Late post!
A race for which I had been preparing for long, but ended up in disappointment for reasons beyond any participant’s control, this race report was bound to be late!
Alright! Where do I start?
The plan:
This race with its toughest 110 km had been on my wishlist since last year when I was running my first ultra (50km) there. The race had the presence of the best in the country and some top international athletes and better ITRA points than any other race in the country. So, I was like I will come back here for a longer race.
Moving from road races to the trails and ultras, I had done a couple of ultras earlier this year. While I had done well on trails, the long road runs were not successful with some nutrition mishaps in Ooty Ultra. So, coming to this race, I wanted to make sure I train well for this. And, the training was good. One downside was I had to sacrifice top races like ADHM. Missing out a good timing on ADHM was a disappointment; but, I was ready to go for Malnad Ultra and eager too… I had trained, I was ready and I was in top shape except for minor joint pains (which I always had)…
Closer to the start
A few days before the race, the organizers sent us a message that the race route has changed and they have submitted the route for ITRA approval. On the map, it looked fine. They are professional, we runners don’t have to worry much. Everything will be taken care of.
I packed my race gear as per the weather and nutrition and supplements without missing anything. I had a gear plan, shoe plan, and even a drop bag plan… And a race plan of finishing under 18 hours! But, things didn’t go as per the plan…
The race!
The route was different from last year. There is a 50 k loop in one direction finishing at the start point followed by a 30 k loop in another direction. 80 k runners will have to do the second loop once while 110 k runners will do that twice. nd, the first 50 k loop will be done by all three categories of 50k, 80k and 110k… 50k route was buzzing with activity; more runners, more crew and lots of ‘hi’s and ‘hey’s going around…
Things were looking good for me at the beginning and lasted till 12 kilometers… then the steep descent started… Usually, I like descents like this… I can save some time lost on the walks uphill… However, it was not my day… My right knee started hurting… I ignored it thinking it was temporary… but, then it was getting worse and every step down became painful… I have not covered even 20% of the course and have already started thinking about DNF… However, the race director’s advice was to quit only at the finish line as there won’t be any ambulance connectivity to the trails… so, I decided to go on till 50k and see what happens from there… I dropped my pace; because I didn’t feel like walking…
Someone on the course advised me to put a knee cap… I remembered I didn’t carry one… I was wearing a pair of calf sleeves that day… Suddenly it occurred to me, they are giving good compression; so, that might work for the time being… and it did… It eased the pain and took me to the 50k easily…
Renewed energy
I was advised not to waste time at the break… But, I needed to regroup… I had dirt-filled shoes and leech bit, bloody legs… So, I changed my clothes and changed my shoes… Went to the physio station for quick knee treatment, had a hot bowl of rice and banana and took off for the second half; starting with the first of the 30 k loop… that loop went fine… I was running again… there were few road parts and I was gaining some time I lost… however, the party didn’t last long… Somewhere at the 70k, I was all alone and it was almost dark…
The route was marked by limestone markings on the trees and according to the organizers, there will be some marking every 200m… If we don’t see a marking for a while, we are on the wrong route… From 70km onwards the markings were less and I was running in circles and since I was alone in the dark, it gave me a bit of panic attack… At one point, I waited for two guys behind me to come and figure out the route…
At 72k mark, the real hell began… I was lone again and the two guys right ahead of me (by 50 m or so) were nowhere to be seen… There was one arrow to nowhere and I found myself trapped within the coffee trees with no trails seen… Then I was blowing my whistle, again, with no crew around, no response… after 5 minutes of running here and there I went back to the 72nd km marking and waited for people… Then few guys showed up and together we tried to figure out the route… it was like a treasure hunt… since we were not sure if anyone will be able to do it on him or her own, we decided to stick together… there was no racing after that. By the time we got out of the trail to the road to the start point, we had a lot of time and also the confidence to go back again to do the loop again… there was also no aid station after 68th km… So, we were on foot for 12 km with just a few supplies… Later I have heard stories from many 80km runners how they didn’t have any water in the last few kilometers of their run…
The last loop
After our 80 k finish, we were fuming… We told the race director of the situation and he refused to believe. He said we could be of-course since there would be an aid station at 73rd km… We were like there was nobody and his response was ‘it is what it is’ (clearly he didn’t know what was going on)… He left it to us if we wanted to complete it…
I was angry, I was crushed… I waited for this a long time… I had a knew problem at the start, I didn’t quit and now this… I did not want to go home with a DNF… Thankfully, I found people with similar thoughts and we decided to do the last loop together… By then everybody’s racing spirits were down… We walked mostly and chatted a lot… and finished by 2:43 am (next day). It took me 20 hours and 13 minutes…
Lessons learned:
Yes, it was tough! It broke me… But, I was on foot for over 20hrs… I have not done anything like that before… So, I can do bigger and better… And, I can’t wait for what comes next!
Eat, Run, Live, Sleep, Repeat 