Vasai-Virar Municipal Marathon

I ran the Vasai Virar Municipal Marathon (VVMM) on December 11.

Vasai-Virar is a municipality just north of Mumbai. The region comprises of three main localities, Vasai, Nalla Sopara and Virar, and extends from about 50 km to 60 km north of Churchgate in South Mumbai, if traveling by local (commuter) train. While technically it is its own municipality and outside Mumbai’s jurisdiction, the region is loosely considered as part of the Mumbai suburbs.

Vasai Creek, which separates Mumbai (which is an island) from the mainland on the north

VVMM started in 2011, and consists of several distances, including a full marathon, a half marathon, an 11K run and a 5K run. I had registered for it in 2019, but had to sit it out due to an injury, and then it didn’t happen the last two years due to the pandemic. When I found out it was on again this year, I decided to come to Mumbai for my annual trip from the US a little earlier.

With the race director at the Expo

They had a bib collection in Mumbai a week before the event, which I missed, so went to the expo at the event venue, which was a college in Virar called New Viva College, two days before the event on December 9. The expo was small, but did have a few vendors, and some very good chai! It took a good hour and 45 minutes each way from my place in Lokhandwala Andheri in the northwestern suburbs of Mumbai to get there. I had considered staying in a hotel near the start… but there was very limited availability of hotels nearby as the region isn’t quite equipped to deal with visitors, and so couldn’t find anything suitable.

Sunrise

The organizers had arranged with the railways to run special trains in the morning for the event (Note to organizers of Bay Area races such as the Oakland Marathon!) After waking up at 3 am and having my oatmeal breakfast, I caught the special train at 4:15 am at Andheri. We reached Virar just past 5 am. The organizers had arranged for free buses to get to the race start from Virar station… but one could have also walked as it was around 1.5 km away. I was at the venue before 5:30 am, and so had plenty of time to check my bag and have a chai nearby.

A nice portion of the route, around the 10km/30km mark

There were about 1,500 runners running the full marathon, though including the other categories, it was several thousand. The full marathon started at 6 am sharp. The marathon route was basically an out and back from Virar to Vasai, with a combination of suburban and some rural surroundings. (The half marathon started in Vasai and ended in Virar.) It was dark until about the 10 km mark, but I got to see the sunrise over some fields, which was beautiful. Parts of Vasai near the halfway mark were very rustic, as was a stretch in Virar about 6 km to 2 km from the finish, with trees covering the roads.

A rustic portion of the route near the halfway point in Vasai

The race was well organized for the most part. The course was AIMS certified, which wasn’t bad for a small local marathon. They had plenty of water and electrolytes, as well as oranges, etc. The crowd support was great… for the local residents it was likely a big annual event, and the organizers had worked with schools to have large numbers of children in uniforms cheering. There were also a large number of bands/DJs along the course. They even had an occasional porta-potty along the route (though there could have been more), something lacking in marathons in India, and I actually ended up using one. The post-run food was decent, with a couple of popular local dishes such as rawa shira (a sweet preparation from cracked wheat) and poha (a savory preparation from puffed rice), and more of the excellent chai! And as mentioned before, the pre-race arrangements with the railways and providing buses were great.

One of many bands along the course

The one area where they could improve though is traffic management towards the end… a common complaint for marathons in India. While most of the route had been blocked to traffic, after about 10 am, traffic was allowed back onto the roads. This is really a no-no: besides being dangerous for runners, we had to deal with vehicle exhaust and traffic bottlenecks. While I understand that they had to balance the needs of the locals, they could have either started the race an hour earlier, or worked with local authorities to enforce traffic controls better until the course time limit was over.

Another nice portion of the route, in Virar around the 4 km/ 38 km mark

The temperature during the marathon ranged from around 20C (68F) at the start to around 30C (86F) at the finish. Humidity though was low, below 50%, so it didn’t feel too hot. The AQI however was terrible, over 300, which is unfortunately the case in winter in Mumbai.

Overall though, I enjoyed VVMM, and will likely run it again if I am in Mumbai around the time of the race, which usually is the second weekend in December. If you live in the Mumbai area, it is a great local race to run!

How Often Should You Run?

As a runner. I always get asked this question: “How often do you run?” So I thought this would be a good topic for a blog post.

Before I get to answering it for myself, the short answer is that there is no one/correct answer. There are folks who run every day, and have been doing so for decades without any issues. For most others, a few days a week is enough. The reality is, as with most things in life, it depends on a variety of factors, such as how much time you have, your fitness level, running goals, etc.

If you are a casual runner who runs mostly to stay in shape, running 1-3 easy miles (2-5 km) every day should generally be fine. However the moment you incorporate other elements into your runs, such as interval training, tempo runs or long runs into your running routine, you need to give your legs some rest in between… otherwise it is an almost sure-fire way of getting injured. And then there is the time factor of course: you need to obviously balance time spent running with other things in life.

Most people assume I run every day. However that couldn’t be any further from the truth. In fact, even when I did my marathon PB (Personal Best) in 2008, I only ran three days a week! However, the nature of the runs matter. My three runs during that time consisted of one long run, one track/speed session, and one tempo run. (More about these in a separate post.) I did bike a few miles to work then, and walked to run short errands, which provided for some cross training on my non-running days. But one day of every week was a day of complete rest.

In 2019, I embarked on an ill-advised streak of running at least 5K a day. By itself, 5K a day is doable, but then I was also training for the Chicago Marathon, and was also doing long runs, speed training, and tempo runs. Needless to say, I ended up injuring myself… it actually happened during the marathon itself, which was the 92nd day of my streak. I managed to finish the race by slowing down and run/walking the second half, but it was clear by the next day that I needed to stop running completely. After seeing a sports physiotherapist and doing an MRI, it was determined to be a stress reaction in one of my metatarsals, caused by all that hard running with no rest days in between. I was off my feet for a good two and a half months following that injury!

I now typically stick to running 3 days a week. It’s generally easier to run certain days every week, since for example you might run with a group some days. So I try to run Tuesdays (when in San Francisco, with the FrontRunners), Thursdays and Saturdays. (with some flexibility to account for appointments, races, etc.) I might add a shorter run some weeks to get additional mileage if training for a race, and try to walk 2-3 miles (3-5 km) the days that I am not running. That seems to work well for me.

My running + walking stats from Strava for December 2022. 60 of the 210 miles are walking miles. The 2 are days when I both ran and walked. As you can see, I never ran more than 3 days in any week. Also all my runs were easy runs, with the shorter ones being a little faster.

Ultimately, how often you run is a personal decision that depends on what works for you… but make sure that you don’t overdo it or increase your running frequency or intensity suddenly. Especially if you are starting from scratch, then easing into it is important. A good rule of thumb is to increase your mileage no more than 15% week over week, and incorporating rest days/easy weeks into your schedule, in order to be able to keep that schedule going in the long run!

P.S. I asked ChatGPT the same question after I finished writing this article, and here is its response, which essentially is an encapsulation of the above!

Abu Dhabi Marathon – Day 3 – The Marathon + Louvre Abu Dhabi

The marathon started at 6am. I woke up at 4am in order to have my oatmeal breakfast and catch a bus to the start area. I was a few minutes early, so started walking towards the start. Suddenly a car with other runners pulled up to pick one of their friends; I asked them for a ride, and ended up getting to the start with over half an hour to spare.

In many Asian countries, the portable toilets come in trailer blocks with running water and even electricity; I haven’t seen any toilets more luxurious than the ones in Abu Dhabi! Note to event organizers in the US!

