Ultra

I finished. That's about all I can boast of, after my first Ultra Marathon experience. Like from the Mumbai Marathon in 2009, there are many lessons that I have now learned, many factors which I didn't factor in and many reasons why you never, ever cram and skimp training schedules. Marathons are serious. But it was also testimony to the bloody-mindedness that has often been claimed as the sole domain of the English but is I believe a trait more attributable to the human species. You can walk through the valley of death and come out alive. The ultra experience to me was testimony to this fact. 

Getting to the venue of the Ultra was a task in itself. The venue was the beautiful grassland around an eco-resort called Our Native Village near Hessaraghata town outside Bangalore. Race flag off for the 50 K Ultra distance was 6:00 AM. This meant that I had to wake up at 3 AM after a few fitful hours of tossing and turning as is normal before a race of this significance and stature. I was out of the house by 3:45 and reached the venue at 4:40 AM. Thankfully I was among the first to arrive and I witnessed the flag off for the 100 and 75 K categories. I sat quietly in a corner while I saw the participants limber up and finally start off on an 8 to 11 hour run. Unbelievable. I really felt that I didn't belong here watching these  people not so much because of ability but because I felt that I had betrayed the magnificence of this sort of event by being overwhelmingly under prepared, under trained and over weight. 

I had ample time to check in my bags, leave a smaller bag with a counter set up just after the start/finish point for energy gels, sprays etc, pull on my shoes and time chip and wait patiently with a can of Pepsi in hand for just before the start. This was the practice of the legendary Hal Higdon whose book I regularly refer to on marathon running. One of the rules is of course to never do something on race day which you have not done before in practice but a can of pop at the start of the race seemed like a good idea with all that sugar in it. A few minutes before flag off, I again noticed my fellow male and female participants limbering up. And again I got this sinking feeling. Did I belong here? The customary announcements followed: where the aid stations were, how long the course was, thanks to the sponsors etc and then one of the two race organizers asked the 50 odd male and female participants how many were running the distance of their lives. Meaning, is this the longest distance you would have run if you finish? Almost every bar a few hands went up. That was comforting to some extent but what was not quite comforting was me recognizing a couple of people who had left me way behind in the 2009 Mumbai marathon. 

The race flagged off at 6 AM sharp and I slowly settled into my race pace. I had thought and planned the hell out of this run. I had figured that I was in very bad shape with just 2 semi-long runs before this so I could not get carried away by the early adrenaline rush at start point. I had planned to run a very slow, measured race stopping and walking frequently to ensure I didn't collapse completely and not finish. As expected, I was passed by almost all the runners by the 2nd Km but that didn't bother me. I knew now after having run a few distance races that most runners can be classified into 2 categories: 1. the serious runners who have a finish time in mind which they have trained for and who will pass you at the start anyway and whom you will not catch up with unless you run at their pacec and 2. the less experienced runners who get caught up in the adrenaline rush, the crisp morning air, the undeniable guts they have already displayed by being at the start line but also those whom runners like me will catch and probably pass in better condition by the 20 K mark. To mitigate my awful preparation before this event, I had participated  in a mock run 2 weeks prior on this same course. That was a massive help. To run a course you have never run before comes with all sorts of handicaps. But this time I knew the inclines to expect, the tough parts of the trail, the sudden appearance of tarmac where there had been dirt and trees but what I didn't know was how my body would cope with these challenges after passing 20 odd Kms. Before this race the last time I had run upwards of 30 K was in Mumbai in January 2009. This was November 2010 and I was attempting 50. My two previous long runs were 18 K and 20 K respectively. What I was doing was not wrong but totally absurd and what someone like Hal Higdon would have completely forbidden. 

