Tahoe Rim Trail 50M

Date : July 15, 2006
Location : Spooner Lake Park, Tahoe (CA)
Race : Tahoe Rim Trail 50K/50M/100M
Finish Time : 16:44

Ah! A Glimpse of Heaven, A Taste of Hell!
That is what the Race Director promised.
In the next few lines I shall try and tell
The story about how the both I kissed.
Lovely Lake Tahoe lay spread out below,
With the little Marlette Lake in between;
The Sierra mountains, their summer glow
And streaks of snow, made for a wondrous scene.
For miles I labored, up there in the sky,
Breathing thin air into an aching chest;
I fought and fought rather than quit and die:
Pain was Hell but Triumph Divinely blessed.
Demon after demon of doubt I slew
And, one by one, away the dark thoughts flew.

The race was all that it had promised it would be - "A Glimpse of Heaven, A Taste of Hell". It was very, very hard running at between 8000 and 9000 feet above sea level.

Pictures on http://public.fotki.com/rajeevtherunner/tahoe_rim_trail_50m/
(password: tahoe).

Friday, July 14
Anil, Rashmi and I set out from the Bay Area around 3:30 p.m. to head to the race hotel (The Plaza Hotel) in Carson City, Nevada. Anil and Rashmi had graciously offered to drive and we had fun talking and listening to songs all the way. We stopped briefly around 5:30 p.m. for coffee. This is when Anil and I decided to eat our dinner (we had picked up pasta to go from Pasta Pomodoro in the Bay Area). We were soon on the road. We stopped once again for a restroom break on Hwy 50. Anil and I shared a couple of Coronas.

We reached the hotel after checking out the Start/Finish area (about 20 minutes from the hotel). We were in bed by 10 p.m.

Saturday, July 15
I woke up at 3:45 a.m. in order to have enough time to eat breakfast and take care of my morning activities.



Anil did the bulk of the work in organizing our drop bags. Rashmi dropped us (Anil, me and Padma and Kiran who were running the 50K) off to the start.



We met up with Gillian Robinson. She was doing the 50K. Don, doing the 100-miler, had started the race an hour earlier. Anil and I picked up our bib numbers, went to the port-a-potties and then made our way down to the Start. I took some pictures of the runners listening to instructions from the Race Director.

We started at 6 a.m. on the dot. Anil and I were soon on our way. I had opted to carry a bottle in each hand and was wearing a Cool Off bandana (more on this later) that I had purchased from ZombieRunner (http://www.zombierunner.com/store/product152.html). The initial part of the trail was very sandy, almost like running on a beach.

We were soon directed onto the new trail up and then down to Marlette Lake. Anil and I walked most of this climb. We soon reached the top and then it was a nice run downhill to the Lake, glimpses of which we caught on our way down. We had met up with Gillian on the way up and she took off on the downhill to disappear from view soon after.

The trail soon wound its way around the lake before eventually reaching the Hobart Aid Station. I had the volunteers fill my bottles with water (to which I added Succeed) and Gatorade. That was the last time I drank Gatorade. From the next aid station onwards, I switched to Coke.

We then started up the ridge to Marlette Peak. That was a wonderful ascent with views that got better by the minute. The top afforded an unbelievable view of Lake Marlette in the foreground, over 1000 feet below, dwarfed by the massive but sublimely beautiful Lake Tahoe behind, with snow capped mountains in the background.



Next came the trail down towards the Tunnel Creek aid station. My breathing was OK and I was still running pretty well. This is where we crossed the first snowdrift.



We reached Tunnel Creek where Anil and I both drank a bottle of Ensure each. Gordy Ainsleigh was there, massaging Sophie Robinson's legs which were cramping. I had the volunteers fill my Cool Off bandana with ice cubes and off we went onto the 6.3 mile Red House loop.

We met a whole bunch of friends coming up. Sara Dillingham (100-miler in 32 hours), Julian and a host of others. I photographed Catra Corbett on her way up. The trail descended for about a mile and then levelled off before started to climb again. A 0.5 mile very steep climb was followed by a few miles along rolling hills. We eventually reached the Red House aid station. We topped up our bottles again and started out on the last part of the climb back to Tunnel Creek. This last part was brutal - 1000 feet in a mile. This was done with hardly any breeze in about 85 degrees. Tunnel Creek was a relief. I refilled my bottles and the bandana. The bandana worked like a charm. It kept my neck and lower back cool for over 40 minutes each time. Thank you Don and Gillian!

The next 4.5 miles were spent walking uphill to the Diamond Peak aid station (just Gatorade and water there). Scott Dunlap (his race blog is here) passed us on his way back around here!

We were kind of getting worried about missing the first cutoff (8 hrs 10 mins) at the turnaround point. We left the aid station and climbed some more. We met Chihping Fu coming back. He told us that he was not feeling good. What a tough guy he is! He eventually finished his 100-miler in 31:31:31! Further along we ran into Don Lundell. He looked cool, calm and collected, as though he was out for a leisurely early morning walk instead of a brutal 100-mile race! He finished his 100-miler in an amazing 29:06!!

By now my breathing was starting to unravel. Under some pressure now to make the cutoff, Anil and I hurried to the turnaround aid station and made it 7 hrs 55 min into the race. What a relief! We were out of there in 10 minutes, with the next cutoff looming. 3 hours to make it back to Tunnel Creek. Adding to our problems was low blood sugar. Anil and I imbibed generously of our Coke and that did the trick.

A volunteer going the other way told us that the Diamond Peak aid station had closed (due to lack of water) so now we had the more arduous task of making it back to Tunnel Creek with only the water in our bottles and the hydration pack Anil was wearing. We managed to make it back somehow with 10 minutes to spare. By now my breathing was awry and I was unable to eat anything. I still managed to shove a few potato chips and some Ensure down my throat.

The next part was making the Hobart AS cutoff. So off we went. This part was the toughest for me with respect to my breathing. I could not get a deep breath at all and a decent breath only every 4-5 steps. Anil, in the meantime, was struggling with his own demons. His blood sugar rose and fell like a yo-yo all the way back. We trudged into the Hobart Aid Station feeling battered and bruised.

This was where I finally took off both my shoes, removed the dirt, put some tape on a developing blister under my right toe and enjoyed an Ensure smoothie one of the volunteers had made for the runners. We also met Chihping Fu again who had a lot of pain from blisters in both feet. He was determined to gut it out by walking all the way to the finish! What determination. This is about when we learned that there were truly no cutoffs for the 50-milers! We could take as long as we wanted! That helped us mentally and both Anil and I knew that we would finish now. Our plan was to walk as much as possible and run just the descents and the absolute flat sections.

The climb out of Hobart was easier than the volunteers had made it out to be. The last part was a bit steep but never as bad as some of the others along the course. We finally walked into the Snow Valley AS at about 8:05 pm. The view from 9000 feet was simply breathtaking. After eating a bit there, we set out to put as many miles behind us before darkness set in. Only 7 miles to go! We were treated to a beautiful sunset on our right, above Lake Tahoe, as we descended.

We ran down the ridge with the magnificent view on the right and our hearts in our mouths owing to the narrowness of the trail and the unsure footing. We finally switched on our lights around 8:45 pm and made our way, running off and on, to the last aid station (1.7 miles from the finish). Anil and I had done some night running a few weeks before the race so that part was no problem at all. The biggest problem was the distance from the summit to the last AS. It seemed to take an interminably long time. Anil even thought that we might be lost but we soon convinced ourselves otherwise.

