While I completed several running and riding events at Hyderabad from 2014-16, I refrained from traveling to other cities to participate. That changed when I registered for Chennai Marathon 2016 that was originally scheduled for 4th Dec ’16. I had to travel to Chennai for a personal engagement during that week and wanted to leverage that opportunity to run along the beaches I enjoyed frequenting during my school days. With a string of local events at Chennai starting late Nov ’16, the marathon was postponed. This actually helped me to complete 400 Km and 600 Km brevets to become a Super Randonneur.

I came to know of the revised date (8th Jan ’17) for Chennai marathon around Christmas time and promptly booked my flight tickets for the event weekend. However, I caught flu after that and was down for almost a week before the marathon. I thought i will recover in time for the event but it became worse with a stomach bug and conjunctivitis during the week leading to the marathon. I was not sure if I will be able to make it to the event but given I had already registered and also booked my flight tickets, I decided to give it a try. It was going to be a test of my WILL POWER more than anything else.

I had my marathon mentor, Raman Mishra along with me. I arrived at Chennai early morning on Saturday, Jan 7th, went straight to the expo to collect the bib, memorized the route and slept the entire afternoon to gear-up for the demanding run on Sunday.

The primary inspiration for me to register for Chennai marathon was the running route. It was along my favorite lanes and roads from childhood days – Besant Nagar, Elliots Beach, Theosophical Society and Marina Beach. I arrived at Madhya Kailash at 3:30AM along with Raman well on time for the start. I was way off my usual fitness and my only objective was to complete the full marathon without any time target.

The start was delayed by 10 minutes that made me anxious as any delay will result in spending additional time under hot Chennai sun. The marathon was finally flagged off around 4:10AM. The first 15 minutes were lethargic as I tried to shrug off my tiredness. I settled into a rhythm after a while and was able to maintain it for the first 15 Km that I covered in a little over 1.5 hours. This was primarily running in Besant Nagar that I was eagerly looking forward to.

Once I was out of Besant Nagar, the route merged with half marathon folks resulting in a congested road. As we ran through Foreshore Estate and San Thome, I had to jostle with a lot of fellow runners as there were hundreds of us running at different speeds with very little space to maneuver. It was tough and after about 18 Km, I was no longer able to run continuously. I had an energy gel and dragged myself to 25 Km point to take a 10 min break and relax my aching legs.

I still had 18 Km left and it was already well over 3 hours. I was hoping to finish in less than 6 hours but was now quite sure it will take longer. It felt like I could not run any more and that is when I spoke to another suffering marathoner. He said we can use run / walk combination to cover the remaining distance in under 3hours. I followed this strategy and was able to cover the next 8 km in about an hour.

As I got close to Besant Nagar for the last 9 km, it was past 8:30AM and the sun was now out in its glory. I checked with the volunteers if the venue will close down in 6 hours. To my relief they said the roads will be thrown open for traffic after 6 hours but I will have another 30 mins or so to finish after that. After 36 Km, I was not longer able to run and decided to just walk the remaining distance.

I had covered about 40 Km in 6 hours and the last 2 Km was horrible as I had to walk through congested roads. All that ends well is good – I managed to reach the finish line in 6 hours 22 minutes – not a great time given the flat terrain but given the condition I was in, finishing itself was a great achievement. It was sheer will power that saw me through. I told myself – Great job, Santh!!!

When I bought my Trek 7.1 in August ’13, I used to go on 10 Km rides for the first nine months and feel proud about my “endurance” rides. June ’14 is when I started riding with my friends in preparation for TAF Freedom Ride in August ’14 and the target of 67 Km sounded insane at that time! I struggled whenever I did more than 25 Km and was thoroughly exhausted after the Freedom Ride. When one of my friends talked to me about brevets that started with 200 Km, I could not imagine myself completing such a distance. But I managed to finish my first 200 Km in November ’14. I then limited myself to that distance for the next two years till I decided to try out my first 300 Km in November ’16. Even then, I did not fathom myself trying out 600 Km brevet riding through two full nights and a day. But once I completed 400 Km brevet, the idea originated in what looked like the final frontier and becoming a Super Randonneur!