UAE Royalty and the live band before the race start

The race started a few minutes past 6am, thanks to a ceremonial start with a live band and UAE royalty. The marathon route essentially circumnavigated the main peninsula of Abu Dhabi, with the start/end outside the ADNOC headquarters near the northwestern tip. The first 16 km of the route were rather boring… we proceeded southeast, mostly along a couple of wide roads with not much to see alongside. We did catch the sunrise around the 12 km mark, which is always nice.

We saw the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque on our left just after the 16 km mark. It looks magnificent any time, but looked even more so in the rising sun. The route essentially made a 4 km loop around the mosque, and at one point we even briefly entered the mosque grounds, which might well be the only time anyone in shorts might have gotten inside the grounds 🙂 We left the mosque behind just a little before the half-way mark. My first half split time was about 2:06, which was among my slower first half times recently. That may have turned out to be a blessing though, as I will explain later.

The route then went back northwest on Sultan Bin Zayed the First Street, which could loosely be equated to Abu Dhabi’s Champs Elysees, until the 35 km mark. We then zigzagged a little in downtown Abu Dhabi, before joining the seafront street, the Corniche, around the 37 km mark. The last 5 km were along the Corniche.

The Corniche

In recent marathons, my stamina in the second half had been suspect, and there were some races where I completely fell apart… in one marathon earlier this year, my split time was a shocking +51 minutes. The split is the difference between the second half and the first half of a race; ideally these should be even; elite runners even run negative splits (the second half is faster than the first). In Abu Dhabi, however, somehow I got a second wind during the second half. Maybe because the second half of the course was more interesting, or my carbo loading worked, or because I ran the first half slow, or I was just in better shape, having run marathons the previous two weekends. I ended up with a 2:13 second half, my best this year in 9 marathons, and a +7 minute split, to finish in 4:19:30, my second fastest time this year after Chicago.

Having a date, a rare occurrence these days

The marathon was very well organized, with plenty of water, Gatorade, oranges, and even Gu, the brand of energy gels I use, during the race. I even had a date during the race, a rare occurrence, during a race or otherwise 🙂 The post race food could have been better, but there were a lot of vendors at the finish line festival, and so I had a protein smoothie before heading back home.

Dim sum lunch at Hakkasan Abu Dhabi

I decided to splurge after the race, and had lunch at the Abu Dhabi outpost of the global Chinese/dim-sum restaurant chain, Hakkasan. It was in the Emirates Hotel which I had visited the first day. The lunch didn’t disappoint. I went for a 5 course dim-sum where you could choose the courses from a menu of about 20-25 options. Each course had 3 pieces. Including dessert and a glass of wine, the bill came to AED 320 ($80), but could have been $10 lower had I not been forced to buy bottled water. (I detest having to buy water for many reasons: besides the extra cost, there is the environmental factor.)

A modern work at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, featuring Islamic calligraphy

After lunch, I headed to my last destination of the trip, the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and opened in 2017, the museum is owned by the UAE, but can license the Louvre name until 2037 under an agreement with France. The museum is fabulous. The massive central dome itself is a work of art, with a metal pattern that allows for natural light to filter down, like through palm trees. The permanent collection is housed in 12 galleries, organized thematically. In the basement were some modern works, and there was one gallery dedicated to special exhibitions; the current one being on Impressionism. Although the museum had predominantly European art, Asian and Middle Eastern art also featured prominently. And the museum’s cafe and rooftop bar are fabulous places to get a bite to eat or drink… I had my dinner there, after a fantastic, if rushed, two hours at the museum.

Having a cosmo and dinner at the cafe at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Note the dome ceiling.

After collecting my bag, I took the bus back to the airport. My phone had died, and so I couldn’t look up which terminal my flight departed from. I got off at Terminal 1, and found a charging outlet inside. Unfortunately my flight was from Terminal 2, which was 2 km away and could have as well been in a different city. The airport is rather primitive: they did not have any airport transportation to travel between the terminals. Cabs either refused the inter-terminal ride, or were demanding an outrageous amount. I had about 90 minutes, which was a bit tight, but since I only had a shoulder bag, decided to walk the 20 minutes with Google Maps guiding me. Luckily security and the automated immigration was a breeze, and eventually made it inside with an hour to spare.

Incidentally, UAE became the fourth country where I have run a marathon in more than one city; the US, India and Canada being the others. UAE was also my first international trip since Peru in May 2019 (I consider the US and India as domestic destinations!)

I would definitely recommend a trip to Abu Dhabi (and Dubai), if you have never been. I will probably return, and may also run the marathon again if I am in India around the time of the race.

Abu Dhabi Marathon – Day 2 – Dubai

No trip to the UAE is complete without visiting Dubai! I had been there once before, in 2015, when I ran the Dubai Marathon. Dubai is like Las Vegas on steroids… where money can make anything possible.

There is an (under-utilized) bus service between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with buses that run every 15 minutes or so, with air conditioning, Wi-Fi, and comfortable seats, for only AED 25 ($6) one way. The journey takes about an hour and a half to two hours. There are two options for the Dubai buses: one that took you to the southern end of Dubai, and one to the northern end. One annoyance though was that they only took cash, and the ATM at the bus station dispensed a minimum of AED 500 ($125), so I had to find another ATM in a mall across the street where the minimum withdrawal amount was AED 100.

On the Dubai Metro, with the Burj Khalifa on the left

I took the bus to the Ibn Battuta Mall bus station at the southern end of Dubai, and then took the (driverless) Dubai Metro to the city center. It is pretty cool to stand at the front of the train! My first stop in Dubai was lunch with a couple of my IIT (college) batch mates who were living/working in Dubai. We ate at the restaurant of one of the locations of an upscale grocer called Jones the Grocer. The food was excellent, akin to what you might find at Whole Foods in the US.

Museum of the Future

After lunch, my friend dropped me off at Dubai’s latest attraction, The Museum of the Future. I had checked for tickets online, and knew that it was sold out through the first week of January, but wanted to see it for its architecture. It didn’t disappoint. Shaped like a vertical doughnut, with Islamic calligraphy for the windows, it arguably does live up to its hype as “the most beautiful building in the world”. There was a mechanical flying object in the lobby, which I presume was an art installation as well. I spent nearly an hour taking photos from various angles, before taking the Dubai Metro again to the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall stop. Incidentally the corridor from the museum to the Metro station itself is a work of art!

Passageway from the museum to the Metro

I had already been to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, on my previous visit to Dubai, and so skipped it this time. After walking (and getting lost) in the expansive Dubai Mall that surrounds the Burj Khalifa, I finally made it to the Dubai Fountain area. These are essentially musical fountains that erupt every half hour after dark to a sound and light show, similar to the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Burj Khalifa with the Dubai Fountains

I discovered a Michelin-listed Levantine (Syrian) restaurant named Siraj in the Souk across the bridge from the Apple Store, overlooking the Burj Khalifa and the fountains, and so settled there for an al fresco early carbo-loading dinner. The setting reminded me of Venice, with the canals and the Ponte Vecchio-like bridge!

My dinner setting

The food was excellent. I started with an Arabic salad with pomegranate seeds, among other things, that was delicious. My main course was a traditional dish called shrimp Majboos, with shrimp, rice and a tomato based sauce. It was outstanding, and a lot of food! And although I was full, I am glad I had the chocolate fondant with ice cream. In the meanwhile it had started to get dark, and the musical fountains started playing. It was just a magical setting! The three course meal cost AED 180 ($45), and was well worth it!