The aid station finally swam into view. What a relief! We were out of there in a flash and soon running towards the finish. I did stop to photograph a 6 inch orange snake and a couple of dark green frogs, the first creatures of any note I had seen all day! The finish was upon us in another 20 minutes and it was a welcome sight. We finished at 10:44 pm. Rashmi was there to drive us back to the hotel. Whew!

Cold beer and hot pizza were on our dinner menu that night and nothing had ever tasted better.

Anil and I have developed an amazing bond running all the races we have run together. He is very strong, both mentally and physically, and we feed off each other. No unnecessary conversation. Instead an amazing companionable silence interspersed with words of encouragement for each other.

Thank you Anil.

2006 Western States

June 22, 2006

Even though the Western States 100 mile Endurance Run is not the toughest of the US 100-milers, it does have amazing cachet. The account of Gordy Ainsleigh, who "invented" the 100-mile running event with his solo run along the WS course back in 1974, is a story for the ages. It has now become the "Boston marathon" of the 100-milers in the US.

Anil Rao and I are volunteering on Saturday in the Michigan Bluff aid station (just past mile 55). It will be a new experience for me. I'm generally among the runners, not the volunteers. I am looking forward to it.

I am so inspired by all these men and women who are attempting to run this race this weekend, in extremely hot conditions. I wrote a poem for them.

Hail to all you intrepid warriors!
I bow to your indomitable will.
Sunday afternoon you will be victors,
Having vanquished each gruelling long hill.
Into the hot day you will soon be off,
To battle with this beast, this behemoth;
Armed solely with courage in this face-off
That will only end on Christian Sabbath.
Man was born to run but not a hundred:
It was people like you who saw beyond
The horizon that had the rest grounded;
To its unknown challenge you did respond.
Our spirit goes with you on the trails
While we wait for all your conquering tales.

Mt. Diablo Summer 50K (June 10, 2006)

Date : June 10, 2006 Location : Mt. Diablo State Park, Walnut Creek Race : Mt. Diablo Summer 50K Finish Time : 10:40 Ah! What an aptly named mountain it is! 

Climbs that go on and on, never ending; 

Runners, twice its summit trying to kiss, 

Heat induced exhaustion all day fending. 

Ah! What an imposing mountain it is! 

Higher than all the others around it; 

It’s a beast: nearly everyone agrees. 

A hike up its sides only for the fit. 

Ah! What views on this mountain every mile! 

The crowded valley spread out at its feet; 

Runners grudgingly forced to stare while 

The race devil they struggle to defeat. 

A glorious day! A brutal course! The mind, 

The body, pain so closely intertwined. 

Just the thought of climbing this beast twice is enough to make one want to throw up one’s arms in surrender. The trick to doing hard runs on courses that loop more than once over the same route is to take it one section at a time. 

At 3849 feet Mt. Diablo is the highest mountain in the Bay area. Anil and I had decided to start early partly because Anil wanted the extra time in order to start his drive, in the evening, down to Santa Barbara. So we started off at 8 am on the dot, 30 minutes earlier than the others. 

The first loop was up the Back Creek Trail. This is the first climb in the chart above. It gets to ~ 2400 feet before dipping slightly. Was this section narrow and slippery! Loose rocks made for treacherous footing in places. 

 I had flown in from New Zealand the evening before and had hit the sack around 10 pm with the alarm set to wake me up at 5:15 am. Anil had promised to pick me up at 6:30. I woke up at 2 pm. I tried to sleep but to no avail. Finally I got out of bed, showered and went out at 4:15 am looking for an open grocery store for bread and peanut butter. My pantry at home was empty of any kind of food. What grocery store? They were all closed. 

I settled for Carrows, right next to my apartment. I ate a hearty omelet with toast and coffee and was back home by 5:10 am. Woke up Anil to tell him that I would pick him up from his place instead of the other way round. We set off from his place at 6:40 am and were in the Mitchell Canyon entrance parking (Walnut Creek) lot by 7:30 am. Enough time for us to pick up our race numbers and get everything ready to start at 8 am. 

As usual I was busy socializing and made friends with a girl named Sarah Dillingham. Introduced myself to her friend, a person named Nancy Warren, whose Rio Del Lago 100 mile race report I remembered reading a few months ago.

 

My breathing was a bit awry to start with and the body was probably hovering somewhere over the Pacific, between New Zealand and the US. It took a few hours for it to realize that I was in the middle of a race. :-)

I knew that this particular section would cause me trouble the second time up and I was right. Anyway, I had my trusted Nikon Coolpix 3200 and stopped often to take pictures of the breathtaking views along the course. I was drinking often from the hand bottle (Gatorade to begin with, Conquest later). 

We reached the top of the climb (around 2400 feet) right after negotiating wooden steps laid down on a few switchbacks on the trail. The fire road soon starting sloping down and went thus for just under a mile. It started up again soon after Deer Flat (at 2120 feet). Anil had become separated from me about a third of the way up the first climb. He probably had not recovered from the Nisene Marks marathon the weekend before and was taking it slow. I kept looking back for him but could not spot him. I was also expecting the first of the fast runners to be coming through right about then. I was not disappointed. 

The eventual winner of the 25K was the first one to pass me. He was followed by the first 2 for the 50K (Garrett Graubins and Rod Bien). I took pictures of all these frontrunners.

   

 

 My body had finally caught up with me and I was actually running some of the hills. The day was getting warmer with every passing minute and the views were getting even more beautiful. I soon spotted Anil about 0.2 miles behind me. I walked back down the hill towards him and realized that he had been chatting with Dean Karnazes.

   

 He and I talked with Dean for another minute before he took off up the hill. The Juniper Campground aid station was not far off and we happily traipsed into it. I for one was glad to see it show up. I wanted to top up my bottle with Conquest and wanted the first taste of aid station goodies for the day. I was soon wolfing down PBJ sandwich quarters, potatoes with salt, potato chips and anything else I could lay my hands on. 

We soon headed out of the aid station and onto the ridge for just over a mile. After that it was climb, climb and climb to the summit. We finally crested at 10:28 am (2:28 for 8 miles). Picture of Anil in the Observation Deck below.

   

 We did not linger long and started the journey back down. We were soon at the Juniper Campground aid station. We were in and out of the aid station in no time at all, on our way back down the trail. I soon heard footsteps behind me and instinctively knew that it would be Sarah. She said she loved running downhill and it showed in the way she took off bounding down the slope after talking with us for a minute or so. 

We followed her down Mitchell Canyon. This is where my first serious pain of the day surfaced. Both my big toes started hitting the front of the shoe on the steep descent into the Canyon. After gritting my teeth and hanging on for dear life, I was relieved to see the slope level off to become a mile and a half of flat running all the way to the Start/Finish. We returned at 12:30 p.m. i.e. 4.5 hours for the first 25K. I was eagerly looking forward to a bottle of Ensure which I promptly dispatched along with some PBJ quarters and the usual ultra delicacies. I probably spent 5-7 minutes here, refueling and readjusting my gaiters. 

