All was set perfect for this BIG run including favourable weather conditions and below were at the Start Point ( AU Main Gate Car Park).
1. Ram Viswanathan
2. S.Balaji
3. Siva
4. Narayanan
5. Arun
6. Shumit
7. Ramani
8. Ramani's Nephew
9. Saravanan
10. KK
11. Subra
12. Karthik Padmanabhan
13. Shankar Lal M Patel
and much needed mobile Volunteer, Raman Srinivasan.
We started at around 4:05 am. I had no time target to run my first 35k and was just keeping it slower at the beginning and was running with KK and Balaji. Once we hit the TTK Road via the boat club road Balaji took off and it was me and KK running slowly not bothered about the other's pace. Just before reaching the Gandhi Vanakkam, Siva declared that he would take right, due to stomach uneasiness and KK and me both crossed the road and turned left and we were running facing the traffic and avoided the newly laid granite pathway. When we were just before the Napier Bridge, KK said he wants to stretch a little and asked me to go ahead and I continued, hit the war memorial and took left and just before the Monroe Statue the mobile aid station (at about 12kms mark) was waiting and Subra, Karthik, Ramani, Ramani's nephew and Balaji were fueling themselves and I joined them. Had a banana and sip of Gatorade and water and started my run.
After this I was running all alone and saw the mobile support car parked just after the Light House (at about 17.50kms mark) and saw Raman Srinivasan (Volunteer) fueling himself with hot freshly fried vadai and Tea. Had one Banana. Met Ramani and his nephew there and I started my run. I heard the beep of my Garmin and it said Lap 8 completed [I had set auto lap as 2.5kms (thanks to Navin for this tip) and this meant I have completed 20kms in 2h:28mins and was happy].
By this time the gap between the me and the lead pack runners had gone wider and hence requested Raman to go ahead and stop the car after he meets the faster pace runners. But after I had left KK requested to wait for Balaji and then Balaji had hopped into the car and I met them near the Ayyappan Temple and asked them to go ahead. Then Balaji was dropped at the Aavin Circle and Raman drove ahead and found Arun after the Velankanni Temple on the MG Road stretch and then Ram before the Indira Nagar MRTS.
I was running the besant avenue stretch the by the time I reached Velankanni Temple it was 25k beep and saw the total time and it said 3h:10min and said to myself that I am far better than my 30k run at ECR #11. I had actually took a wrong route by taking left at the L B Road junction and ran towards the Tiruvanmiyur Signal and then took right to reach the OMR. I had slowed down on my pace and took walk breaks and was running on the OMR. Just before hitting the Madhya Kailas, Lap 12 (12 x 2.5kms) completion beep went off and saw the total time was 3h:54mins and was much happy since I had cut down nearly 30mins from my last 30k at ECR #11 on Nov 8th.
By this time I had exhausted the Gatorade and water on my fuel belt and hence decided to skip the IIT loop and goto the AU Main gate parking and re-fill the fuel belt and do the final 5k inside AU Campus. When I reached the parking , Ram and Narayanan had finished their run. At this point I had completed 31.50kms and had to do the final 3.5kms inside the AU Campus.
I started the run and saw Arun doing his final loop inside the AU campus and I met Sushil running slowly matching my pace and had to do my final 2.5kms and requested Sushil to keep me going and he was very much helpful to give the final push in spite of his recovering from Shin Splits. Thanks a lot Sushil. And finally I finished my First 35k distance in 4h:38m:26secs and felt VERY GREAT.
Also met V.P.Senthil and Harishankar (my coach) distributing the Kodak Moments Photo mounts of ECR # 11. Thanks VPS and Harishankar.
Met Bharani Shivakumar, who has finished his TFN cycling tour and getting ready for the Auroville Full Marathon.
Thanks a lot to all the CR's for the support and timely tips. But still I have to give credit to these special people.
1.Ram for all his moral support whenever I needed and for giving me the Top Mileage Week (88 kms.)
2. Balaji for announcing the BIG Run and the Chikkis.
3. Arun for showing me the inside loops of AU Campus and Water
4. Navin (though not in India) for his valuable tips for my first 35k run.
5. Narayanan for carrying "The Stick" from US, which has really done wonders to me after the run.
6. KK, Shumit, Karthik, Saravanan, Ramani, his Nephew, Siva and Subra for turning up and making this run a memorable one.
7. Last but not the least, Raman Srinivasan for his mobile volunteering.
What a way to finish my First Calender Year (2009) of Running with more than 1100kms into my legs and 88kms in the last one week??!!!!
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