The delicious main course at dinner, a rice pilaf with shrimps and a tomato based sauce.

I returned to the Metro via the mall, and made my way back to the Ibn Battuta bus station to take the bus back to Abu Dhabi. I reached home around 11pm, a little later than I would have liked, and went to bed promptly to try and get a few hours of sleep before the marathon the next day.

A Look Back at 2022 (and Ahead to 2023!)

The end of the year is always a good time to reflect back on the year, and set goals for the coming year. It is also a great time to restart my running blog, which had gone on another far too long a hiatus!

The year was a mixed bag as far as my running was concerned. On one hand, after 3 sub-4 marathons in 2021, I was unable to come anywhere close to having a 3 at the start of my marathon times this year; my best was only a 4:16 in Chicago. Besides my speed, my endurance was also a concern, with my falling apart completely in the second halves of some marathons (more on that later!) Also, I ended up running 1,200 miles (1,920 km) in 2022, which, while respectable, was nearly 20% lower than 2021, thanks to inconsistency in the frequency of my runs in the middle of the year, where for some weeks I averaged 0-2 runs a week, as opposed to my ideal number of 3.

2022 Run Statistics from Strava

On the other hand, after two lean years of marathon running due to Covid, the world finally started returning to a semblance of normalcy by the second half, with most marathons starting to happen again. As a result, I ended up running 9 marathons during the year — Pune, New Delhi, Bengaluru, San Francisco, Santa Rosa (near San Francisco), Chicago, CIM (Sacramento), Vasai-Virar (near Mumbai), and Abu Dhabi (UAE) — compared to only 3 in 2020 and 4 last year. I also ran a marathon in a country (UAE) other than US or India for the first time since Peru way back in May 2019, and a World Marathon Major (Chicago) again after Chicago in October 2019.

In front of Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park after the Chicago Marathon in October

But the best part of the year was staying injury free (touch wood!) after a stress reaction in a metatarsal in 2019 that caused me to stay off my feet for a couple of months, and an IT band issue in 2021 that made me stop running for a couple of weeks. I also had better consistency with my marathon timings, which fell within a 35 minute range, 4:16 to 4:51, which was probably the narrowest it has been in years. (I’ve had years when the range was 2+ hours from the high 3s to around 6 hours!)

After the San Francisco Marathon in July, with the Bay Bridge in the background

The year ended on a high note, with 150 miles (240 km), the most in a month this year, including 3 marathons in successive weeks. But the most encouraging part was running my fastest second half of the year in my last marathon in Abu Dhabi (2:13), and the split (+7 minutes). For context, I have completely fallen apart in some second halves in recent years, and my worst this year was a +50 split in Santa Rosa! (The split is the difference in time between the first and second halves of a race. Ideally, the split should be even: which means you run both halves at the same pace. Elite runners run negative splits, which means their second half is faster than the first!)

Having a cocktail and dinner at the Louvre Abu Dhabi after the marathon there in December

Looking forward to 2023, my goal is to try and run a sub-4 marathon again, while hopefully staying injury free. I haven’t done any speed training since my metatarsal injury in 2019, so adding that to my training regimen again, while not over training, would be key. Also hope to ramp up again to a marathon a month: I have so far registered for 7 marathons: Vadodara (which is about 5 hours north of Mumbai by train), Mumbai, and Dhaka in January; Oakland in March; San Francisco in July; Berlin in September (which I had deferred twice due to various reasons); and Chicago in October, and hope to add a few more as the year progresses. And finally, my distance goal for the year is to get back to 200 km a month or 2,400 km (1,500 miles) for the year; staying consistent throughout the year with running 3-4 days a week is key to achieving that goal.

Another goal for the year is to be more regular with my running blog. Setting a modest goal of about two articles a month seems reasonable and achievable, and I also hope to write more about topics that would have wider interest/relevance than just reports about my marathons.

Wishing all of you a very happy 2023, and hope to have more interactions during the year!

Abu Dhabi Marathon – Day 1 – Abu Dhabi

I ran the Abu Dhabi Marathon on December 17.

I had booked my annual trip to India from the US, and searched marathonguide.com for marathons to run in the area. For the weekend of Dec 17/18, there were marathons happening in Abu Dhabi, Taipei, Ho Chi Minh City and Chiang Mai. I ran the Chiang Mai Marathon a few years ago (and would recommend it!) It was too late to sign up for Taipei and Ho Chi Minh City. Since I hadn’t been to Abu Dhabi before, I registered for it.

The registration was AED 400 ($100). I found flights from Mumbai for Rs. 29,000 ($350), and an AirBnB with views that was a couple of miles from the marathon start/finish, for $40 a night, which I booked for two nights.

View from my AirBnB

My three hour flight from Mumbai, on a low cost carrier called Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, got in around 8:15 am on December 15, two days before the marathon. Immigration was a breeze, and having not checked luggage, was out of the airport within 15 minutes.

I purchased a weekly bus pass, which allowed for unlimited travel using Abu Dhabi’s public bus system, which is excellent. It only cost AED 40 ($10) for my entire stay, compared to $30 for one way taxi fare to the city! (Abu Dhabi does not have Uber.) The airport bus frequency was every half hour, and I had to change buses once, but I still got to my AirBnB by 10am.

My hosts were a Gujarati couple from Mumbai, which isn’t too atypical for Abu Dhabi, as Indians form the largest ethnic group there after the Arabs. I had a private room with a balcony in their 13th floor apartment, with the promised view.

My host offered some useful tips for sightseeing, including visiting the Presidential Palace, Qasr Al Watan, recently made open to the public, and visiting the Grand Mosque at night. I was glad I listened to him for both!

The Great Hall at Qasr Al Watan

My first stop was Qasr Al Watan. It is the official work office of the UAE President. I took a bus from near my AirBnB to their Visitor Center. After buying an entry ticket for AED 65 ($17), you had to take their free shuttle bus to get to the entrance, as the expansive grounds covered an area equivalent to 53 football fields!

The gathering room at Qasr Al Watan

The architecture and opulence of the Palace were breathtaking. The Palace also housed a mini museum of Arabic/Islamic artifacts, including Presidential gifts, literature, etc. Besides the central Great Hall, my favorite rooms were the gathering room at the far end, and the meeting room at the far left, where organizations that the UAE was a part of, such as the GCC and the OIC, met. The chandelier in that room was stunning! There was also a beautiful immersive artwork on the right side of the Great Hall, featuring Islamic calligraphy.

The Emirates Palace Hotel

After a quick lunch at the Palace’s cafe, my next stop was the destination 7 star Emirates Palace Hotel, which was right next to the entrance to the Palace grounds. The architecture is stunning, and it houses some of Abu Dhabi’s top restaurants. I spent an hour at the casual Le Cafe in the center of the hotel, with a view of the Christmas tree and the central atrium, having two bite-sized chocolate truffles that cost $5 between them, and, after mulling over it for a bit, a glass of mulled wine, the classic Christmas drink made with warm red wine and spices.

Atrium of Emirates Palace Hotel

By then, it was time to pick up my marathon bib. The marathon expo was from 3pm to 10pm, which makes sense for working folks. The expo was on the grounds of ADNOC’s world headquarters, the title sponsor of the marathon, and happened to be across the street from the Emirates Palace Hotel. The expo was an outdoor affair, and was pretty decent, with a lot of vendors and activities for all, including kids. After picking up my bib, I returned to my AirBnB to rest.

As the sun set, I headed out to Abu Dhabi’s most famous attraction: the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Located at the eastern end of the city, it took me an hour to get there by bus.

Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque at night

There are only a few places in the world that you have heard that are stunning, expect to be stunning, and yet are completely blown away when you actually see them. The Taj Mahal is one of them; the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque is another. Completed in 2007, it is one of the largest mosques in the world.

Entrance dome to the mosque

The mosque is reachable through an underground passageway that begins under a glass dome near the entrance to the grounds (think entrance to the Louvre in Paris through the glass pyramid). You did need (free) timed tickets, but I was able to get those there. I had a quick dinner in the underground food court next to the entrance, before heading in.

One of the corridors in the mosque

The mosque is essentially on one side of a large rectangular courtyard, with corridors on the other three sides. The walls and columns of the mosque were marble, adorned by art formed by inlaying semi-precious stones. There are 1,096 columns in the mosque, and their symmetry is dazzling. But the main rooms in the mosque are just breathtaking, with the chandelier, the Islamic clocks, inlays in the floor and walls, and the world’s largest carpet in the main room. You could also enter the prayer room after taking off your footwear. The underground washrooms, along with the rooms where worshippers perform their ablutions, are worth a visit by themselves.

The central chandelier in the mosque

I exited the mosque almost at the closing time of 10pm, after spending 90 minutes there. I was glad I went after dark, but would also like to visit it during the day, should I ever visit Abu Dhabi again.

An Islamic clock in the mosque

I headed back to my AirBnB, tired but satisfied after a full first day in Abu Dhabi.

My Running Philosophy, in 7 Words

It has been a while since I blogged… two years, to be precise. This is simply inexcusable! I promise to be more regular… but to ease into it, here’s a relatively shorter post that is applicable not only just to running, but to other aspects of life as well.

I have thought about encapsulating my running philosophy into a sentence. Well, after much thought, here it is, in three sentences, to be precise, but totaling seven words:

Ok let’s expound on that a bit.

“Run Smart” is very general, and can apply to many aspects of running. Essentially, it implies tailoring your running to suit the current circumstances. Intensity is one aspect of it: don’t push yourself so hard that you risk getting injured, thereby imperiling your goal. For example, I ran a marathon a month on average for 6 years between 2014 and 2019 in order to achieve my life goal of running 100 marathons before turning 50. The reason I was able to achieve this was because I was running most of them at very easy paces, so that I wouldn’t get injured and risk missing my life goal. On the other hand, two years ago I embarked on a streak of running at least 5km a day for 100 days. This included training hard for the Chicago Marathon that year, and I did speed workouts and tempo runs, besides the long runs, with no off days in between to keep my streak going. Guess what? I ended up stressing a metatarsal, and had to take about 2.5 months off running after that for it to heal, thereby also ending my streak at 92 days. This wouldn’t have happened had I been smart about my running!

Another aspect of “running smart” is to run according to the prevailing conditions. If it is hot and humid for example, you need to slow down accordingly, even if it means missing that goal time you had been training for. Another example could be running during Covid times: avoid areas/times where/when there are a lot of people; even in crowded Mumbai I have been able to run safely with plenty of social distancing by planning my routes and times smartly.

Coming to the second point: you have to believe in yourself (within reason of course). It is the motivator that drives you… it keeps you going in those final miles when your body feels like giving up. After not breaking 4 hours in a marathon between 2017 and 2020, I had almost stopped believing that I had another sub-4 in me. I had come close several times, missing it by 2 minutes in Berlin in 2018, when I gave up prematurely in the last 5 km, thinking that I was going to fall short (a self-fulfilling prophecy!) I knew that if I had trained well, physically there was no reason why I couldn’t still do it. So last winter, with fewer distractions due to Covid, I trained diligently, and stayed focused mentally through the final miles of the New Delhi Marathon this March to register a 10+ year best time of 3:43!

The last of my philosophies is also applicable to pretty much anything in life, whether it is a hobby or a job. Unless you are having fun doing it, it becomes a chore, and if that’s the case, you should rather be utilizing your time doing something else that you enjoy doing better. I must confess that there have been plenty of times when it felt like I was going through the motions, running just for the sake of running. The key here is to do something different to make it fun again… whether it is combining it with travel to destination places; taking photos during your training runs (and even races if not going for time); thinking of creative pursuits during runs (my latest hobby is cryptic crosswords; I think of the best clues during my long runs!); blogging about the races; rewarding yourself with a treat, whether it’s food or drink or some other splurge after achieving a goal; etc. I will stop running marathons and pursue another passion when I stop having fun with my runs; luckily that day is nowhere near yet!

The Two Oceans Marathon

I ran my first ultra marathon, the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town, South Africa — a 56 K (35 mile) race, on April 20, 2019.

After completing 100 marathons last fall, I needed to have a new goal… and when a friend signed up for the Two Oceans Marathon last fall, that seemed like a logical one to pursue. I had actually tried to register for it a year ago, but the race had filled up in 3 days, and I had missed the cutoff. Luckily I made it in this year.

Getting to Cape Town was painful. There are no direct flights from San Francisco… and while I could have flown via New York, that option was too expensive, and so I found a multi-city deal on United/Lufthansa via Frankfurt for around $1,500 round trip (including adding Johannesburg as an additional destination.) Unfortunately though, it involved two 10-12 hour flights and a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt, for a total travel time of 34 hours each way! Thank goodness I can avail of Lufthansa’s excellent Senator Lounge in the Z concourse at Frankfurt, with its excellent selection of food and drink, sleeping pods, and showers.

I arrived in Cape Town Wednesday morning (the race was on Saturday). I had found a boutique hotel in downtown, the StayEasy Cape Town City Bowl, that was reasonably priced. The hotel was fully booked due to the race, and they did not have a room with one bed as I had requested while reserving. But to compensate, they gave me a room on the top (16th) floor with a view of downtown and the harbor. I was happy!

I went for lunch at the Chef’s Warehouse/Canteen restaurant that was a couple of blocks away. The restaurant is one of the top restaurants in Cape Town, and it was a really nice contemporary Asian fusion lunch. After lunch, I stayed in the hotel/slept for the rest of the day as I was a bit jet lagged.

The next day dawned gorgeous and clear. I went for a short run after breakfast, to the Silo district/quays. It was more of a photo walk than anything, as I was capturing the beauty of Cape Town. After an excellent lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant in downtown, I took an Uber to the Table Mountain aerial cableway. There was a wait of about 35 minutes to go up. The cable cars are similar to the ones used in Palm Springs, CA: there are two of them that can fit 65 persons each, and work on a counter-weight system. After getting to the top, I hiked around a bit, taking in the breathtaking views of Cape Town and surrounding areas. The line getting down was a bit shorter, luckily.

My next stop was the Cape Town International Convention Center, where the Two Oceans Marathon expo was held. The expo was pretty decent, with a large number of exhibitors. Although I was a bit annoyed when a shoe cleaning spray vendor cleaned one of my shoes to demonstrate the product, and left the other one dirty!

After dropping off my bib/race packet at my hotel, I headed out to dinner at an Italian restaurant that was recommended on TripAdvisor, to get an early start to my carbo loading.

I decided to lie low the next day, which was the day before the race… leaving my hotel only for lunch at a tapas place called Fork in downtown (the ostrich tapa was quite good, and carbo loaded on patatas bravas!) and dinner with my friend Christof from San Francisco, who was also running. We ate at a restaurant called Societi Bistro; I had seared kudu (a local antelope with horns) and carbo loaded again with a prawn spaghetti.