For the second loop we had a choice of going up either the Back Creek trail (the one we had done in the start of the race) or Mitchell Canyon with the stipulation that we had to come down the other way. 

Wendell Doman, the Race Director, convinced us to repeat our trip of the morning. In hindsight that was wonderful advice. I could not imagine descending the steeper Back Creek Canyon with fried toes. This leg was, as I had predicted 4.5 hours earlier, extremely tough. Not so much on the body as on the mind. 

I was ahead of Anil again, constantly calling out to him and asking after his well-being. Tough nut that he is, he would stop, bent over or just resting but he refused to give up. I was so inspired by his courage that I decided not to give up on my race either. Once that decision had been made, I felt fine and the mind took over, dragging the body with it. Quads and legs that had felt fatigued now were revitalized (research by Dr. Timothy Noakes, of The Lore Of Running fame, and his research partner has shown that there is a “central governor” in the brain that influences the body and how it feels. If the governor feels daunted, the body will feel fatigued etc.) I had first hand proof of this theory in action. 

 Anil and I made it to the top of the first climb and then started downhill again without waiting to recover. This is where we ran into the first of our many problems. By now it was close to 2 pm and it was hotter than Hades. We were constantly drinking and were now down to the last few gulps each and another 1.5-1.7 miles to go before the aid station. 

We “rationed” those sips and somehow made it to the aid station. I was parched and Anil was in worse shape. The cold water we each drank 2 cups of was the sweetest liquid ever. I had the volunteers fill my bottle with water instead of Conquest and added a Succeed (salt) capsule to it. 

That was pretty much what I drank for the rest of the day. The second trip along the ridge and up to the summit was very slow going for both of us. We struggled and struggled and made it to the top at about 4:15 pm. It had taken us 3:45 this time around (compare that to 2:30 the first time). Anil doused his head with cold water from a water fountain there as did I.

   

 Michael (picture above), a volunteer from the JC aid station, gave Anil an energy bar to eat and that seemed to help Anil a bit. I filled his bottle with cold water along with mine and we finally started our trek back to the JC aid station, 2.5 miles away. The picture below shows a view from the summit.

   

 We finally reached it and spent 6-7 minutes there refueling. I took pictures of the 3 volunteers - Steve, Deanna and Michael. I was dreading the descent down Mitchell Canyon. I did not mind the toe pain as much as the pain in other muscles I knew I would experience from an altered foot strike. 

Sure enough the insides of my knees and the ITB in both legs started complaining. The right hamstring muscles joined in the cacophony! I gutted it out behind Anil who was setting a fine pace down the mountain. We finally reached the flat section where Anil and I started on a 10 step run and 20 step walk sequence all the way to within sight of the finish. 

 We were finally glad to collapse on a picnic table in the Finish area at 6:40 pm, a full 10:40 after we had started. The race took a lot of determination. I realized that the 100 mile Rio Del Lago run in September would be a million times harder and that I would need to take my mental toughness to another level entirely if I was to finish it. 

 More pictures of this run at http://public.fotki.com/rajeevtherunner/mt_diablo_summer_50k/ (Password: diablo)

New Zealand trip

Friday, May 26
Memorial Day weekend started with a bang. I drove to near Auburn for whitewater rafting with friends. Reached the camping site around 8 pm and set up my tent in no time at all. We ate dinner with a whole lot of other folks who had also come over for rafting the next day. We stayed up way past 11 pm, making a ruckus, and one of the camp volunteers had to come over and ask us to keep it down. It rained a bit at night and got a bit chilly but I was OK. I had a couple of wool blankets to keep me warm and the cold did not bother me much.

Saturday, May 27
The morning was beautiful. The sun came out slowly and started warming up the camp site. We ate a hearty breakfast (Anju's delicious upma helped start the day off on the right foot). Soon afterwards, the rest of the gang was all suited up (wet suit, splash jacket, helmet) and ready to leave for their rafting trip. I had elected to stay behind and take care of Malhar and Trisha. I had the best possible time with the two of them.

We first visited a blacksmith's forge where he showed us how to make a hook. He then took us on a tour of his shop, showing us all the intricate metal stuff he and his partner had made.

As soon as we came out of the forge, the children noticed a cafe next door and made a beeline for it. We were soon happily munching on popcorn, snicker doodle candies and sandwiches.

Our next stop was panning for gold. The children were soon engrossed in this amazingly exciting activity. The prospect of finding flecks of gold, which they both did, made for an exciting hour.

We made a pit stop on the way back in a curio store where they both bought a couple of things each.

Trisha jumped into the cold pool as soon as we got back and spent the next hour happily in there. Malhar braved it for exactly 2 minutes and then got out promptly. The adults were back soon after and I decided to go for a run around 4 pm. Char and I ended up running for about 58 minutes on a moderately rolling course. Came back, showered and settled down by the campfire with a glass of alcohol. We ate dinner and gossiped until about midnight.

Sunday, May 28 (& Monday, May 29)
I left for San Jose around 10 am. Reached home finally at around 1 pm. Hurriedly finished up some last minute packing and showered. Lugged my suitcases downstairs where Shekhar showed up promptly at 2:45 pm to drive me to the San Jose airport. The airport was absolutely empty. Checked in my only suitcase and was the only person through security. Others eventually showed up a few minutes later. The flight took off on time around 4:45 pm

Landed in LA around 6:00 pm. Decided to eat an early dinner. Found myself in Wolfgang Puck's where I had Corona and a margherita pizza. Spent the next couple of hours reading my Ultra running book in the gate area. Flight Air New Zealand 1 started boarding around 9 pm. It took off about 15 minutes late. I promptly went to sleep at about 11 pm. Sleep was sporadic and the 12+ hours passed by faster than I had expected.

Tuesday, May 30
I landed in Auckland at 5:45 am. I was out of Immigration and Customs and into a shuttle in 30 minutes flat. The Immigration officer, a woman, asked me the strangest question ever - "How come you do not have a US passport?".

The cab wound its way through the industrial outskirts of Auckland in order to drop off a couple who were sharing the shuttle with me. I eventually reached my hotel, Heritage Auckland (picture below), and my room (# 518) around 7:10 am.



I quickly got into my running clothes and headed out the front door, armed with my camera and a map of downtown Auckland.



The one structure that dominates the skyline, a la CN Tower in Toronto, is the Sky Tower. There is a restaurant up there and a casino (Sky Casino).



The run was awesome. The last 0.7 miles before I turned around were hilly and they helped open out my legs. I returned to the hotel and found the gym. The view from there of Waitemata Bay was awesome (pic above).

Auckland is where New Zealand lost the America's Cup to Alinghi and Switzerland. The city is a sailing mecca and its people are almost maniacal about that sport. No wonder thay call it The City Of Sails. It is New Zealand's 3rd biggest city.

I came back, showered and made my way to my office in the next building. I was given directions to the client's office and I got there with the help of a Fijian cab driver.

The day was spent debugging a problem they were having. The day ended without a resoultion. I got back to the hotel and went back out after depositing my laptop in my room. I wandered in the direction of the water only to learn that most retail stores in downtown Auckland close around 6 pm Mon-Thu and stay open until 9 pm Fri-Sat. I eventually settled on an Italian restaurant for dinner (bruschetta and fettucine pasta with vegetables).

I was so tired that I crashed at 9 pm.

