runners. Not surprisingly, I was the only one doing 10k, the rest were all half and full marathoners with a couple attempting their first full marathon. I felt like an outsider. It was fun listening to their stories and it introduced me to an entirely new world. Most of them were not just runners. Apart from fitness trainers, there were hikers, bikers, ultra-marathon-ers, ironman-triathlon-ers. Each one had a different story as to how they started running and were still going strong despite injuries. It was interesting to learn how the founder of HR got trained for his first marathon by a lady from US, remotely, and how HR was conceived. The most inspiring person was 70 years young (as he was fondly referred) who started his running journey at the age of 59!! Why do they do outstation runs? No idea but believe me it is fun. Like-minded people with a common goal is a lot better than struggling alone and feeling lost. Post Auroville, we went to Aurobindo Ashram and walked along Promenade beach, had dinner and called it a day.
Next day early in the morning it was off to the venue. The run was amazing. It was more or less a trial run around the Auroville Matrimandir (Globe) amidst nature. Greenery all around, it was dirt path with patches of cobbled path. I never ran in such a peaceful atmosphere. All my previous experiences have been in the concrete jungle amidst hullabaloo. It was just a superb experience to be alone with my thoughts and focus on the rhythm of my breathing and footfall. Humidity was brutal, I was drenched by the time I reached my 4k. But as we were gently reminded, thankfully it was not sunny. I did my 10k in my usual 1hr 40mins, I have long given up any hopes of improving that time. Of course, I got a lot of tips from the professionals on this trip.
Back to the hotel and needed to rush to the airport to catch the flight back to Hyderabad. Again luck strikes, flight got cancelled. Fortunately, my train booking for the evening train was still valid. So that meant more time to hang around with the fun gang. Surprisingly i was not feeling exhausted or tired as I usually feel after my runs. In fact, I was feeling more energetic than ever. The look on the faces of first time Full Marathon finishers was enough motivation to make me rethink some of my decisions. Even those who were in this for a long time, the satisfaction on their face was more inspiring than their words.
Overall it was a worthwhile trip, made so due to the fun team, supportive fellow runners, and superb organization by Hyderabad Runners, and of course, the Auroville Marathon organizers, too, deserve applause.