I started mentally preparing for the 600 Km ordeal soon after completing 400 Km brevet. I had about 2 weeks after 400 Km to recover and prepare for 600 Km brevet – In to the Wild. I studied the route, memorized the landmarks and contemplated several strategies. But I knew from experience that all strategies need to be flexible to adapt to real time situations and constraints. Anyways, I was all set to start off at 4 PM on Saturday, December 17th from St. Martin’s Engineering College at Dullapally. After the paperwork, a total of 16 riders were flagged off!

The first 200 Km was pretty much the same route as the previous brevet and quite familiar having ridden there just a couple of weeks back. I targeted to reach Zyka for dinner by 7:30 PM. I was a tad bit slower than last time but still managed to reach for dinner by around 7:40. This time I switched to rotis and butter chicken. All the 16 riders had reached by the time I left the place around 8:20. I was some where in the middle of the pack.

I set myself a target to reach the 209 Km point at Singh is King dhaba at Nirmal by 3 AM. This also marked the end of riding on NH7. I maintained a steady tempo and arrived at the checkpoint at 3:07 AM. I had roti with dal tadka at the dhaba and we were six people at the dhaba then. We all took a power nap and I was woken up after about 30 minutes around 4:15. I felt refreshed – a power nap does wonders to our body. We started riding and felt terribly cold for the first 15 mins. We had completed about 210 Km and were done with more than 12.5 hours. So we did not have much buffer built up and thought we should ride fast to build some buffer over the next 10 hours. As the body warmed up, we exit NH7 into the Adilabad forest. We were told to ride together through the forest that stretched for the next 120 Km. The six of us were almost together and I was in the middle of the pack trying to keep up within sight of the tail lights of lead pack. There were moments of loneliness that made me nervous thinking about Kanwal tiger reserve we were riding through. As dawn broke out, four of us assembled together at a village tea stall. I gulped down a couple of glasses of tea and met the remaining two folks from the lead pack at Kadem. We took some pictures at the scenic lake and decided to ride fast to have breakfast at a town called Jannaram. We arrived for breakfast around 9 AM. We had covered around 280 Km till then in about 19 hours.

After a few idlies and vadas, we started riding around 9:30 AM. The sun was out but riding through the forest, we did not feel the heat. After 320 Km, we turned right out of the forest towards the next checkpoint at Thakkalapally village. The last 25 Km to the village was tough – started feeling hungry and tired that was made worse by slow progress due to uphill. I finally reached the checkpoint at 1:10 PM. Luckily for us, the family at checkpoint had prepared good simple food saving time that we otherwise had to spend at a restaurant. After a sumptuous lunch of rice, dal and rasam, I took a power nap for 30 minutes. While the six of us were at the checkpoint around the same time, one of riders decided to get some head start without a nap and the rest of us started riding again around 2:30 PM.

It was time for strategizing again. I had about 17.5 hours left for the remaining 250 Km. This should be quite easy but for a couple of reasons – the elevation (it was pretty much uphill all the way to finish) and having ridden for almost a full day till then, fatigue would be a factor as well. I decided to take it small chunks at a time and set a target to reach the next checkpoint at Siddipet around 8:30 PM giving it around 6 hours to cover 100 Km. I crossed Jagtial, Vemulawada and Sircila at good pace to reach 400 Km point by 5:30 PM. Then came another tough stretch – Sircila to Siddipet was a constant uphill. All of us split after lunch and as I was riding at steady constant pace, two of the riders joined me as I was struggling through the uphill. They were taking breaks every 30 mins to have some snacks and water while riding faster than me at other times. I took a couple of breaks along with them and noticed that one of them had a hurting knee. We encouraged him to endure till Siddipet and decide. We arrived at Siddipet at 9 PM, 30 minutes later than my target.