Wednesday, May 31
The day started with the same run that I had done the day before. I ate breakfast on my return and promptly reached the office at 8:15 am Spoke with my manager and then left with Aneez, a fellow employee, to go to the client site. The day was spent debugging the problem of the day before. We finally cracked it around 5 pm.

Dinner was again in the same restaurant. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit! I picked up some bread and milk on the way back to the hotel. The room has a microwave, an oven, a toaster, glasses, plates, silverware and a big fridge. I've decided to eat my own breakfast instead of ordering it from Room Service. The one thing that disturbed me was the onset of a sore throat. That always means fever.

Thursday, June 1
The night went by in some discomfort. My throat got progressively worse. I finally got out of bed at 5:45 am and went to the hotel gym. Biked hard on a stationary bike for 40 minutes and then did some weights and crunches. My throat and general condition got a bit worse so I left the office at 4:20 pm to get back to the hotel. Went to Queen's Street to pick up some medicine (Dispirin Max) and did some shopping in the stores along that busy street. Ate pasta again but in a different restaurant this time around. Went to bed again at 10 pm.

Friday, June 2
What a beginning. I woke up early again and was preparing breakfast when the hotel alarm went off. I callled the Front Desk and they informed me that I needed to exit as soon as possible. So I got my passport out of the room safe, splashed cologne all over me and headed for the exit. Wonder if my priorities are right! Anyway the alarm was turned off in about 10 minutes so I promptly went back, finished my breakfast and got into my office by 8 am.

I went for lunch to this little Asian food court where I ate Indian food after almost 4 days. It tasted so good!!

Have just come back to the hotel. My cold is still harassing me (runny nose) but am planning to go for a short 3-4 mile run to clear my head. Rain is forecast for the next 3 days (Monday is a national holiday here) and I will have to plan my weekend carefully. I had this idea of flying to Fiji for 2 days. I might still do that :)

Oh! Almost forgot. Asked for a room with a harbor view and they are giving me one tomorrow! Same price (NZD 190/night). Me happy camper.

Just got back from my run. It felt good. I had charged my Garmin Forerunner 301 last night and used it on the run. It took almost 20 minutes before the silly thing picked up a satellite signal. I'm planning to use it on my long run this weekend.

I'll eat light tonight. My plan is to go watch "Mission Impossible III" tonight. Have not watched a movie in a theatre in almost 6 months (the last one was in Mumbai in January - the premiere of Zinda).

No movie tonight. Showered and went to Queen's Street again. Finally found myself in a bookstore chain called Whitcoull's. Bought a book by Ian Botham. Ate dinner in the restaurant I ate in on Thursday night. Same food. My nose is running so much that I'm sneezing 2-3 times every 15-20 minutes. Tonight is going to be tough.

Saturday, June 3
The night was not as bad as I had expected it to be. I woke up around 8 am and ate breakfast. I then packed my bags and had the bellboy take them to the Tower where I had been promised a room with a Harbor view. The only problem was that the room was not ready at 10 am so I deposited the bags with the concierge and went out exploring. I got on to a Link bus (NZ $1.50) and got off in a place called Ponsonby about a mile and a half from the hotel. I had an espresso and explored a used bookstore. Some of the buildings in this area of town were a hundred years old.



I then got on to another Link bus (this is a circular service) and went further down the route. I saw a couple of places go by (Sathya, a South Indian restaurant, and Rasoi). On an impulse I got off and wandered into a store called Shringar. I spent 20 minutes or so here after which I found myself in Rasoi. This was a restaurant serving Gujarati food. One guess what the last name of the lady behind the counter was!!! I ordered a Deluxe Thali (3 Rotis, Kadhi, Tur Daal, Dudhi Chana or, as the Punjabis call it, Ghia Chhole and a Cauliflower sabzi). I ate like a pig.



Soon after I found myself in a little side alley with a few shops. I bought a few things from this little store that had interesting earrings etc. I even convinced the girl (shy Irene from Hong Kong) to let me take a picture of her.



I then got on another Link bus again and made my way back to the hotel where I checked into the new room and took a few pictures. I was feeling a bit under the weather so I spent a couple of hours resting. Of course I took a picture of the Harbor before doing so.



I left the hotel again at around 2:30 pm and made my way, using a Link bus again, to a place called Newmarket. This was a street lines with all kinds of shops. I spent the next 2 hours there. Being a Saturday, most of the shops started closing after 4:30 p.m.



I decided to call it a day since I wanted to eat dinner and try and make it for the 6:15 pm show of "Mission Imossible III" near my hotel. Deposited my stuff in the hotel room before heading out for dinner. Before doing so I took a picture of the Harbor with the setting sun behind.



I ate gnocchi with vegetables in a new restaurant this time around. Unfortunately the 6:15 pm show was sold out so I trooped back to the hotel and spent the evening surfing the few TV channels.

Soon after I found a film starring Tom Hanks in which he is the person in charge of Death Row inmates and their eventual execution on an electric chair. I figured out that this was the one movie, "Green Mile", I had been meaning to watch for a long time so I settled down and watched it all the way to the end (11:45 pm).

Before hitting the sack, I watched Daniela Hantuchova beat Nathalie Bechy 10-8 in the 3rd set in the French Open.

Sunday, June 4
I woke up at 8 am to find the streets outside wet with rain and the city blanketed by a pall of gray clouds. I've eaten breakfast and am waiting for a few hours before heading out for a run.

What a run it was. I circled downtown Auckland, a distance of about 10 miles. During the run I experienced drizzle, sunshine, pouring rain and cloudy skies. I started around noon and finished up around 2:15 pm. I came back and eschewed lunch for a half bottle of chocolate milk (protein + carbohydrate - just the thing I need post workout).

I sat and watched a movie called "Alfie" starring Jude Law, Marisa Tomei and Susan Sarandon. Jude Law's face reminds me of Amir Khan.

After the movie, Sky Sports One was showing the Paris Marathon so finished watching that. By then it was close to 4:30 pm so I decided to shower and head out for "Mission Impossible III".

The theatre was quite. empty. I thoroughly enjoyed the non stop action and violence and Tom Cruise's extremely almost expressionless face. I've just come back after eating in an Indian restaurant called Raviz that's very close to the hotel. Good North Indian food.

Will watch TV for an hour or so before hitting the sack.

Monday, June 5
The day turned out to be a beautiful one. The sun was out and the temperature was in the low 40s. A gorgeous late Fall day in Auckland. I showered in a hurry and left the hotel with my camera in hand. The first stop was the imposing Sky Tower. I bought a combo ticket for the Observation Deck (194m, 636 feet) and the deck 9 floors higher (220m, 722 feet). The Sky Tower, at 328m or 1076 feet, is the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. The views from up there were simply fantastic. I had the pleasure of watching 2 young girls, aged not more than 12, bungee jump from about 700 feet.



After 40 minutes or so up there, I hopped onto a Link bus and got off to go eat lunch in Sathya's. To my disappointment, the restaurant was closed as was the neighboring Rasoi (where I had eaten on Saturday).

I wandered back in the direction of Ponsonby and took some pictures along the way.



I soon found myself eating lunch in a restaurant called Bolliwood. I opted for a table on the sidewalk and enjoyed the meal while watching holidaygoers walking past. There were even 2 teams playing some kind of a Treasure Hunt game.



