Kavery Trail Marathon 2008 - my first half marathon!

This is a trail marathon conducted for the second year by Runners For Life and Hash House Harriers(sounds scary haa ? they drink beer after the runs! it is part of their tradition it appears!) at Srirangapattana, the historic town near Mysore. It is one of the best scenic trails you can get around Bangalore, though I would rate the Muzhappilangadu Beach run that I did recently well above this one. The trail is along an irrigation canal and paddy and sugar cane fields on both sides who tap water from the canal. It sure was green as it can get. Unfortunately I had a low tech camera phone to take any pictures.

I wasn't too sure whether to run or not because of the 3 hour drive to reach the venue and my training didn't really go well according to plan as well. I should have done a training run of at least 21K or more before the event. But I decided to give it a shot anyway after going back-and-forth. I had been running regularly with long runs of around 10-11K. So this sure was going to be a stretch.

So the goal was just to finish - no specific targets as such. But I started off with my usual pace of 8 minutes a KM, which was a mistake - a 9min or 9.5m would have been the right choice. Also 2:1 run-walk split also was pretty agressive, a 1:1 would have been the right one. Till 8K, I kept the same pace and then deliberately slowed down to 9min. I finished the halfway mark at 1h33m, which was nearing 9minutes per KM. I felt good at the water point after the 11K mark, and did 1:30 minutes run and 1:30 minutes walk till 6K to go. Then my knee started aching and I slowed further to a 1min run and 1:30-2min walk, which was also pretty tough. At the last water stop, I spent good enough time about 5min and sitting for a while as well. But the knee had kind of given up on me, but I hung on and caught up with some folks in front of me with 1min bursts in between and finished at 3:17:10 !! That was my first half marathon!! Congratulations to myselfa!!

From Kavery Trail Marathon

BTW, I twittered in between during my walk breaks, was nervous in the beginning to think of twittering, but did it in between for a while and didn't think of it in the end till I finished and reached the bus.

It was an awesome trail for sure - typical Indian village scene. They still depend on bullocks for transportation and to plough as well. It is a pretty low-tech agriculture around here. There were birds chirping around and the smell of cowdung, which is used as manure for the fields. Villagers weren't sure what this thing was all about and one of them was checking with a person at a water stop why these people are running, what they will get. The guy said they'll get prices and that he was busy to take more questions:) May be they should've had some kind of participation for the villagers as well. We looked perfect strangers in their territory, but there was no ill-will towards us at all.

The certificates took some time and I was finding it tough to keep myself up on my legs with knees aching badly. Met couple of folks who wanted to check on the Muzhappilangadu drive-in beach. Lunch was at a nearby resort and the hashers were having beer, but I didn't considering my knee which can get worse with alcohol. Drive back to Bangalore was as tough as the run with cramped seats and little space to stretch, but it being a sunday the traffic was pretty smooth even within the city and we reached within 2h30m and I drove back home in another 30min. It sure was a long day, it started around 4am and ended around 4pm. I had a oil massage around my knee, which was ok within an hour of the run, and a hot water bath.

The message was clear - work on strengthening the knee if I have to be doing half marathons, it isn't time yet to think of distances beyond that. Training to a plan is crucial to have easier runs, I think I am barely ready for a 15K, but not more at this point of time without strengthening the knee and doing good training runs around the same distance as the race distance. But overall good feeling, no serious aches or pains the next day, thanks to the run-walk method. May be I should camp at the run site the previous night to feel a bit more relaxed and also to relax after the runs.

Feels good to be running, need to keep going !