My strategy went for a toss at Siddipet! I had planned to dinner at Siddipet and start riding out of the place around 9 PM. But I reached there only at 9 PM and wasted precious minutes waiting for the two riders who were with me for the last 30 Km ( I later found out that they dropped out at Siddipet out of pain and exhaustion). As I crossed Siddipet, I did not find any place for dinner. As I was riding slowly looking for a restaurant, I did not realize that it was already 10 PM and I had covered only about 10 Km during the last hour. I enquired a passer-by for a restaurant and he said I either had to go back 10 Km to Siddipet (which was not an option given the time constraint) or proceed for another 25 Km. I had about 10 hours to cover the remaining 140 Km and it was getting close. All the buffer was gone and the remaining distance was all uphill  as well. I decided to skip a full fledged Indian dinner and instead survive on the plentiful energy bars and dry fruit chikkis I had left. I pulled out an energy bar and started riding again with determination.

It was painful progress given the gradual uphill and I stopped at a dhaba to gulp down a couple of glasses of tea. I continued to ride alone and was surprised to see a couple of stationary blinking tail lights ahead. As I approached, I saw a couple of riders taking a power nap over one of the culverts on the highway. They had left the lunch place around the same time as I did but were riding ahead and faster. Catching up with them gave me confidence on finishing and they were super confident on finishing. We rode together for a few kilometers but lost sight of them as I stopped to eat another energy bar just after Ramayanpet at NH7 junction. Finally a downhill stretch started and I was able to increase my pace. I had to stop for a few minutes at a railway gate and as I was waiting for the freight train to pass, a man on a motor cycle stuck a conversation. He suggested that I wait till dawn to cross the Narsapur forest. I said I did not have time but will take care. I quickly raced past the forest downhill for the next 25 Km and reached the next checkpoint at Medak by 2 AM for greetings from a couple of volunteers. I also rejoined the two riders I had met a while back. I took a 15 minute break and the volunteers said that I should be able to finish easily within time and suggested I just relax and enjoy the rest of the ride along Narsapur forest. The three of us decided to ride together for the rest of the distance. We had a little over 5.5 hours for the remaining 80+ Km.

We entered the core forest and would have ridden for about 20 minutes when one of the riders said he wants another power nap. I said that I will not be able to finish with my pace if I took a nap but if they took a 15 minute break, they should anyways easily catch-up with me before the next checkpoint at 565 Km mark. So, I started riding along again as they took a power nap. It was a tough uphill section and I was very sleepy. I gulped down an energy gel that is supposed to be loaded with caffeine to keep one alert but it did not make any difference. As I was riding sleepy with about 10 Km left for the next checkpoint, the two of them joined me. I was happy to see them as talking to them helped me stay awake.  We finally reached the last checkpoint at 5:20 AM. It was a manual control point at BVRIT college and it was nice of them to serve us with hot idlis at that time! After a 20 minute break, we started riding again at 5:40 AM to cover the final stretch!

After more than 37.5 hours and about 565 Km, it now boiled down to covering the remaining 37 Km in about 2 hours 15 mins! This last segment included a steep climb for the first 15 Km after which it was supposed to be an easy downhill. My fellow riders turned the heat on and started riding too fast for my comfort as they wanted to leave some time for any contingency. I pushed myself to keep up with them and managed doing it! As we reached the last 10 Km, the roads became bad and we had to slow down. Fortunately, we had build sufficient buffer by that time to finish on time. After negotiating all the challenges, the three of us rode together into St. Martin’s Engineering College, the FINISH POINT!!! We had a couple of folks to greet the Super Randonneurs, including the first timer – that’s me!!! It was one heck of a journey and an immensely satisfying one completing 200, 300, 400 and 600 Km rides every alternate weekend to become a Super Randonneur!!!

I could not have imagined doing this a couple of years back but am slowly realizing how we can condition our body and mind to push the limits.

I did not think about doing a 400 Km brevet, till I finished the 300 one (Tour of Neelagiri) strongly. Having finished 300 Km in less than 18 hours, I was confident that the remaining 9+ hours should be ample time to complete 400 Km successfully.

With that thought, I registered for 400 Km brevet: Hyderabad – Nizamabad – Armoor one, largely along NH7. The elevation profile appeared to be tougher that the route for 300Km brevet but nowhere near the challenging Heaven & Hell one through Anantagiri hills. I had about 2 weeks after the Tour of Neelagiri to recover and prepare for the 400 Km brevet – enough time to recover from the previous night out travails but close enough to keep my muscles warm for another ordeal.