I hopped onto another Link bus (I had purchased a Day Tripper pass for $7, good for unlimited rides) and hopped off in Newmarket. By now it was almost 4 pm and shops were starting to close. I walked into L'Occitane en Provence. The salesperson was a lady from Quito (Ecuador) and she was extremely knowledgeable about her products. I bought a cologne for myself and walked out happy about the purchase.

My next stop was a place called Auckland Domain. This was a large, large field with a few people playing rugby out in the distance. I took a few pictures before heading back to the hotel.



I decided to go for a swim in the lap pool. The pool was about 15m long and I swam 20 lengths (300m) before sitting in the steam room for 10 minutes and then into the jacuzzi. This is where I met a New Zealander/Australian (he has both passports) and we talked for almost 40 minutes about everything under the sun. Finally it was time to get up and go eat dinner. I went back to La Porchetta (behind my hotel), the restaurant where I had eaten dinner Saturday night.

I was soon back in my room and about to go to bed at around 9:45 pm when I stumbled upon coverage of the 4th day of the England-Sri Lanka test. I watched for another 30 minutes before finally falling asleep at 10:15 pm.

Tuesday, June 6
I woke up at 6 am and decided to sleep another hour.

This week promises to be a bit busier and am hoping I can get some good work done before heading back on Friday. I signed up yesterday for the Mt. Diablo 50K on Saturday. This brute of a course has 8900 feet of climbing (2 trips up the mountain which is 3849 feet high). It's going to be an interesting Saturday!

The day went by quickly. Got some work done. Aneez and I left the client site around 4:30 pm and he dropped me back to my hotel as usual.

I went down to Queen's Street again and this time around I bought myself a pair of semi-formal shoes. Came back to the hotel room and changed into my running clothes and went down to the Health Club and ran 4 miles on the treadmill. I did some weights after that, came up and ate dinner. I used the washing machine in the bathroom to wash a few clothes and am now preparing to go to bed as soon as I finish typing this.

Wednesday, June 7
The day was no different from earlier work days. Was at client site until 5:15 pm. Came back to the hotel and decided to go for a run. Boy was this one great run! Went up College Hill (very steep 0.3-0.4 miles), down Ponsonby Road, left on Krangahape Road and then a left down Queen Street. This section was as steep downhill as was College Hill going up. Some sections were even steeper!

I stretched in the hotel room and showered so that I could head back down to K'Road to Sathya's. The food was OK. I ate Rava idlis and a Rava Cashew Masala dosa with a glass of red wine. Went to bed at 10 pm.

Thursday, June 8
Penultimate day at client site. The most productive day yet. Made great progress on on of our programs that was running slow. Tuned it and sent off the proof to the DBA along with a Request For Change to some Oracle parameters in the database. Earlier in the day I found out that I will be heading to the south of France (Aix-en-Provence) in early July. THAT promises to be a fantastic trip!

Came back at 5 pm and went to Rasoi for Gujju food. Returned to the hotel at about 7:15 pm and finished packing by 7:45 pm. I will go to bed after this post.

Friday, June 9
Woke up early and checked out and was in the office by 8:15 am. Roger and I were soon at client site, working on last minute stuff before I left. We ate lunch in an Asian food court close to the office. I finally called for a cab at around 3:30 pm. The cab driver, a Korean, estimated that I would be at the airport in about 50 minutes. He was right! I got out of the cab at 4:20 pm!!

After checking in my big suitcase, I was soon through NZ Immigration and into the duty free shops right after. I bought chocolates for friends and colleagues and a cologne for myself.

The flight back to LA was uneventful. I managed to get some sleep. I landed in LA at around 1:00 pm. Lunch was a muffin and coffee. My flight to San Jose took off a bit late, at around 4:45 pm. I landed at around 5:45 pm. Anu was waiting just outside and she sweetly dropped me off at home. She had got me dinner (rice and rasam) which I gladly ate and I was sound asleep, after laying out my clothes for the Mt. Diablo 50K the next morning, at 10:00 pm.

Quicksilver 50K (May 13, 2006)

Date : May 13, 2006
Location : Almaden Quicksilver Park, San Jose
Race : Quicksilver 50K/50M
Finish Time : 7:29:33 (50K)

And so they came to the start that morning,
Some for 50K, some for 50 miles.
A hot day it was; they were uncaring,
For there stood Tom and Janice, all big smiles.
A yearly pilgrimage for all that day.
Up steep hills and down even steeper ones,
As directed by race crew on the way,
They went, led by their nimble speed barons.
Among them were Wini, Gillian and Don,
And a host of others: some old, some new.
From the start to the finish, on and on,
As now and then a gentle, cool breeze blew.
An event it was that all will treasure
And remember fondly with much pleasure.



Got up with the alarm. All through my early morning activities, I had this faint feeling of “something not good is going to happen today”. Maybe my mind was listening to my body, an entity I had alternately ignored or coerced into action for the week since Miwok.

I left home at about 4:30 am and reached the Start area at 4:45 am. Got my things ready in the car while waiting for Anil and Arun Simha to show up. The two of them went off to drop their drop bags while I chatted with Yuki, Shige and Chihping.

Met a whole lot of runners from previous races, including Carol Cuminale (RD, Forest of Nisene Marks marathon in Aptos, CA). Got the first picture of the day with Carol, Anil and Arun Simha who was doing his first ultra, in hilly Quicksilver no less!



Janice gave us last minute instructions about trail markings for the 50K and the 50 miler. We were soon off. An initial downhill was followed by the first climb of the day. Anil and I had both told Arun that we would be walking the hills. I believe he understood that we (him, Anil and I) would be the ONLY ones doing so. J He was thus pleasantly surprised to see all the people around us doing the same.

Anil parted ways with us about 1.5 miles into the run. Arun and I kept exchanging places with a couple of tail enders for the next couple of miles. I too took off at about 5.5 miles (just before the first aid station at Webb Canyon at mile 6.4). Initially I felt guilty but I had to make the cutoff for the 50-mile race (50K in 7:50 or 1:50 pm). I wished him good luck mentally and took off after Wini Jebian. She had run Miwok with me the weekend before (she finished a few seconds after me) and she was going at an amazingly steady and fast pace. We ran together to the next aid station (mile 9.7, Dam Overlook). Here I caught up with Anil. I ate the usual stuff I do and took off with Anil. We ran/walked for the next many miles. Walked all the climbs. Anil was looking strong all through. For once he received more phone calls than I did!

We soon reached the Capehorn aid station at mile 14.5 where I schmoozed with Doug, Doug and Kelly (she remembered me from last year). I jokingly called her the “Sugoi” lady (she was wearing a Sugoi top).



We were soon off climbing again. We passed a bunch of interesting structures along this section - an old, ramshackle structure and a building called the “Powder House”. Guess they stored gunpowder there during those long gone mining days.

We crested at about mile 17 and then made our way back down to the Dam Overlook station, this time at mile 19.0. We met Chihping Fu here. This man ran the 50-miler in 8:54! A PR for him over that distance.

The views from here were some of the greatest ever. The pictures below do scant justice.



We met Yuki here (mile 23.7 for him). He was looking good at this stage and would go on to finish the 50-mile race in 9:34.



