Pacing and planning
AHM is one of the toughest city marathons in India. There is a net elevation gain of 90 meters. Most marathons have a net elevation gain of zero – they start and end in the same place. The AHM, on the other hand, starts in Tank Bund and ends in Gachibowli Stadium. The section between Somajiguda and Jubilee Hills Checkpost has a net elevation gain of 80 meters. The total elevation gain on the course was 350 meters - which is equivalent to running up a 100 floor building.
My pacing plan had to factor this in. Few days before AHM I did a run wearing a sari to try out just this route. The practice run went fine but I was not sure if it would be the same on race day. The plan was to run the first 9.2km fast so that I could avoid being blocked by the half marathon runners. But I could not run better than 6:30 km/min. With that in mind and accounting for the inclines, my coach Dr. Vignan came up with a pacing plan that had a 15 minute buffer.
Expert runner, Anubhav Karmakar, who was a 4 hour pacer in AHM 2016, also helped me in understanding the pacing strategy for this course.
Even with a good pacing plan and buffer, I knew that if I stopped for water at the support stations, I would lose time and I would not be able to run the marathon under 5 hours. Therefore, I requested my coach Vignan to be a cycle marshal and provide water support for me. In addition, my friend Dharma would join as a cycling marshal, in-charge of taking a video of the whole run (which I would need for the application to Guinness World Record).
Nutrition
A good nutrition plan is as important as the training that leads to the marathon. Being vegan I wanted to use energy gels that were vegan. I tried the Vega brand and the Unived brand gels. I liked the Vega brand gel which uses date paste as a base. However, I preferred to avoid energy gels packaged as plastic sachets. Plastic wrappers strewn on the sides of roads would probably still be there 200 years from now, left undisturbed. I see so many of these on a day to day basis in my training runs. I do not want to support plastic packaging. The eco friendly alternative was to prepare my own energy gel.
My coach Dr. Vignan had collaborated in the manufacture of an energy gel, Hydure – which was mostly natural with honey as the base. I took his guidance to replace honey with a vegan alternative. I used four simple ingredients – dates, palm sugar, salt and lemon juice.
To test my homemade energy gel, I used it on many long practice runs. It was challenging to get the correct salt content as it was hard to measure the small proportion of salt compared to the other ingredients. The salt intake also depended on the humidity level on a given day. On race day, I added more salt than the required. To compensate for that, I had to have bananas during the run.
The Run
On the morning of AHM, the day started well. I warmed up as much as I could before the run. It got many curious looks and questions, as they saw me lining up for the run wearing a sari. I had by this time practiced wearing the sari in the right way. I had also figured out how to use the rest room and tie the sari back in position.
The run started well. I kept good pace in the first 10 kilometers. I finished the first 10 KM in 1:06:45. The cycle marshals (Vignan and Dharma) were there and helping in every way they could. It was dark when the run started and Dharma had to use lights to capture the video. Soon the lights were hurting my eyes. I asked Dharma to turn them down. But did not have to worry about this for too much longer.
It was day light by the time I finished the run around tank bund, back to the race start. The half marathon had already started by the time I reached the race start point. There were many who were trailing but there were quite a few half marathon runners who were ahead. By the 12th km, I felt my energy levels dip. Weaving through the crowd of half marathoners, all running at different speeds, had started to drain me. I had some gel and water and continued. The narrow uphill section of Punjagutta flyover was crammed with runners. I got separated from my cycle marshals. Instead of staying calm, I worried about them. This again drained some of my energy.
After the narrow flyover section the cycle marshals were back with me and I was happy to be running alongside them again. This was still an uphill section and I was quite slow in the 14th to 18th kilometer. After this section I met quite a few friends who were running the half marathon (Anupa Shekar, Vijay Vavilala, Mayank Parashar). Seeing friends energized me. I did reasonably well in this section from KBR park to the Hitech city turning.
Then the 10K crowd joined into the run at Hitech city. Now there were lot more people on the road and having to again weave through the crowd had me struggling. After this, I gained some energy on the downhill in the 26th kilometer. But overall by this time, I was getting tired. In all my practice runs, I had been running alone. I did not expect that running through the crowd would be so hard and it would require a lot of my energy. I kept in mind the timing and realized that slowly I was eating into the 15 minute buffer. I was slowing down due to fatigue and having to weave through the runners.
In the last stretch with the half marathoners, the only thing on my mind was to somehow get to the left turn at IIIT junction. I knew that after the left turn, it would only be the full marathon runners with empty roads. In the section after the Gachibowli stadium there were so many folks who called out to me and were encouraging me to run. I stood out due to my running attire. Due to extreme fatigue, I could not acknowledge or appreciate their encouragement. My mind was focused on getting to the left turn.
Once I made the left turn I enjoyed being on familiar roads and familiar inclines. I remember Dharma (my photographer) encouraging me through my struggle saying, "This is your area now". Yes, knowing the road helped. Hence even though there was the initial Hill Ridge uphill, having a peaceful road with less crowd energized me again. I did quite well in the 30th and 31st km. Running in front of the place I work at (Microsoft) was also nice. One of my colleagues (Saurabh Garg) had come out to the road from his apartment and was there with his family to cheer me. Those cheers really helped. My older son who was also a cycle marshal caught up with me in this section. He stayed on till the finish. Seeing him energized me too.