I followed similar routines during the 24 hours preceding the brevet start and arrived at St. Martin’s College by 3:30PM on D-day, giving me about 30 minutes to complete paperwork and talk to co-riders on the route. The flag-off was scheduled as a grand event in the college with many students and the college Principal in attendance to cheer the 23 riders who started on a 27 hour ride.

The first 20 Km was a bit of uphill and then it became a gradual downhill that helped us maintain good pace. We reached our dinner venue (Zyka restaurant) around 7:30 PM covering about 75 Km in 3.5 hours. I had some curd rice that I thought should keep me going till the next manual checkpoint at Nizamabad. But before Nizamabad, I had to deal with an automated control point at Kamareddy after about 95 Km. This was my first auto control that made me anxious. I reached Kamareddy around 8:50PM and took a selfie in front of a bank. As a crowd started gathering, I quickly restarted and continued on my rhythm. I made it a point to memorise the cue sheet and looked for the landmarks to make sure I do not lose my way. When I saw the signboard for Nizamabad, I stopped under a light to recheck on cue sheet and confirm the route.

I reached the manual checkpoint around 142 Km at 11:09 PM. It was a beautiful house where the organizers had arranged beds for folks who wanted to rest for a while. 6 out of the 23 riders had already checked in and 3 of them were taking a nap. I had a banana and some juice before I left the place telling the folks that I want to cover as much distance during the cool night. A nap can wait till I return to the same place after 260 Km!

The next 40 Km was tough. I rode through a forest – bad roads, poor lighting and blinding head lights from a few vehicles coming from the opposite direction combined to make it difficult. It became much better after rejoining NH7 around 180 Km. Just before that, there was another auto control point where I took a selfie with a leader’s statue at 1:34 AM. I arrived at the mid-point of brevet at 2:56 AM and clicked another selfie at the designated ATM. When I took a u-turn to retrace to finish point, I noticed it was exactly 3 AM. I had taken 11 hours to complete 200 Km. About an hour longer than the 300 Km brevet two weeks back but I was left with another 16 hours to complete the remaining 200 Km.

It was around this distance during the previous brevet that I had an omelette, which I thought energized me for the rest of the night. I was craving for the same and was happy to find a dhaba. I carried my cycle along with me right till the seat to avoid any curious truck drivers meddling with the gears or other equipment. I ordered for some rotis and egg burji and lied down for a few minutes as the order was getting ready. As I started eating, a couple of truck drivers came to me and started asking questions about the event and purpose. I was in no mood to answer them but did not want to sound rude – I replied with short responses. I noticed about 5 riders cross the dhaba as I was finishing with a tea. After about 30 minutes, I started riding again. It was lonely for about an hour after which I caught up with one of the riders, who was feeling sleepy and needed some company to remain awake. We rode together for the next 3 hours. On the way we saw a few riders taking a nap under one of the bus shelters along the highway. I was not feeling sleepy and wanted to cover as much distance as possible before dawn.

We arrived at the manual control point at Nizamabad at 6:45 AM. It was beautiful weather and the countryside looked fabulous. After completing the paperwork, I was ready to start when the volunteers announced breakfast was ready. I gulped more than half a dozen idlis with chutney. It tasted among the best idlis I ever had – I should have been hungry! I knew the next 140 Km would be the toughest phase but it proved tougher than I had expected.

I was told that the incline before Kamareddy would be steep and wanted to cross it before the sun came out. I could not manage that and was left puffing through the steep incline under hot sun. It took more than 3 hours to cross this 45 Km stretch and I finally reached the last checkpoint at Kamareddy at 10:10AM. That also marked completion of 300 Km. I had another 100 Km to go with almost 9 hours left. Time was not going to be the issue but the thought of riding under the hot sun was draining.