This is where I got separated from Anil for the next 4 miles. I wound up running/walking with Wini and we had a great time talking about her friends and fellow 60+ year olds. I finally espied Anil when I neared the Dam Overlook aid station (mile 23.7 this time around). He asked me if he should wait for me. Knowing that I was slowing down and knowing that he wanted to go under 12 hours for the race, I asked him to continue.

I started the trudge back up to the top (just over 2 miles). That walk soon had me convinced that doing a 50-miler in my rapidly deteriorating condition (no aches or pains, just general lassitude) would indeed be foolish and it would be prudent to stop at 50K. I called Anil and left him a message to this effect. I called Anu, who was hoping to pace me for the first few miles of the 50-miler from the Start/Finish area, and told her about my decision and asked her to get me a cold beer J

Having made the decision, all I had to do was move my legs towards the much awaited finish. I soon found myself at the Englishtown aid station where I met Kelly and Doug again. Schmoozed some more and had them in splits with my jokes. Janice, the Race Director, was there too and I informed her about my decision. She encouraged me to reconsider after finishing the 50K but I knew that I did not want to continue.

A couple of miles from the finish, on a descent, I ran into Pres (he and Anil had run the Woodside 50K earlier in the year) who was limping because of ITB. I had him lie down and gave him a painful massage. That seemed to help him right away. Showed him how to place his ITB affected leg when landing and took off.

Soon after my legs gave up on me on the climbs. I would stop, bent over for them to recover and then proceed.

The final brutal descent certainly did not help.

I was relieved to finish in 7:29. Anu was there with the cold beer and the warmest of hugs to cheer for me!

Sowmya showed up with Vibhas as did Sarah and we sat there for another hour for Arun to roll in. He looked good and was the happiest man there.



I went home to rest for a bit before heading out in the evening for a party, all the while worried about Anil and hoping for his safety.

I finally managed to talk to him, right after he finished. I’m so proud of this young man. He has a core of steel. He finished in 12:20, just making the 45 mile cutoff!

This race is a fantastic one. The RDs are wonderful as are all the aid station volunteers. It’s not an easy course but the views are terrific and it’s in my backyard.

Happy running all of you.

Miwok 100K (May 6, 2006)

Date : May 6, 2006
Location : Marin Headlands
Race : Miwok 100K
Finish Time : 15:42:10

Bodies huddling in the dark,
Waiting for the race to start.
Within each that intense spark
To scale the race course rampart.
Braving brutally long hills;
Running against the race clock;
Gels, drinks, Fritos and salt pills
And that constant taking stock
Of the body and the mind.
The indomitable will
To leave the long miles behind
Moving the hurt body still.
Seen pain in all its faces
While running these long races.


The Miwok 100K course was most certainly one of the hardest courses I have ever traversed.

The middle miles, Pan Toll to Bolinas Ridge, were a welcome respite from the quad busting climbs. I’m getting ahead of myself here so let me rewind.

The alarm went off at 2:15 a.m. Time to get up and face the latest challenge. Went through my usual morning tasks before leaving home at 3:20 a.m. to pick up Anil Rao from his place. What can I say about this amazing individual? He insisted on pacing me from mile 42 (pacers were only allowed from this point onwards) and in order to do so, he asked the race director, Tia Bodington, to assign him there. He accompanied me to the start on Rodeo Beach and helped me with all my pre-race preparations which included putting on my gaiters and filling up my bottles with Gatorade and my fuel belt pouches with gels and candied mango/ginger.

I ran into Charlie at the start and had Anil take a picture of us. I met Charlie in the Helen Klein 50 miler back in November, 2005 and had run 4-5 miles with him then. Learned that he had been selected to run for the Western States 100 miler in June of this year. I met him again on April 1 in the American River 50 and he had lost a whole lot of weight! He had been training like a dog for WS and that showed in his 8:48 finish in the AR50.

The race started a bit late, at about 5:45 a.m. We ran across the beach for 300 yards for our first climb, a short 0.25 miles. There were so many runners that the ones at the back, including me, came to a standstill a la highways that narrow from 2-3 lanes to 1-2. Finally we got our turn to ascend the slope. A half mile in and we were soon climbing again. The sun was starting to poke its head above the horizon and we were rewarded with our first view of the beautiful Golden Gate bridge. I spent a few minutes taking pictures of this most beautiful of sights.

The next 2-3 miles were spent chatting with Flora Krivac-Tetley. I had met her in the Helen Klein 50 and then again in the Dec 17 Rodeo Beach 50K where she was the sweeper i.e. assigned the duty of picking up the trail markers behind the last runner(s). I also met Becky Johnson who was using Miwok as a springboard for the Western States. Also met a runner from Minnesota named Les who had completed 239 marathon and ultra marathon races including a staggering 24 100Ks and 24 100 milers! Flora and I finally settled into a sort of rhythm. A friend of hers, Julian, kept joining us now and then. We finally got into the Tennessee Valley aid station (11.9 miles). There was a climb again after the station. This climb took us past Pirates Cove and then down to Muir Beach. I took some more pictures of the fantastic view from the top. Had Julian, Flora and Becky pose too. The picture below is a view of Muir Beach.



By now Flora had been left behind a bit and I was in step with Julian and a runner named Cheri. She works with a lot of Indians and had been to Chennai and New Delhi and was very complimentary about Indians. She even remarked that her fellow Indian workers treated her as though she had brains!

We paced each other for the next few miles until I had to stop to answer Nature’s call. This part of the course, though flat, ran through a lot of overgrown weeds and plants. I paid the price, around mile 17, when stinging nettle/thistle brushed against my left thigh. The pain was immediate and excruciating. I struggled with it for the next mile which incidentally was the first mile of a brutal 4 mile climb up to Pan Toll. This climb was interminably long. We finally crested Pan Toll and I availed myself of some more goodies at this aid station (mile 21.7). I knew that I would meet Anil at the next aid station (Bolinas Ridge at mile 28.4). By now I had been doing number crunching in my head. The start of the Pan Toll climb had come 4:17 into the race at mile 17.4. The first cutoff was at mile 35.6 in 8:40. That meant that I had to cover the next 19.2 miles in 4:23. Felt confident that I would make it but that faint sliver of doubt refused to go away.

The 6.7 mile stretch between Pan Toll and Bolinas Ridge was one of the most beautiful trails I have ever run. I was 1400 feet above the ocean (to my left on this outbound section). I could not take my eyes off the view. The path was lined with beautiful flowers on both sides. I spent many minutes taking pictures of the view and of the lovely flowers. This stretch of the course was extremely relaxing. The climbs were neither long nor steep. It was a welcome respite from the extended climbs I had left behind me.



The spectators were lined 10 deep along this course. Cheering madly and wild with excitement, they picked up my spirits as did the strange upside down wreck of a car along the trail.



This was the section (about mile 44 on the way back) when I started seeing the lead runners on way back. Among them was Scott Jurek (http://www.scottjurek.com/), a 7-time winner of Western States. They were 18 miles ahead of me!!!

