Kavery Trail Marathon - a tough trail indeed

My second KTM half marathon was a tough and energy sapping one despite a 32 minutes improvement over last year - but I would have preferred a slower easy run that I could enjoy than a better time on the clock any day!

Despite running at KTM last year, I did the mistake of training for a time goal - around 2h30m instead of taking it easy. An easy 2:45 or beyond would have been the right goal for this event. A late start, humid location and a trail at that calls for a slow and steady run. Instead I went on 7min/KM paced run till 15K to realize that I had no energy left and the knees started to collapse. And in the meantime forgot to enjoy the surroundings which was the greenest of the green with water flowing around the canals from the KRS dam in full flow. I also rushed through the water stops without spending quality time refueling the body except for the last two when I was already in trouble.

Walked the last 3KMs and barely managed to finish at around 2:45 and was not able to stand on the feet for a while with the ITBs moaning loudly. Half an hour improvement from last year on the timings, thanks to a hard training routine with Runners High, but a poor one from an "enjoying the runs" perspective - which is a far better goal to go after. May be you need to train for a 30K to run a 21K at KTM to really enjoy the run.

The race was well organized as usual by Runners For Life(RFL) despite the increase in number of people. It could well be one of the greenest races in the country and if they can replace the electrolyte drink with a tender coconut drink from the surroundings, that could make it a 100% green race! The T-shirt was a good one as well, but may not qualify for a "green" one with a synthetic dri-fit fabric. May be they need to look for the bamboo t-shirts next time:)

We drove down to Mysore for the event and spend the night at Ginger - it wasn't as self serviceable as advertised though - but pretty descent place otherwise. And thanks to my friend Sachin who could drive us up and down without any problems and finished his first half marathon around 2h50m! Another friend and college mate, Sundaresh, finished well ahead of us in his first half marathon without too much of training and preparation. His nephew, Pradeep finished in 2:15 in his first half marathon. Another friend, Ramesh, finished 3rd in the full marathon despite running way below his best time(3:07) at 3:50.

Next stop is at Bangalore Ultra in November and may be I need to take it easy instead of any time target!