As I was struggling through the incline before Kamareddy, about 3 riders crossed me. I managed to catch up with one of them and we planned to have lunch at Zyka that should be around 20 Km after Kamareddy. I thought we should reach there by 11:45 AM. The hot sun delayed it a bit and we finally managed to reach there by around noon. But we arrived a bit early for lunch and they were not ready! Not wanting to waste time, we decided to look for the next dhaba. But that would not come before the 352 Km mark! I was thoroughly exhausted by this time. It was 1:15 PM and I had breakfast around 7 AM. It was clearly a mistake to have given such a long gap between two meals and with only about 50 Km left, I decided to take it easy. I had some curd rice and took a power nap for 20 mins before starting off again around 2:20 PM.

The power nap did wonders to my energy level. I was surprised by the difference a short 20 minute nap can do to our body! I started riding with more confidence and power and managed to catch up with a few riders who should have crossed me during lunch. The sun also hid behind the clouds for some time making it easier. I finally reached the finish point at 5:23 PM to warm welcome from the volunteers. It was a tough ride but one that I again enjoyed and would cherish for a long time!

As I completed my fourth 200 Km brevet on Nov 5th, the thought of trying out a 300 Km one crossed my mind. I never attempted more than 200 Km as it required riding the entire night and I did not want to put my body through an all night suffering. But the suffering I endured under the sun during the all day Bhongir Fort ride made me feel that I might actually enjoy an all night ride. All I needed was to log additional sleep hours before and after the ride to compensate. So, I decided to try out the 300 Km brevet on Nov 19th – Tour of Neelagiri.

As a practice ride, I went for The Bike Affair’s Anniversary ride for their Jubliee Hills branch. It ended up being an enjoyable 100 Km ride along the countryside. As always, TBA hospitality made it a pleasure!

A long ride is a good opportunity to hog all the food I enjoy for several days before the event. My first 300 Km brevet provided many of them during the preceding week. I treated myself with a good portion of tandoori chicken and chicken biriyani for lunch before I started to the venue. After all the paperwork, the brevet was flagged off around 4 PM with over 40 riders and off we went on a pleasant November evening. I had 20 hours to complete 300 Km and I should be back at the venue by noon Sunday.

The route had 3 segments:

1. About 90 Km largely on Hyderabad – Vijayawada highway till Narketpally through Choutuppal and Chityal and largely downhill
2. About 60 Km from Narketpally till Miryalguda through Nalgonda – largely flat with a bit of rolling hills
3. 150 Km from Miyalguda to Hyderabad along Sagar Road through Peddavoora and Mall – constant climb for 120 Km followed by rolling hills on the final stretch.

The first segment went off like a breeze. Fresh legs, downhill and pleasant evening aided in maintaining average speed of over 22 Km/hr. I arrived at the first checkpoint at 8PM to the sight of a dozen riders having dinner. After completing the paperwork, I had tasty curd rice with pickle that was arranged by the organizers. I wrapped up the break with a banana and refilled my water bottle.

I had a minor scare after I restarted when I thought my rear brakes had jammed on the wheel. After meddling with them for a while, it looked like the problem was due to the 2 pouches I had attached to the top tube of the frame. I adjusted them a little bit and things appeared fine. Keeping my fingers crossed, I started riding again. Luckily, I did not notice any further problems and I continued to maintain good pace. I arrived at the second checkpoint (152 Km) at Miryalguda at 11:21 PM. That was less than 7.5 hours for 150 Km at over 20 Km/hr. I was happy at being able to maintain good pace and was surprised that I was only the 6th rider to arrive. But I knew the ordeal would actually start from here and felt if I could maintain the 6th place till finish, it would be an achievement!

After the standard formalities at the checkpoint, I started riding again with the objective of maintaining my relative position among 40+ riders. Till Miryalguda, we were on a 4 lane highway with excellent surface but now it was a single lane road with numerous potholes and even stretches with only gravel left on the road. That made riding difficult but it also made me feel closer to the countryside. Without any traffic, the silence was blissful and after a while I started enjoying the environment! The next checkpoint was a place called Peddavoora at 195 Km and I reached there at 1:55 AM. It was amazing that I covered almost 200 Km in about 10 hours. I was still among the top 6 riders. The checkpoint was at a all-night tea stall that was serving omelettes and rotis. I wanted to gain some time. So, I quickly ate an omelette, gulped down a glass of tea and quickly started before a couple of others. There were three riders ahead of me at that time.