Unfortunately, we got the news that due to protests along the route, they changed the route to a different one. The distance was still 56K, but the most scenic parts of the route, Chapman’s Peak and Hout Bay were taken out, and replaced by a longer and higher climb on Ou Kaapse Weg. Also as a result we didn’t really touch the Atlantic Ocean side, and so the name of the race became a misnomer.

The start of the race was about 6 miles from downtown, in an area called Newlands, on The University of Cape Town campus. My hotel had arranged two busses for runners, but it was first come, first served, and I missed getting a ticket for the bus. They had also arranged a breakfast from 4am to 6am… the first time I’ve seen a hotel go to such lengths for runners! I had booked an Uber for 5:30 am (the race started at 6:40). However that turned out to be too late, as due to the demand, my Uber was still 20 minutes away at 5:30. Luckily I saw some runners from my hotel jump into a car where one of them was driving, and I pleaded my way into a spot in the car. Traffic closer to the start was very congested, but luckily we were able to park and get to the corrals by 6:20.

They had five corrals (seedings as they called them); I was in corral D. There were about 40,000 runners who ran the day’s events (they also had a half marathon; originally they also had a 28K x 2 relay, but they cancelled it due to the route change). The race started promptly at 6:40.

The first few miles were a bit congested with the number of runners (they didn’t have wave starts)… even though the streets were wide. Around the 5K mark, we got into the countryside. It had been raining off and on since the previous night, and there was a shower just as the race had started, resulting in a rainbow as we faced Table Mountain ahead. It was a lovely sight, and I took it as a good omen for the race!

There was a shower again, which drenched my socks. There are few things more uncomfortable than wet socks! But the rain let up as we got to the Indian Ocean side (False Bay) around the 16K mark, with spectacular views of the bay. Luckily it didn’t rain again later.

We got to the aptly named fishing town of Fishhoek at the 21K mark. The half marathon ended there, and the marathoners took a right to head inland. We passed through the town for a bit, before beginning the long climb of Ou Kaapse Weg around the 27K mark. I got to the half way mark a few minutes before the 3 hour mark. My main concern before the race had been the strict gun to mat 7 hour cut off. (They extended it by half an hour due to the route change and the added difficulty of the course.) Based on my recent marathon times, which were in the 4:20 to 4:50 range, I should have had no problems… but the unknown factor of how my body would handle running beyond 42K was at the back of my mind. So I was encouraged by my time at the half way mark, and felt optimistic of finishing before the cutoff.

After a short downhill, however the next 4K was a relentless, long, incline. It wasn’t too steep, but the length of it just wore you out. And to add to the issues, the water stations were few and far in between on this stage, and they ran out of water at a couple of them. (The organizers apologized after the race via email, saying that due to environmental reasons on that stretch, they could not distribute the plastic water sachets which they did at other stations, and they misjudged the amount of water/cups). They did have lots of Coca Cola though; Powerade being the electrolyte sponsor. I cannot remember the last time I drank so much Coke! I walked large portions of the climb, as did many other runners. Finally we crested just before the 33K mark.

The next 3K were a nice downhill with great views. The next few Km were mostly flat, and I got to the marathon distance cutoff at 4:45, which was decent going, and I was getting increasingly confident about finishing under 7 hours.

The final climb of the race was through the region of Constantia, which lasted for about 3K from 45K to about 48K. Luckily the rest of the race was mostly downhill from there. Just before the 52K mark we passed by the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a World Heritage Site for the uniqueness of the plant species found there.

We got back to Cape Town and the finish on the University of Cape Town campus. They had erected bleacher seating near the finish, which was spectacular with the lovely university buildings in one side. I was pleased to finish in 6:32, given my self-doubts about my first ultra, the route change, and the early rain.

The regular post-race refreshments were rather meager, with just a couple of packets of biscuits/gummies chews. Luckily, international runners had been given wrist bands for a special hospitality tent, where they had an egg sandwich, a muffin, potato chips, an apple, and beer.

I was dreading getting an Uber going back given the large number or runners, but surprisingly didn’t have to wait too long.

My hotel was adjacent to a sister hotel called Sun Square, and we could use our room key to go to the 14th floor pool/bar there. The bar had a wrap around outdoor terrace with spectacular views. I had been wanting to go there for Happy Hour ever since I got to Cape Town, but had kept myself in check… but finally indulged with a large cosmopolitan that only cost $3.50!

I had an early dinner at a tapas/wine bar near my hotel called Bouchon (no relation to the restaurant by the same name in the Bay Area). After dinner I took a quick “disco nap” before heading out to check out the gay scene in Cape Town.

My first stop was a nice cafe/bar called Cafe Manhattan, just a 7 minute walk from my hotel. I really liked the ambience there. I then headed to Crew Bar, just a couple of blocks away from there. It was a bar/dance club, but was completely empty when I got there (which was admittedly early for a Saturday night at 10 pm). I didn’t have the patience to wait, and had to get up early the next morning for a tour, so ended up returning to the hotel.

I had booked a full day group tour of the Cape Peninsula the next day through my hotel/a tour agency called African Eagle. There were 11 of us in a van, which picked me up at 8:30. We headed south via the western coast of the Cape peninsula, passing through the rich communities of Clifton and Camps Bay. Our first major stop was Hout Bay, which is a fishing community. It was originally part of the race route, before they diverted it. After seeing sea lions there, we climbed up to the spectacular lookout near Chapman’s Peak, another road we should have run on the previous day but didn’t. The road reminded me of Highway 1 in California, with some spectacular views and Swiss engineering to keep boulders from falling on the road.

We made our way further south to the entrance to the Cape of Good Hope. There was a long queue at the entrance for vehicles; although we still got there before the worst a few hours later. We made our way to the southernmost point of the Cape Peninsula, Cape Point, where there is a lighthouse perched on top of a steep cliff. It was about a half an hour round trip hike to the lighthouse from the parking lot, but well worth it for the views. After the hike, I had lunch at the restaurant there… an upscale restaurant specializing in seafood and local meats, with spectacular views. The meal was terrific and very satisfying, and not too expensive either (actually a fraction of the cost of the restaurant at Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, the most apt comparison!)

After lunch, we drove down to the actual Cape of Good Hope, which is the southwestern most point of the peninsula. After photos with the sign there, we headed north via Simon’s Town, a quaint Dutch/British town, where the Boulders penguin colony was located. There was a short wait to get in, but we got to see the African penguins.

We drove back up north, crisscrossing the marathon route at Fishhoek, before our final stop at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The gardens were very pretty, but unfortunately we only got to spend about 45 minutes there as it was getting late. It was also getting cold, with the eastern slopes of Table Mountain getting enveloped in clouds. So I had a warm latte at the restaurant there, Moyo, which with its high ceilinged wooden structure and the dramatic backdrop reminded me a bit of the Dining Room at the Ahwahnee in Yosemite.

We returned to my hotel by 6pm. I went back to the 14th floor bar in my hotel for a glass of wine, before having dinner at a restaurant nearby called Burger & Lobster. I had the lobster burger, and a gin/strawberry based cocktail… both of which were delicious.

The next day I had a group tour of the Cape Winelands. There were 7 of us; we started out by visiting the Stellenbosch region first, about 45 minutes from Cape Town. The first winery we went to was called Zevenwacht; we had a wine and cheese pairing with four of their wines. Their wines were inexpensive but decent. Our next stop was the town of Stellenbosch. Founded by a Dutchman named Simon van der Stel, it still retains its quaint Dutch character. Our next stop was a French style winery called Marianne. We had a wine and charcuterie pairing, with three reds. I liked their Cabernet Sauvignon and bought a bottle.