I soon ran into the Bolinas Ridge aid station (mile 28.4) where I met up with Anil. This kind soul made me drink half a bottle of Ensure. That was like manna from heaven! He had me out of that aid station soon enough asking me to come back in 3 hours. I had 7.2 miles to go to the turnaround. The first 5 miles were rolling hills. This is where Gordy Ainsleigh (picture below), the inspiration behind the Western States, caught up with me and chatted with me for 3-4 minutes. This is when I asked him about the story behind the WS race. He told me that he had run the 100 miles with his horses back in 1973. He had placed Gatorade (that’s all they had in those days) a few days earlier along the course using his motorbike. Except for one location, each point where he had placed Gatorade is a WS aid station today!



I met Chihping Fu on his way back (mile 42 for him) along this stretch. The most wonderful thing about ultra running is the constant encouragement that runners give each other, elite or not. I was encouraged by all the runners going past me in the opposite direction. I encouraged them too in turn. Met Yuki Negoro here too. He had gotten lost and was trying to make up for lost time. The last 1.5 mile descent to the turnaround (mile 35.6) was brutally steep and it took a toll on my quads, something that would hamper me in the last 10 miles. I made it to the cutoff 8:18 into the race (22 minutes to spare). I started the long climb back up in a few minutes and met Flora and then Becky, both of who looked relieved to have made it to the cutoff in time. This section of the climb was absolutely breezeless. Not a leaf stirred and it was hard going up the hill. Once at the top, a breeze picked up and helped me cool down.

The next few miles were tough for me. My blood sugar was falling and the rolling hills were hard on the mind and the body. I was behind this pair of runners, a man and a woman and would hear snatches of their conversation. I eventually passed them only to have the lady, Shannon (http://www.ultrashannon.com/), catch up with me. The next 2 miles to the Bolinas Ridge aid station (at mile 42) were spent in conversation about each of us. How we both loved to coach and about her son who is a very good water polo player. She is an amazing runner. One of few women in the world to have done a double Badwater (Death Valley – Whitney and back, 291 miles). She and I were together for the next 10 miles.

We eventually reached the Bolinas Ridge aid station and I saw Anil and Kiran waiting for me. They both helped me with my gaiters, my water bottle and also got me much needed Aspirin. The Aspirin took the sting out of the hurting quads. I was soon on my way. This time though I had the company of two of the best runners one could hope to be with. They were both full of joie de vivre. Their spirits were high as were mine and we had a blast running the 6.7 miles, along the Ridge, back to Pan Toll. A picture of Anil, Kiran and Shannon taken along this section. This section was out in the open with no cover but the day was beautiful and the views were simply gorgeous.

We spent a few minutes in the Pan Toll (mile 49.5) station topping up my water bottle. I was drinking Coke by now. The descent from Pan Toll was starting to hurt my quads so I backed off and walked a lot of it. The Aspirin had also worn off and the aid stations did not have any more. We soon made it to the Highway 1 aid station (mile 54.7). Spent a few minutes again here and then began the trek to Tennessee Valley. The volunteers at the Hwy 1 aid station had said that there was a bit of a climb followed by a descent into TV. A bit of a climb? This climb, though not steep at first, was at least 1.5-2.0 miles long. The last part was very steep.

We finally came to the descent where my complaining quads would not let me run down. So I walked. Finally the last 0.5 miles to the TV aid station (mile 58.4) was upon us. I sprinted all the way at about 8 min/mile pace to give my slow twitch muscles some rest. Ate warm vegetable soup here and then began the climb back up to the top with Anil and Kiran. We were belting out songs and having a great time. Soon it was time to switch on the headlamp that Anil was wearing. This part of the climb was very steep. We made it to the top in total darkness save for the headlamp and the flashlights of other runners. Shannon caught up with us accompanied by a friend of hers named Jorge who had run a 100-miler in 13:13. What can I say?

The descent to the finish involved a bunch of weird stairs that took an even bigger toll on my quads. I finally made it in 15:42:10.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude to Anil and Kiran for showing up and running with me the last 20 miles. They are the best and I owe them big. Such giving individuals both.




The course was fantastically scenic and the race organization and volunteers at the aid stations were top notch.

American River 50 (April 1, 2006)

Date : April 1, 2006
Location : Folsom to Auburn, CA
Race : American River 50 mile Endurance Run
Finish Time : 11:34

Feet, slipping and sliding in ankle-deep muck,
Battling steep, narrow slopes streaming mud;
The cruel weather Gods, having truly run amok,
Stripping my resolve, making my spirit feel naked.
The early flats having yielded to the narrow trail;
The early comfort having yielded to aching legs.
Will I fail or will I, on this tough race, prevail?
My cup of determination down to its dregs.
Then comes the burning desire to live, to conquer
This beast of a course! Then my legs start to move
As the finish line miraculously starts getting near,
As I realize that I have nothing else left to prove:
I have battled valiantly and triumphed in many a battle past;
I will ever endure, I will ever continue trying to the very last.



Friday, March 31
I took half a day off from work but did not leave the Bay area until 4:15 pm owing to a few personal errands I had to run in San Jose. I knew I was in for a long drive to Auburn where I had reserved a room for one night in the Comfort Inn Suites. I had originally reserved a room near the Start but changed it to near the Finish once I learned that there was only one bus back to the Start from the Finish and that too at 5:30 pm (11:30 finish time). I decided to be a bit more prudent and have my car waiting at the Finish and not at the Start.

The incessant rain dogged me all the way up to Auburn. Compounding the problem was a slightly tight piriformis muscle in my left leg that was causing discomfort in my butt region while driving. I kept stretching it as best as I could while driving.

I reached Auburn (about 33 miles north of Sacramento) around 8:30 p.m. On an impulse, I took the Green Valley exit (two exits before the exit to my hotel) and navigated, from memory, to the finish line. I was overjoyed to see a large parking lot with the American River 50 mile Run finish banner flying above the finish line.

I reached the hotel at 8:50 p.m. to find a long line in the lobby. CHP had closed I-80 east of Applegate and were forcing cars to turn around. This caused all the people to frantically hunt for hotels/motels all over Auburn. I waited 20 minutes before getting the key to my room. The room was enormous! A King bed was made to look small!! I had wisely packed some pasta I had made the night before in a small container that I promptly warmed up in the microwave and consumed. I watched a bit of TV afterwards and hit the sack at 10:00 p.m. I had set the alarm for 2:30 a.m. Sleep that night was sporadic. I kept waking up every hour!


Saturday, April 1
Anyway, I finally got out of bed around 2:30 a.m. and quickly had my bagel with peanut butter & jelly with some really strong coffee. I had ad decided to go with a long sleeved shirt that started to feel hot a few minutes after I wore it. I quickly changed it to a short-sleeve running shirt. I was planning to wear my bright orange jacket all through the race so had no worries about the long sleeves/short sleeves issue.

Drove to the finish line parking lot (a place called the Folsom Dam Overlook) and parked around 3:40 a.m. The picture below shows the view, from the finish line, of the canyon we ran up. You can make out the American river as a pale blue streak just left of center.

There were very few cars at that time. They started arriving 10 minutes later until the lot got quite full. We all lined up to get on the 2 buses waiting to leave at 4:15 a.m. The ride to the start was uneventful except for a phone call from Anil who was waiting to start his marathon up in Dearborn, Michigan and the fact that my bladder was feeling quite full from all the morning hydration. My first act was to rush to the port-a-potties to get in line. I was so relieved 10 minutes later.