The next checkpoint was at a place called Mall, another 70 Km away. This stretch was the most difficult. The road was bad and uphill. Riding between 3 AM and 5 AM was not easy. But after about 4 AM, I got into a rhythm and started chipping it away. It was an absolutely barren road but there were houses along the road every few hundred metres and they had the lights turned on their corridors, which lit the road well. I stopped a couple of times to refresh with sports bars and dry fruit chikki. It was awesome to see the dawn riding along the countryside. The next checkpoint at Mall was no where in sight. I thought I will reach it by 6:30 AM but it was 7:23 AM by the time I reached the 263 Km point. But to my surprise, I was only the second rider to arrive and the two people who started before me from the previous checkpoint arrived about 10 minutes later. The thought of finishing second was cool and excited me! I had a cup of tea and a couple of bananas before starting to ride again.

I was now on the last 40 Km stretch, with the sun shining bright but the heat had not yet picked up. My target was to finish the ride before the sun came out strong and try to avoid any one crossing me. The constant uphill became rolling hills and I was able to increase my pace back to about 18 Km/hr. I did not see any one closing in till I reached the finish point at 9:48 AM. I finished strong and was surprised at it! It was one of my best rides and gave me the confidence for more!!!

While I touched 900 km mark on running front by mid October, I was off mark on cycling during 2016. Strava showed reduced cycling activity from April till September, due to summer vacation and not participating in monsoon brevet during July. Usually a 200 km brevet results in covering 400 km with 200 on the event day and another 200 during the preceding 2 weekends as part of preparation. So, I decided to register for Bhongir Fort brevet on November 5th and that also excited me as my previous three brevets were all along the same route.

I planned to cover all the lakes of Hyderabad as part of my preparation and I expected them to be beautiful after recent plentiful rains. I covered 3 lakes – Himayat Sagar, Gandipet and Ameenpur lake during the first long ride. It was a delight to see all the lakes with copious water – particularly Ameenpur lake that was filled to the brim.

I decided to go to Shamirpet lake for the second practice ride. It was a wonderful sight –  I had never before seen it with so much water! It was a pleasant cloudy morning that helped me easily cover 100 km without  getting tired!

  

For 3 weeks after the Hyderabad marathon, my fitness activities slowed down while I was recovering from the marathon and a viral fever. As I was scheduled to travel on work, I planned to compensate for lost action.

I started with a target to run about 100 km during these 3 weeks. But with beautiful weather and running trails at New York, Charlotte and San Francisco, I made it over 120 km. Manhattan Central Park, Charlotte Little Sugar Creek and SFO Bay area parks are beautiful places to run! And my buddy at Charlotte helped me go biking on a couple of days during one of the weekends covering 94 km across the Carolinas. I got a feel of the US countryside for the first time! Overall, one of those rare instances where I was able to exceed my target.

I started preparing for Airtel Hyderabad Marathon (AHM) 2016 scheduled on Aug 28th in the right earnest with Nagole Forest run on Jul 10th. I had 7 weeks to prepare, which is lesser time than ideally required for a full marathon. But I was available for long runs during all the intervening weekends unlike last year when I had prior commitments that hindered my training. Given my work schedule, my long runs were all confined to Sundays. Let me narrate my story over the 7 Sundays and what finally happened on the D day!

Sunday No. 1 – Jul 10: Nagole Forest run

I saw the posting by Hyderabad Runners a couple of days before Jul 10th and the thought of running inside a forest excited me. It was preparatory run for the marathon and it was an exciting way to get my training started. I had my training partner for company and we planned to run 20 Km. But it drizzled constantly limiting our run to 15.6 Km at a pace of 6:39 min/km. I fell short of the plan on distance but not a bad start!

Sunday No. 2 – Jul 17: Solo loops around KBR Park

I took a liking to biking around KBR park whenever I did not have company to go on long rides. A loop is just about 5 Km, is very pleasant riding along the perimeter of a national park with fair bit of inclines, good road and no traffic on Sunday mornings. I had never run loops but decided to try it out as I had to train alone. I did 4 loops and a little bit more to make it a half marathon. I enjoyed it and given the terrain with steady inclines, pace of 7:24 min/km was not bad. I felt I was on target for full marathon.

