BNP Ultra 50 k 22/2/20

I wrote this post on our Tuesday-Friday stretching group in response to a request made by Nihal and other friends enquiring about any special preparations done for the Ultra. In our exercise group only Vasant has participated in a 12 hour run. Nitin has the distinction of completing the half iron man. A new trend of looking beyond the 42 k marathon would now begin I think.

I have profusely thanked all my friends in this post. A special thanks to Vidula for allowing me to run. She was skeptical at first but finally relented. She woke up early in the morning to ensure that I woke up. Gayatri too woke up at 4.30 am to say good bye to me.

Here goes…..

There was no special preparation as such. But I did realise that we underestimate the benefits of rest. I rested the week leading up to the marathon. Had I continued putting in mileage, maybe the result could have been different, considering my nagging knee injury. The rest worked well for my knee.

We all prepare physically as a matter of routine. Our mental health gets ignored owing to various pressures which we have to handle. I had read somewhere that running is akin to meditation. Meditation is described in various ways. One definition could be resting your mind and attaining a state of consciousness that is totally different than the conscious state. I had never encountered this aspect before. Today to my astonishment I realised for the first time that my mind was at peace. There was no restlessness and no wavering. I could concentrate on the task of running without thinking of the end result. The running effort was conscious as I had decided to run at an average pace of 7 min/km as  recommended by Guruji. Our discussion on Thursday worked wonders for me. I had to concentrate only on keeping my pace goals. This could be called mental training. Timing and cramps are two factors which keep us restless. As guruji says we need to run smarter, not faster. Once the goal was shifted from 50 k to maintaining a steady pace, things became a lot easier. In fact this event was much better for me than TMM in spite of being tougher.

Running at SGNP is a glorious experience as all of us know. The weather was good and the temperature was distinctly chilly in the morning. We also got to see a few deer. The event was brilliantly organised and only a few niggles need to be ironed out.

Our SPMC t-shirt is hasn't lost it's value. Many people came up to me and inquired whether I was from Shivaji Park. Apeksha, Leenesh's friend initiated a conversation with me simply because I wore the SPMC t-shirt. Kiran Gaikwad - podium finisher from Nashik also recognised this garment.

All things considered this was one of the best marathons I have participated in. TMM appears underwhelming in comparison.

I would like to thank all my buddies and Guruji, Manisha and Nihal in particular as their contribution is immense in bringing out the best in all of us.