Given that I had been unable to pick up my race packet the evening before from Fleet Feet in Sacramento, my next action was to go pick up my bib number and race chip. In all the drizzle and cold and milling crowd, someone made off with my bib number. I had to have the organizers assign me a new number and a matching chip. I picked up my race T-shirt along with Anil’s. A volunteer named Mary offered to take it to the finish line for me. Such wonderfully helpful people.

The race started promptly at 6:00 a.m. The first mile was a loop around the campus of Sacramento State University and then onto the bike trail. I saw both Yuki and Chihping ahead of me and shouted their names and waved to them. Some pictures of the Start area below.

Very soon we got our first glimpse of the American River. The bike path paralleled the river for some distance. The path for the first 19 miles was the same as the course for the Helen Klein 50-miler I had run in November, 2005. This was a distinct mental advantage. The shoulder was wide on both sides albeit with mud here and there, a mild foretaste of what was to come later. Picture below.

This is where I met Pavan Ramarapu, a runner from the Bay area I’ve met before at races. He had flirted briefly with the idea of coming on board as an Asha coach in 2004. I stopped to answer Nature’s call and he continued on. I eventually caught up with him around mile 31.

This part was relatively uneventful except for some drizzling for about 30 minutes or so.

I stayed with a 10 minute run and a 2 minute walk through this portion. Right around mile 19 or so, just after crossing a bridge to get to the Nimbus Overlook aid station, I hooked up with this woman I had been alternately passing and been passed by along the course. Her name was Leanne and she had chosen AR50 as her first ultra. A 50-miler no less! What an athlete she was. She went on to finish in 10:38. The next 5-6 miles, through muddy trails, were spent conversing with her. This is when I got a call from Sarah, the first of two from her. Anu had called me earlier as had Pallavi and Sam. We ran/walked our way to the next aid station, where Madhuri Yechuri (from Oracle) came out of the crowd, shouted "Rajeev" and took a picture of me.

Soon after the aid station, Leanne took off. I did not meet her until the Beal’s Point aid station (mile 27.4). Right after the aid station, we ran briefly on a trail that took us close to Granite Bay. The view was lovely, with snow on the distant Sierra Nevada mountains. The picture on the left does scant justice to the actual view on Saturday. I met Carol Cuminale, race director of the Forest of Nisene Marks Marathon down in Aptos. I had first met her, through Anil, in the Quicksilver 50K last year. I recognized her up ahead of me and I shouted her name. She waited for me to catch up and we chatted for the next mile. She was doing her 14th consecutive AR50. It was a training run for her Western States 100 miler later in June.

We soon wound past the start and finish of the Helen Klein 50 mile race. Now I was in uncharted territory as far as my knowledge of the course went. That explains why Pavan (I had caught up with him now) and I got lost with yours truly leading the way. There was another race (XTerra) taking place on the same course that day and someone had moved our trail sign. We wound up running an extra 0.8 miles.

We soon realized our error and promptly retraced our steps. We were back on course to be soon mired in ankle deep mud and water for the next 18 miles. What conditions! It sucked the energy out of our legs, step after painfully squishy step. Thick mud interspersed with cold water from the run offs. The course was hilly in parts and my quads were starting to complain. I switched to various strategies to pick my way through what I call my “wall” miles i.e. where my mind starts experiencing negative thoughts and my body gets tired. I knew from my first 50-miler that I would be OK after 40 miles. I also knew from my 3 prior ultras that I tended to get stronger in the last miles.

My strategy, at first, was to follow closely the runner up front, whoever that might be. I soon switched to my segment strategy – focus on the current segment i.e. the leg between the previous aid station and the next. I even decided to abandon the idea of trying to avoid excessive mud. I started enthusiastically landing forcefully in every mud pool on my path.

I soon passed the Horseshoe Bar aid station. The next one was Rattlesnake Bar at mile 40.7. By now I was drinking Coke and Sprite at the aid stations. Nothing like America’s favorite non-alcoholic drink to pick up one’s spirits and legs! Out of the aid station, I encountered a 70 foot long mid-calf deep pool of cold, brown water that we had to wade through. I sucked it up and forded the pool only to step into deep mud again on the other side. The sugar from the Coke was now coursing through my blood and I picked it up. I was soon churning out 10:30-11:00 minute miles, passing people who had passed me before. I was not passed by a single person in those last 9.3 miles. Instead. I must have passed at least 14-15 people. That’s how powerful Coke is!!!

The scariest sections was between 42 and 46 miles, where I was running 200 feet above the river, with a vertical drop off, down to the rocks and the water below, 8 inches away from where my right foot was landing. Was that ever scary! I negotiated that section with my heart in my mouth. The last stream that I crossed was the deepest and I stubbed my left toe on a rock. The other side of the stream was a steep climb that only got worse. We were climbing UP a stream bed, rocky and uneven and very, very steep. 12-15% grade possibly. The saving grace at the top was a gentler gradient to the 47.6 mile aid station and a beautiful waterfall across the canyon on the right.

My goal had been, for the past 6 miles, to make it to this last aid station by 11:00 hours into the race (5 p.m.). I figured that the last 2.4 miles, supposedly very steep (from reports on the Internet) could be covered in 48 minutes. That would put me within 12 hours for my finish time. I reached there at 4:50 pm. Did not loiter for long. Had them fill up my bottle with Gu2O (they had no Coke at that station). Joked with the volunteers there (had done that at every aid station on the course) and was on my way. I caught up with another runner named Terry and we started walking up this wide, really wide gravel fire road.

We were soon joined by another runner who had been sitting by the side of the trail, emptying his shoes of the gravel. The three of us were pleasantly surprised to find the slope leveling off to a more runnable gradient after the first mile. We started running right away. They only managed to run for 200 yards but I continued past them for another 0.4 miles until the road started uphill again. This is where I saw Carol again, with another woman and two men. She was about 300 yards further up the hill. I shouted her name and she turned around and asked me to join them. I started running up the hill and caught up with them 5 minutes later. One of the men was her boyfriend of 10+ years. The other woman was a friend of Carol's and was also running the race. We soon came to the last 400 yards of the race.

The picture on the left below, taken a few years ago, shows the path, with about 400 yards to go, that has not changed. This was the last hill for us to climb.


The Finish (in the picture immediately above) was 300 yards to the right. Carol, the other lady and I ran step for step towards the finish.

My bib number, pinned to my shorts and crumpled, was hard to read. The race announcer was Norm Klein, race director of the Helen Klein 50-miler. I jumped up and down on my way to the finish mat, pointing out my number to him. He remarked “Number 561 jumping like an idiot towards the finish”. He then called out my number, asking me for my name. That’s when he finally announced “Rajeev Patel from San Jose…”. He then called me over, picked up the mike and said “I’m going to make up for not announcing your name when you finished…”. He proceeded to sing one line from a Hindi song. I was so overjoyed. He had sung “Ina Mina Dika” (I think) when all of us (Anu, Padma, Kiran, Anil, Pradeep, Ganesh) had finished the Helen Klein 50.

I got my awesome AR50 race jacket, washed off the mud from my feet and soon started out to get back to the Bay area and Anu’s promised rice, rasam, carrot kosambri and beet root sabzi. Yum!

All the pictures above are from Linda Hurd’s account of her 2002 AR50 race (http://www.geocities.com/llh_06/AR50_photos.html).