Sunday No. 3 – Jul 24: Hyderabad Heritage Run

This was a run that I missed last year and the route along Golconda Fort and Qutb Shahi tombs promised to be an interesting one. As luck would have it, the organizers had to change the route at the last minute and it was no longer exciting. Any ways, my objective was to do another half marathon and I completed it in 2 hours 20 mins at a pace of 6:38 min/km. As a bonus, I met one of my college buddies after 18 years!

Sunday No. 4 – Jul 31: Another solo KBR loops

This time I made it 5 loops around KBR covering 25.9 Km at 7:33 min/km. I felt I was still on track with 3 more weekends to do the 35 Km before the D day.

Sunday No. 5 – Aug 7: Alankrita Run

The scenic Alankrita run was ideal to cover 32 Km but the organizers once again changed the route making it a mundane run along the highway all along! We arrived after the 32 Km folks had started their run and we were about 20 minutes behind them. It was a warm windy day and all I could cover was 24 Km at 7:10 min/km. I had covered the first 8 Km in record time and that made my overall stats look good but I was now clearly behind on my training plan. I had just one weekend left as I wanted to keep the penultimate weekend light to keep my legs fresh.

Sunday No. 6 – Aug 14: AHM 2016 dry run

My final opportunity to cover 35 Km. The dry run planned to cover only 21 Km and I had planned to start running an hour earlier to make it at least 30 Km. But we started 15 minutes late and all I could cover was 28.9 Km at 7:39 min/km. So, again like last year, no 30 Km run before the full marathon! However, with this run, I had run 5 half marathons in 5 weeks! Made me feel good!!!

Sunday No. 7 – Aug 21: 10K run

I ran 2 loops of KBR covering 10.8 Km at 6:43 min/km. One aspect I realized – my pace and trend as I progress every Km was quite predictable! I am strong during the first 8 Km, hang on for the next 8 Km and constant downhill from thereon. But after half marathon, the plunge is significant. Not something that made me feel confident for the full marathon, but no going back now.

Airtel Hyderabad Full Marathon – Aug 28

One concern that is usually associated with marathon at Hyderbad is the weather. Scheduled in August, well before winter sets in, a lot depends on monsoon impact on that particular day. Fortunately, it had rained heavily overnight and the roads were still wet as we started running at 5 AM. It promised to be pleasant weather. My target was to complete the marathon in under 6 hours to be faster than last time and attempt to go under 5:30 is possible.

I covered the first 10 Km in just over an hour, well in time to beat the half marathon crowd that slowed me down last year just after Hussain Sagar loop. I ran the first half marathon under 2:30 hours. I continued to manage well till about 24 Km. That is when the basic mistake I did hit me.

I started to the venue on an empty stomach. I had loaded myself with a lot of protein the previous day but missed eating a good breakfast before I started running. By the time I completed 25 Km, I was exhausted. I decided to take a few mins break to eat and stretch at one of the support stations. As I stretched, my left leg cramped up. I had another 17 Km to go and already cramps! I relaxed a bit and started slowly again. I reset my target to complete the marathon in under 6:30 hours.

After 30 Km, I was very tired and decided to take another break. This time, one of the volunteers helped me stretch. Though I ended up spending more than 15 minutes without moving, it refreshed me and felt it should keep me in good stead for the remaining 12 Km.

The script for the remaining 12 Km was a repeat from last year, if only a tad bit slower. Struggle, struggle and more struggle. I was only walking after 36 Km and that slowed me down terribly. Finally, I gathered some strength to run slowly for the last couple of km.

I finished in 6:15 hours, 10 mins slower than last year. Strava showed my moving time to be exactly same as last year but the additional time I spent in breaks made it longer. It did not go by the script I planned but I will take it. Completing a full marathon covering 42.2 Km is not a mean achievement and I have now done it twice! And at one of the toughest urban marathons covering an elevation of over 250m!!! Well done Santh!!!

My third Freedom Ride in a row, this time turned out to be over 100 Km including ride from home and back. My marathon practice run the previous day had me start off with tired legs. But getting used to carrying on with pain and niggles!