Coming back to the start, it was great weather at 6 AM, everything felt good, my feet were fine, shoes comfortable and as luck would have it the song playing on my shuffle at flag off was "long way to run" by Collective Soul. I smiled at the irony of it. I reached a comfortable race pace which I kept up. The aid stations were fantastic, positioned at the start point, then at 2.25 Km, 4.25 Km. and the 6.25 Km mark which was also the loop point with the total loop being 12.5 K. I completed my first loop in an hour 30 mins. A very reasonable time and exactly what I was hoping for. My second loop was tougher and I think my 2nd loop time was about 1 hr 50 mins which was still not bad. The 3rd loop is when things started getting tough. By this time I had already finished upwards of 25 K and the usual protests started appearing. This time though there were two huge factors working against me: the unforgiving stones, tree roots, foot holes, troughs and inclines of the trail and my complete lack of preparation. I started cramping a bit but my energy gels and forcing myself to drink at least 1 litre of water per hour out on the track helped immensely. The cramp stayed away through the entire run. What didn't was my otherwise unfit body. I felt my back stiffening up like I had never experienced while running long runs previously also because of the number of long runs I had had previously. Lack of training I told myself and carried on. By the 30 K mark, I slowed down even further to ensure I didn't hit the wall earlier than the 45 K mark. I knew that if I began becoming glycogen depleted and started getting liver pains by the 30 K mark I was done. I took a long 6 minute break around the 32nd Km, sat down in the aid station, sprayed myself liberally with anti-inflammatory meds, force-fed myself oranges and peanut butter sandwiches. I cannot explain how incredibly difficult it is to get yourself to eat solids while distance running. Your body convulses at the mere sight of solids but experience will tell you that denying your body solids will result in disaster. I carried on again very slowly. Took another break at the 6.25 K loop point and made it back for my final loop. By this time I had run 37.5 K. I then began thinking instead of trying to push myself. My back had gone from merely stiffening up to now send sharp spasms of pain through my entire body with every 3rd or 4th step. By the 42 K mark when I would have finished a marathon and collapsed I had to keep going. I don't recall now when I passed the marathon distance. I remember thinking before the race how I would look back when I did cross 42 K and savour the moment. The longest I had ever run! No such luck. My mind was too focused on getting from one aid station to the next. The last 8 K found me employing an approach of brisk walking of about 4 minutes mixed with about 2 minutes of slow jogging. This was all I could trust my body to handle. If I had put in the hard yards before I would have pushed harder at this point. But I felt I was hanging on by a very thin thread and I didn't want to face the prospect of not finishing after getting so close. I had initially set myself a time of 6 hrs 30 mins which of course I realised as completely misguided by the final loop. By the time I started on the final loop, it was around noon and the sun was hot. The trail had emptied of all but a few of us runners. The 37 K, 25 K and 12 K categories had finished. As I reached the halfway mark of the final loop I saw many driving past with their "finisher" medals, smiling and content but they also cheered me on which really helped. 

At some level for me at least after the 40 K mark, things become a bit of a haze. Your arms start to swell weirdly. Your knees are already like ostrich eggs. There's a layer of salt covering the exposed parts of your skin. Your shorts and singlet are drenched in water as you splash it liberally at every aid station. You don't think of much else other than the pain you are feeling right then. That's when a fellow runner passes you and mumbles encouragement, it helps immensely. It puts things back in perspective. You're here to finish. It doesn't matter what time you do it in. You've already done enough. When I turned for the final 6.25 K I was reduced to a walk and about 1 minute of feet dragging jogging followed again by a walk. It was not until I reached the final aid station on my return loop at 48 K did it hit home that I was on the cusp of something special. Adrenaline got me jogging for the final 2 K and I finished pretty strong to a few cheers in 7:38:35. Most of the 50 K runners had completed before me and a few 75 K runners finished soon after. A couple had lapped me on the way so we were essentially running the same final loop. No shame. None whatsoever. Sure there was the Ultra 50 K women's category winner who lapped me on the 3rd loop and finished in 5 hrs 15 mins. There were 2 in the 75K category who finished a few minutes after I did my 50. And there were the crazy 100 K runners who were still on the trail as I drove away. No shame. 

Doing an ultra I believe puts one in a somewhat elite category. Just as doing a marathon distance does. I'm glad I have both in the bag. Yesterday, as I lay in bed trying not to black out through the pain and exhaustion, I thought of the Mumbai Marathon 2 months away and felt sick at the mere thought of my feet hitting tarmac again. Today is a new day. I have walked literally (!) through the valley where only pain and despair exists and I came out with a smile. I look forward now to a week of rest. And then preparing smartly and earnestly to better my previous marathon time of 4 hrs 52 mins.

More on the prep for that soon! Till then I'll savour this finish.