Run Tomorrow - Auroville Marathon

Are you ready? For the Auroville Marathon?

We are off to Auroville (outside Pondicherry) for the Marathon conducted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Auroville.

About 25 of going to Pondy today and while majority of us would be doing the half marathon, few of us have signed up for full marathon. Thanks to Rajesh Vetcha, we even have folks from Hyderabad joining us in the run.

Karthik has been the running the show for us and we have already seen a bunch of mails on this subject.. however, I am reproducing Karthik's mail on this subject, which kind of summarizes the whole logistics & planning..

Besides the running aspect of this trip, this will also be a good opportunity for folks to network and get to know each other.. I am looking forward to it.. see you all soon..

Karthik's summary mail on Auroville Marathon..
Dear Runners,

Hope you are all set to run the Auroville Marathon this Sunday, the 17th February 2008. I know you've been waiting for this run for quiet sometime now. The D-Day is close and we've just frozen the list of runners from Chennai.

In this mail, I've attempted to put together all the necessary details one would need for this travel. Please make sure you take a look at the mail in full. You can also take a print of this email so that you can refer whenever you need to.

The final list of runners who are going to be sharing the bus/car is as follows-

01.) Kiruba -
02.) Suresh KP -
03.) Ram Viswanathan -
04.) Balaji S -
05.) Guna Sekaran -
06.) Vignesh Raja -
07.) Sriram Srinivasan -
08.) Mohan -
09.) Narayanan -
10.) Abhijit Shome -
11.) Siva -
12.) Karthik Vijayakumar -
13.) Ashwin Prabhu -
14.) Ravi Kumar -
15.) Rajesh Subramanian -
16.) Atul Dhere
17.) Anand Takale -
18.) Madhavan
19.) Shivank Nayak
20.) Pradeep Kodali
21.) Rajesh Vetcha -
22.) Rajni Singh -
23.) Elka Sinha -

The following list of runners are riding their own cars-

24.) Shahid -
25.) George -
26.) Vijaykumar Muthian -
27.) Shahul Hameed -
28.) Shumit Vatsal -
29.) Sandilya Venkatesh -
30.) Dave Wallack -
31.) Karthikeyan Vijayakumar -
32.) CDR ASHVINI KUMAR -
33.) Ramesh -

:In the sections below, you will find some useful and important information pertaining to this travel:

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Please take a PRINT of the attached document "AVRunners Registration Form.doc", fill in the details and bring it along. IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE THIS TO REGISTER YOURSELF FOR THE MARATHON.

TRAVEL RELATED INFORMATION:

• Cost per-head for the bus ride (Chennai-Auroville-Chennai) - INR 400 (This will be collected during the time of boarding in Chennai)
• Boarding Point - Hotel Woodlands Drive-in
• Boarding Date & Time (From Chennai) - 16th February @ 02:00PM
• Departure Time on 16th February - 02:30PM
• PLEASE NOTE: You can park your vehicles at Woodlands Drive-in hotel AT YOUR OWN RISK. Chennai Runners DOES NOT bear any liability on your vehicle or ANY BELONGINGS left inside or outside of your vehicle.
  

TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATION VENUE/ COSTING:

• Bus Ride - INR 400 per head
• Car Pooling - Fuel cost/Number of people
• Accommodation @ Sports Center/Ladies Dorm - INR 200 per head
• Carbo Dinner @ Auroville Visitor Center from 6PM to 8PM on Saturday 16th - INR 75 per head
• Race Pack distribution @ Auroville Visitor Center from 6PM to 8PM on Saturday, the 16th

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS TO CARRY:

• Driving License - For those who are driving down
• Photo Identity Card - Copy of your driving license/ voter id
• CASH - Its always good to have some extra cash in hand (Do not just rely on your Credit/Debit cards)
• Emergency Contact Information (Name, Address and Contact Phone)
  

SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR YOUR BACKPACK:

• Pillow and Sleeping bag
• Odomos/ Any mosquito repellent
• Water and Energy Drinks
• Alarm Clock (To avoid doing just a 'dream' marathon)
• Small Torch
• Pillow Case
• Cap/Sun Glasses
• iPod/ portable music player
• Head/wrist band
  
• Towel
• Sun Screen
• Vaseline
• Band-Aid/plaster
• Soap and Shampoo
• Change clothes

RUN TIMINGS

• Full-Marathon starts @ 5AM
• Half-Marathon starts @ 7AM
• 10-K Run starts @ 7:30AM
• 5-K Run starts @ 8:30AM

PREPARATION/ RUN TIPS:

• Drink lots of water before the race day
• Do a warm-up run prior to the race day
• Do a lot of stretching atleast 3-4 days prior to the race day - This is to avoid injuries
• Take a lot of carbohydrates prior to the race day (the carbo dinner should help here)
• Do not drink too much of water (over-hydration). Do not drink too less of water either (dehydration)
• Energy fluids are better alternatives to water during the run - Gatorade and Electral helps here
• Run to better your own past records
• If you sense any discomfort during the run, please stop and seek help. Do not exert...you might aggravate the injury
• Enjoy the run! After all, its just another way to have fun!
  

CONTACT INFORMATION

• Karthik Vijayakumar - +91 9840048046
• Ram Viswanathan - +91 9840430400

PLEASE PRINT THE REGISTRATION FORM (attached with this email) AND GET THEM WHEN YOU COME.

The Auroville Marathon REGISTRATION HAS BEEN CLOSED. So, we will not be able to accept more runners from Chennai. The above list is FINAL.

I hope to have covered all critical information in this email. Should you have ANY questions regarding the arrangements and the run, please feel more than free to call either me or Ram (numbers furnished above). I look forward to meeting and running with you all. Catch you on 16th!

Happy Running!