We left Stellenbosch for the Franschhoek region, named after French settlers there. The town reminded me a bit of St. Helena in Napa, with upscale restaurants and boutique shops on the main road through town. I had an excellent lunch at a restaurant called Reuben, where the chef apparently trained under Gordon Ramsay of Britain. After lunch we took the wine tram: a double decker bus like tram that really had no purpose other than being a tourist trap. But they served us a glass of bubbly on the short 10 minute ride on it to the stop for our last winery, from where we took a tractor led wagon to the winery, called Rickety Bridge.

On our way back, we stopped at the prison where Nelson Mandela was held during the final 2 years of his 27 years in prison, for a photo op at his statue outside. (Unfortunately we did not have time to go in.) We drive back to Cape Town and got back to the hotel by 6.

After another cocktail at the rooftop bar, I had dinner at a restaurant near my hotel called the Africa Cafe. It was a bit of a tourist trap as well; they served you a 15 course feast comprising dishes from nearly as many African countries, along with African musical/dance entertainment. The food was ok, but it was an obscene amount, and I could barely finish a quarter.

Had I had more time, I would have done a bit more city sightseeing in Cape Town city itself, and taken the ferry to Robben Island, where Mandela spent most of his years in prison.

My flight to Johannesburg was early the next morning. Usually I stay in hotels near the City Centre; however nothing really appealed to me there, and so I had booked an AirBnB in a neighborhood called Melville, about 3 miles north west of downtown. It was actually quite nice and stylish, and its name, Motel Mi Pi Chi, was really a misnomer.

It is important to schedule downtime while traveling. After three full days, I needed a day off, and so the only time I left the hotel that day was for lunch and dinner. Lunch was at a restaurant called Lucky Bean on the main street in Melville, 7th Street. It was actually ranked in the top 10 in Johannesburg, and the food was pretty good. Dinner was at a contemporary Asian restaurant called the Great Eastern Cafe, and was not bad as well.

I had not run since the race, so the next morning I woke up early and did a short run/walk in the (free) Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, which happened to be close to my hotel. After breakfast at the hotel, I went to an appointment-only private museum called the Lindfield Victorian House. It was housed in a 1910s Victorian, but stepping inside was like stepping back an 100 years in time. The house was full of objects from that era, and the owner/tour guide, a woman named Katharine Love, did a pretty good job of narrating.

My next stop was the must see museum in South Africa, the Apartheid Museum. It chronicles the history of apartheid, along with that of Johannesburg, from its start as a mining town in the 1880s. And an added bonus was the special exhibition on Nelson Mandela. I spent a good 3 hours or so at the museum, although that included my cross cultural lunch there of an ostrich burger with mango atchar (Indian style pickle).

My last museum of the day was the Constitution Hill Human Rights Precinct. The museum actually consisted of 3 former prisons and the Constitutional Court. The three prisons included Number Four, which housed mostly black prisoners, but also housed Mahatma Gandhi briefly; the Old Fort prison which mostly housed white prisoners, but had Nelson Mandela there briefly in 1962; and a Womens’ Prison.

I had dinner at a very hip microbrewery/Asian fusion tapas restaurant in the former mining district, called Urbanologi. The place used to be a mining supplies warehouse, but was repurposed 3 years ago to a brewery and restaurant. (It reminded me of similar repurposings of the former mills in Mumbai). The space, the beer and the food were all terrific.

The next morning I had a very early start as I had booked a one day group safari of the Pilanesberg National Park, about 2.5 hours away. My van picked me up at 5:30am. After picking up the remaining 7 guests, we got to the park around 9am. We transferred to an ATV there. Our morning session lasted 3.5 hours or so. We saw two of the “Big Five”: elephants and white rhinos, but no lions or leopards. There were plenty of zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, and antelopes, including impalas and kudus. There were a lot of birds there as well.

Lunch was included as part of the safari; we could choose between several sandwiches or burgers. The post lunch safari was short, and lasted only about an hour. We saw some baboons and more of the same animals as the morning.

We returned back by 7pm. For my last dinner of the trip, I decided to do something more elegant, and so went to a restaurant called Level Four, which was on the fourth floor of a really nice hotel called 54 on Bath in the Rosebank area of Johannesburg. The food was great.

On my last day here, I started out at the Satyagraha House. This was a house where Mahatma Gandhi lived in 1908-09. Part of it is now a B&B, which maintains the house. The house was charming, and it was great to get a refresher course about Gandhi’s 21 years in South Africa.

I had lunch at an Indian restaurant nearby called Thava. I had been told to try “bunnychow”, a local street food dish of mutton curry in a bread bowl, but the restaurant was too upscale to offer that.

After lunch, I went down to an area called “Arts on Main”, which is an inner city urban revival project. After walking around there for a bit, I still had some time to kill before picking up my luggage and heading to the airport, and so I went to SAB World of Beer for a tour and tasting.

The tour was rather Universal Studios/Disney-esque, with sets and painful preview films you had to sit through, but at $9 for the tour and two beers, it was hard to argue with. And did you know that SAB owns pretty much all the world’s major beer brands, including Becks, Budweiser, Castle, Corona, Hoegaarden, and Stella Artois, to name just a few?! I had a Carling Black Label lager, and Leffe, which is their highest end Belgian style beer. Both were quite good.

Besides the race, the scenery in/around Cape Town and the tourist activities, I must say that I really enjoyed my interactions with almost all the Africans I met; whether they were Uber drivers, hotel staff, restaurant waiters, or others. They seemed sincere, genuine, and helpful. This was my first trip to Africa, and I will definitely be visiting other parts of Africa in the years to come. And I hope to run the Two Oceans Ultra again, the next time hopefully on the original route!

God’s Own Country

I ran one of my most scenic and toughest marathons, out of the 103 that I have run, on February 10 in Munnar, a small town situated at altitude of 5,000 feet (1,600 m) in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Kerala is one of India’s most beautiful states. I had been there just once, 13 years ago. So when I found out that Munnar had a marathon that was IAAF/AIMS certified (important for a small race), I didn’t need any more prodding to sign up.

Getting to Munnar unfortunately is a bit tedious. Road is the only way to get there; typically you fly in to the port city of Kochi, and take a bus or car to Munnar. Although it is only about 70 miles (110 km), it takes about 4 hours due to the narrow road, which is only one lane in each direction. And the floods in the state last year meant that some parts of the road were washed out/were under construction, slowing traffic even further.

I flew in to Kochi Friday morning. I had rented a car with a driver for 3 days for Rs. 6,000 ($85). He greeted me at the airport, and we set off directly for Munnar. On the route, we made a couple of stops. The first stop was at a spice garden, where they gave a half hour guided tour along with explanation of the spices and herbs, followed by a stop in the gift shop. The next stop was at an artisanal chocolate shop, since cacao plants are among those grown there. After a lunch where my driver and I shared a dish called “Mandi”, a biryani rice dish with a roasted chicken leg, we eached Munnar around 3pm.

Here are more photos from the journey to Munnar:

https://www.facebook.com/697754744/posts/10158183507289745

After checking in to my hotel, called the Grand Plaza, my first stop was the High Altitude Training Center (HATC), only the second of its kind in India, set up under the guises of the Kerala Sports Council (KSC). That was also adjacent to a large ground, and where the marathon started/ended. I met the organizer of the marathon, who was a runner himself. I had had some issues registering for the marathon online earlier, as many smaller Indian e-commerce sites do not accept foreign credit cards. So I had contacted the organizer, who had assured me that I could register/pay the day before the race, and so he told me to return on Saturday to collect the bib.