I realized at this point that my energy gel had too much salt. Vignan helped me by getting a banana. My legs were getting tired. I got some pain spray too at the end of the 31st kilometer. After this came another tough section. Once I turned right onto the road towards Q-city, Gowlidoddi and Gopanpalli, my heart sank when I felt the strong headwinds. This road also had some rolling hills. I lost a lot of time in this section, my mind still coming to terms with the headwinds. I tucked up my sari in order to be able run in the wind.
It helped that the full marathon route goes past the community where I live. My mother, father and younger son had come out to cheer me. Seeing them helped. I saw my mother's face full of pride. I pushed ahead. I wanted to do this for my family, who have been there to support me all along.
I continued - partly walking and partly running. Vignan kept reminding me of the timing and that I was cutting it close. I had to finish the full marathon under 5 hours for the record. But there was nothing I could do. I asked him to just be quiet since I had to run and hearing about or thinking about the timing was dissipating my energy. He was so nice and supportive throughout, but I was not expressing any gratitude towards him during the run. I could only think of him and thank him after crossing the finish line.
I was fatigued and I was pushing with all I had. Alternating between walking and running, I pushed and ran through Hyderabad university. Now I was on the final stretch. Last 2 kilometers. I was in a lot of pain – my left knee hurt badly. The last stretch was going to be uphill and I felt that there was no more energy left in me. At the 39th kilometer, I was in tears. I could not move anymore. I stopped. I pleaded with Vignan and Dharma to pardon me. After all their effort I realized that I would not be able to complete under 5 hours. That meant no record.
Vignan asked me if I wanted to abort. Then I realized that I was not a quitter. I was going to finish it even if I had to walk to the finish line. It was the under 5 hours that was in question. At this point I remembered my mother's face (whom I saw in the 33rd kilometer). I wanted to do this for her. I wanted to do this for my older son who was riding along and showing so much support.
At that point, I promised myself that once I complete this successfully I would climb up the Tirumala hills to see Lord Balaji. Thinking of Tirupati Balaji has got me through some tough times throughout my life. That was the conditioning with which I had been brought up. I had to dig deep to find that courage. I asked myself what the worst that could happen to me - possibly I would die (I mean literally). I decided that, that would not happen so easily.
I decided to push on. I also remembered that the uphill section would end at the gate of the Gachibowli stadium. Inside the stadium it was a downhill. Vignan realized that having another person run with me to set the pace would help. I was lucky to find a fellow runner who agreed to run with me. We ran the last couple of kilometers together. I don't know who it was but a big thank you to him.
With all the courage and determination I could find, I ran the last couple of kilometers. Given the down hill I did a very good pace of 5:42/km in the last stretch. I was so happy to see the 5 hour pacer just ahead.
With the help of so many folks, I crossed the finish line under 5 hours. There was a smile that came to my face (the first one after the 33rd km) when I realized that I crossed the finish line in under 5 hours. After crossing the line, my legs gave way. I did not want to move – I just sat down.
Then slowly I realized the magnitude of what I had accomplished. No one had ever completed a full marathon wearing a sari - let alone under 5 hours. Many people came over to congratulate me. When I saw Vijay Vavilala (colleague at work) at the finish line, I remembered the purpose of my run - the sari, supporting handlooms, empowering women to stay physically fit even if they wear only saris.
Acknowledgements
There were many who supported me throughout this journey. I could not have done it without the support from my coach Dr. Vignan. Dharma who had signed up to be my videographer, was much more than that. He helped me in practice runs too and encouraged me in every way possible on race day. His words of support and encouragement throughout the run really mattered.
Hyderabad runners (Shiv Kosgi, Rajesh Vetcha) were hugely supportive of my effort. I could not have practiced the long runs without their Sunday long run events with sag support. A big thank you to Hyderabad runners and all the volunteers.
So many cycling friends (Gokul Krish, George Verghese, Gautam Pondi, Madhavi Daga to name a few) encouraged me. Uday accompanied me in a Dhoti – a very nice gesture.
Vijay Vavilala and Amit Kshirsagar were so nice about writing up the witness statement for the Guinness record. Couldn't have got the record without their help. A big thank you to Amit and Vijay.
A big thank you to my family (parents, husband and kids). They were there on race day to cheer me on and witness my efforts.
A big thank you to Tirupati Balaji. I don't know if I accomplished this because of Balaji or the conditioning in my mind, but I kept my promise and climbed up to Tirupati. I finished the climb in 2 hours via the Alipiri mettu - which my father said would take 3 to 4 hours. Right after the trip, came the acknowledgement from Guinness World Records :-).
A big thank you to my friends Subhashini, Swarna Raju, Gautam Pondi and Ananthapadmanabhan who reviewed my blogs and gave feedback. Subhashini being an expert English teacher, was so good with fine tuning the writing.