After resting for an hour, I decided to go on an acclimatization run. My 5 mile run was very hilly and exactly what I needed to condition myself for the marathon. The sunset vistas on the run were stunning.

Here more photos from the run:

https://www.facebook.com/697754744/posts/10158184243134745

It so happened that a couple of San Francisco friends were also in Munnar at the same time. After returning to my hotel and showering, I headed to the resort they were staying at, for a really nice Kerala dinner, and retired early for the night.

The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, my driver and I set out for a tour of a tea factory and museum. It took about an hour to get there, but the drive was spectacularly beautiful. The tea factory tour was interesting. They make teas from a process called the “orthodox process”, from tea leaves picked from a single estate (Think single vineyard wines with most steps done manually). After the tour, I did my first ever tea tasting. It turns out that chai we in India have been drinking is the wrong way to drink tea. To get the most health benefits from tea, never boil it, but steep it in hot water, and don’t add milk or sugar.

We then went to a dam called Madupetty, and a point called Echo Point, named for obvious reasons, before returning to Munnar town for lunch. My driver suggested ordering a local fish called Karimeen (known in English as “pearl spot”). It was delicious, but very bony.

After lunch, I went back to the KSC HATC to pay for/pick up my bib. While there, I saw some runners returning from a 71km (45 mile) ultra marathon that was held that day before the marathon/half marathon!

I rested at my hotel for the rest of the afternoon. The heavens opened early evening, and there was a torrential downpour/thundershower for over an hour. I hoped and prayed that this wouldn’t happen during the marathon!

I had dinner in the hotel, having a local chicken preparation called “Nadan chicken curry”, and carbo-loaded with rotis (soft flatbread made from wheat) and lemon rice, and retired early for the night.

The marathon (and half-marathon) start time was 6am. The start location was only a 5 minute walk from my hotel. The race however didn’t start until 6:25am. Normally such things are a huge no-no, but runners didn’t seem to mind it as it meant we were going to start closer to daylight, which was good since not all roads there had lights.

The first four km of the race were uphill. The rising sun and the morning fog in the valleys made for some absolutely stunning vistas. I knew right then that I was going to love this marathon, no matter how hard it was!

After a brief downhill for about 3 km, we had another uphill that lasted 2-3 km. There were lush green tea plantations all around us, and it was like running in heaven. We had another downhill for a couple of km, and passed through Munnar again, before the third major hill of the course on the other side of the town. We had another little respite between 15-18km as we ran downhill again into a valley containing a small village called Guderale. There was a beautiful church in there, where Sunday mass was in progress. Kerala is about 20% Christian; about 10 times the national percentage. I entered briefly to see what it was like, after taking off shoes outside (a practice in many religious places of worship in India).

After the village was the last major hill along the course, before turning around near the 24 km mark, at what was the highest altitude of the marathon, around 6,000 feet. At one point along that climb, we saw a sign that said “Caution: Elephant Crossing”. When was the last time you saw that in a marathon?

Luckily the rest of the course was either downhill or flat. We retraced our path in the opposite direction and back through the village for the next 4 km, but then we took a turn around the 28 km mark to return a different way. The vegetation was also a bit different for most of the return, with tea plantations interspersed with forests, shrubs and even waterfalls. We returned to Munnar town around the 41 km mark. The last 1 km was a big congested as we ran on the main road through the town back to the finish, dodging, among other things, a wedding procession, probably another first during a marathon 😀

The course was tough: besides the start and end at about 5,000 feet altitude, the marathon also involved a net gain of another 5,000 feet, though the highest point was below 6,000 feet. The weather was perfect, although it got just a bit warm towards the end, into the 70s F (low 20s C). Luckily it didn’t rain.

The finisher medal was made out of wood, with a very cheap ribbon. I think they can do better in the future. The finisher food was idlis (puffed rice cakes) with sambhar (a curry). They might have had other items, but those were gone by the time I got there.

I took over 200 photos during the marathon, a new record! Combining that with the tough course, I ended up finishing in 5 and a half hours, but was still good for a top 10 finish in my category, and a top one third percentile finish overall. Although that wasn’t that hard to do as there were only 23 persons in my category, and 67 finishers total. Only locals and runners in Kerala seem to know about it; the organizers don’t seem to have a budget for marketing… but I am sure that they could attract a lot of international athletes if they wanted to. I saw a couple of runners from France and Poland, and one from Canada.

Overall, except for the late start, the marathon was decently organized, with water stations every 4km (which wasn’t too bad considering the route was very rural), with plenty of fruits at each station as well. The route was well marked, though it was with chalk; I’m not sure though what would have happened had it rained, since with so few participants, you saw nobody else on the course for large parts of the race, especially towards the end. The organizers also made rounds in jeeps or on motorbikes to check in on the runners. And of course the course was absolutely spectacular… easily one of the most scenic marathons (if not THE most) I have run to date.

Here are more photos from the marathon:

https://www.facebook.com/697754744/posts/10158189345839745

I had lunch in my hotel, and we set out for the long 4.5 hour car journey to Kochi. On the way we stopped by an Ayurvedic spa for a massage. With all the herbs that grow there, the hills of Munnar are known for their spas. It was very oily, and was followed by a steam bath in a very interesting contraption, where you sit on a stool in mini closet with your head sticking out at the top, and then they close it and pass steam through it. The massage though was very good; I hardly felt that I had run a marathon the next day, even though it had been one of my toughest ones to date.

I treated myself to a nice hotel stay that night, at the Trident Kochi. I had a Meen Moilee for dinner, which is a classic Kerala fish curry with coconut milk. It was delicious. And had Ada Prathanam for dessert… it was a form of the classic Kerala dessert, payasam, with jaggery, lentil dumplings, and young coconut milk. It was outstanding!

The next morning, after breakfast, I set out for Alleppey, which is about 55 km south of Kochi, and on what are known as the “Backwaters”… a series of interconnected lagoons and canals. Alleppey is known as the Venice of the East for this reason. I had booked a room in a houseboat for the night. It was basically a one day cruise with all meals included, that started and ended at the same port, and docked overnight at another port. You can charter a whole boat, or you can book a room, which comes with its own bathroom. There were 9 rooms on my boat on two levels, and a shared dining area on the upper level.

We started out with lunch on the boat, and then cruised to an island where there were rice paddies as far as the eye could see. There also was a fresh fish stall, and you could select a fish (or other seafood such as lobster) that the boat crew would cook for you for dinner later. Our next stop was another Ayurvedic spa. This time I had a facial. It finished just in time to board the boat again for a spectacular sunset, followed by dinner with the rest of the passengers on the boat, and the fish I had selected earlier. It was delicious!

We retired early for the night, since 10pm was lights out time on the boat deck. The next morning I woke up early to go for a short recovery run along the Backwaters. After breakfast on the boat, we returned to our starting point in Alleppey.

Here are more photos from the cruise:

https://www.facebook.com/697754744/posts/10158193539449745

My driver was waiting for me, and we returned to Kochi for Kochi sightseeing. Our first stop was a museum that was housed in a former palace of the Kochi kings. It was actually quite interesting and informative. The museum was right next to Jew Town. There are only about 5,000 Jews in all of India, and Kochi has many of them. Jews arrived there in the first century AD, and flourished until the Dutch, Portuguese and then the British took over. The Jew Town included a working synagogue, and a street with several quaint shops, art galleries and cafes. After visiting the synagogue and walking through the area, we headed to Fort Kochi for lunch.

Fort Kochi is on the northern end of a peninsula, and is a neighborhood in Kochi that has colonial era architecture, great restaurants, and a vibrant arts scene. My first stop was lunch at the East Indies restaurant, located in a boutique hotel. They had a tasting menu for only about $10, which included some classic local dishes, and my favorite Ada Prathanam for dessert. The meal was outstanding!

Not too far from there is Point Kochi, where there was a seafront promenade, and a stunning public art exhibit consisting of 100 wooden elephants, to highlight conservation. Nearby there are also the giant stationary fishing nets called the Chinese fishing nets. They work on a system of ropes and counterweights to lower and raise them, and it was fascinating to see them in action!

Here are more photos from Kochi:

https://www.facebook.com/697754744/posts/10158195890224745

But the highlight of my day in Kochi was a visit to the largest art exhibition in India called the Kochi Muzhiris Bienniale. Held every two years, and now in its 4th edition, it requires about 3 days to see completely. I went through the part that was housed in the primary location, Aspinwall House, cursorily in two hours. There were some really creative exhibits, and many of them addressed social issues. I would highly recommend a trip to Kochi while the Bienniale happens!

After a drink at the adjacent historic Branton Buntyard Hotel, I had dinner at a nearby restaurant that was located in a hotel, and had an excellent Kerala fish curry over rice for my final meal of the trip. Since I had a very early flight the next morning, I stayed at an inexpensive hotel near the airport that night.

Had I had more time, I would have also gone to one of the state’s famous beaches (such as Kovalam or Varkala) and the wildlife sanctuary in the hills near Munnar at a place called Thekkady. I had been to both on my previous visit to Kerala, and would recommend them if you are visiting the state.

Kerala’s marketing tagline is “God’s Own Country”, and it couldn’t be any more appropriate. You can visit the state for its natural beauty, food, spirituality, and many other reasons… but if you are a marathon (or ultra or half) runner and up for a challenge, I would highly recommend running the Munnar Marathon, for the experience of a lifetime!

Forever on the Run

It’s been a while since I blogged here, even though I had recently written an article for the alumni magazine of my alma mater, IIT Bombay, on why I had started running marathons and what keeps me going.  Here’s the link to the original article:  http://www.fundamatics.net/forever-on-the-run/#more-4372; also cutting and pasting it here with a few minor edits.

One of my favorite quotations of all time is by the Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu. It goes something like this: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step.”
I had never been particularly athletic growing up, and had focused on academics in both high school and IIT. While I did run cross-country in our physical education class at school, and occasionally On campus while at IIT, I was only a middle-of-the-pack runner. But I used to walk fast, and had been called a “pansy” at IIT for my style (think 20 km walks in athletics events!) While I took it good-naturedly, I think it must have nevertheless touched a nerve somewhere.

I didn’t run for several years after moving to the US after graduation from IIT. After a few years, I got heavily into the party scene in San Francisco, and was both spending too much money as well as wasting my weekends doing so.

In early 2003, I suffered from some health issues, and so decided that it was time to change my lifestyle to something a little healthier. In order to cut down on the partying, I took that first step described by Lao Tzu: I joined a local running club and ran up to 5 miles each Saturday morning. Soon I started taking part in some 5K and 10K races. The next year I ran the Bay to Breakers, an iconic 12 km race in San Francisco.

A couple of friends from the group had started running marathons. Also a colleague at work ran one. I decided that it might be a good challenge to take on, and also prove that I was no pansy in the process! And thus, I took the next step: I signed up for a 5 month group-coached marathon training program, in return for fund raising for a local HIV/AIDS non-profit.

I finished the San Francisco Marathon that year in just over 4 hours. At that point I had no idea whether I wanted to check it off my bucket list, or continue running further. But I decided to sign up for a marathon in Las Vegas later that year, combining it with a trip to check out the burgeoning dining/entertainment scene there.

The next year, I got accepted in the lottery for the New York City Marathon, and so I decided to get a little more serious and joined a long distance oriented running club with group coaching and different types of runs aimed at improving endurance and speed.

I also started picking destination races, with Paris being my first international marathon — thereby combining three of my other passions — travel, culture, and food for the first time. I ran the Mumbai Marathon for the first time in January 2008 — there is no feeling comparable to running in your home city, on the streets you grew up walking on!
My marathon times had improved to a point where I was within striking distance of a marathon runner’s ultimate goal — qualifying for the Boston Marathon. So I signed up for the flat and fast Chicago Marathon that October. Unfortunately, my training hit a glitch just after running Vancouver in May… I came down with my first major running injury — IT band Syndrome — and had to take a couple of months off running and undergo physical therapy. Luckily I recovered by July, just in time for a rigorous 3 month training program.

The Chicago Marathon that year also happened to be on October 12, the 36th anniversary of my father’s passing. My father had been a smoker and drinker, and he had died very suddenly of a massive heart attack. I had resolved then never to smoke. And while I have other vices, not smoking is one resolution I plan to keep until I die! My father had never lived to see my athletic prowess, so the date provided additional motivation to honor him by qualifying for Boston. I ran a great race and ended up finishing in 3:18:52, my fastest time to date, and thereby qualified for Boston by a minute.

I was turning 40 the next year, and wanted to celebrate it in a memorable way. So I decided to take on the challenge of running 12 marathons in 2009, including four of the five Majors: Boston, London, Berlin and New York City, and raised over $16,000 for a charity in San Francisco in the process.

I ran Boston a second time the next year, but decided to cut back to 2-4 marathons a year again. My bad habits also kicked in again and my marathon times started to suffer. After being laid off from my job at the end of 2011, I decided to take a year off work, for both a change of scenery and to travel the world. I visited a dozen countries in that year, and the travel bug had been firmly implanted!

After starting to work independently the next year, I had a flexible schedule, and so decided to do 12 marathons again in 2014, including one on the Great Wall of China, which has been the toughest marathon I have run to date.

I ran my 50th marathon in Mumbai in January 2015. I decided to set myself a new life goal of running 50 more marathons by age 50, which implied a rate of exactly one a month. 2 years later, I am happy to say that I am still on track to achieve it!

I also started focusing more on international destinations, picking places that I wanted to visit, or cities that I really liked. Mumbai became an annual event, as I combined it with visiting family. I chose other destinations based on factors such as history, culture, or cuisine. I combined running the Copenhagen marathon with a visit to Noma, one of the world’s top five restaurants, and the Berlin Marathon with a trip to neighboring Poland and the Auschwitz concentration camp. Other cities I have run in include Amsterdam, Oslo, Mexico City, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. By running Tokyo, I also finished running each of the six World Marathon Majors at least once.

I ran my 75th marathon in Mumbai this year as a fundraiser for The Humsafar Trust, a Mumbai-based non-profit that provides HIV/AIDS services. My IIT classmates supported me in a big way, helping raise a significant portion of the funds I raised, and some of them surprised me with a banner at the finish line, and a reunion over lunch later.

People keep asking me what keeps me running. There’s no one answer to it. Part of it is the runner’s high and sense of accomplishment that comes with running a marathon. Part of it is working towards my life goal. Part of it is pursuing my passions of running and travel. But perhaps the greatest satisfaction comes from what I’ve been told my many of my friends… that my running and zest for life have inspired them to take it on themselves, and/or lead healthier, fuller lives. It’s with that knowledge that I plan to continue to keep on running, at least as long as I can!

I will conclude with another of my favorite quotations, by H. W. Longfellow:

“”Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime

And departing leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time.”