With Andi in the US I have desperately been trying to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Not quite thinking it through all the way, I signed up with some friends for the Kaveri Trail Half-marathon in Mysore. With the half being run on Sunday morning, John & Kate and I decided to head down early on Saturday for some site-seeing and a visit to the Mysore Palace.
For our MSP readers, the Mysore Palace is to B'lore what the Mall of America is to the Cities: it's big, there, and where you are supposed to take friends and family visiting from out of town.
OK, that's not quite fair, at least not to the Palace. The current palace, built in the late 1800's, is quite impressive: halls and courts with majestically tall stained glass ceilings, wide and stately corridors with incredibly intricate and detailed arches, massive viewing courts; all the modern conveniences one would expect in a palace.
Unfortunately, there is also a very strict no-camera policy inside the palace. Not just a no-photo's policy but a no camera's policy, which almost got us thrown out. But that's a story about shiny objects and the art of distraction for another day. Unfortunately, then, you will need to imagine an interior as impressive as the exterior.
Realizing that the day was getting hot and remembering that we had a race to run, we cut our site-seeing short and returned to the hotel after the palace for a quiet night in before race day.
And race day began in pain; or at least annoyance. The Kaveri Trail races are destination races, and the buses from Bangalore started arriving at the hotel at 5am. (To help with the math: it's three hours from B'lore to Mysore, which means that the race day buses left at 2am!) So rather than waking to the gentle sounds of a blaring alarm, we awoke to the PA'd reminder that "mens changing rooms are to my immediate right; ladies changing rooms are to my immediate left; toilets are to my right." At least we weren't late! After downing a Clif Bar and one last bottle of water, we were out of our rooms by 6, on the shuttle's to the starting line by 6:10, and racing by 6:30.
On Sunday Runners For Life staged a full and a half marathon. The full and half marathons followed the same course: a 10k+ out and back that we ran once and the full marathoners ran twice. And it was a gorgeous route, winding through ridiculously monsoon-green fields and forests and farms. And aside from a few massive mud puddles and getting stuck behind the occasional ox-cart, the trail itself was in really good condition. It was almost enough to make me want to stay another year to be able to run it again.
Especially if that means running it again in something a little bit closer to half shape. Let's just say that I wasn't quite ready for a half - a fact that really sunk in at about the 16k mark (my longest run leading up to the race was somewhere between 6 and 7 miles (it's hard to keep track doing laps around Ozone)). But, like last years Target 10k, this was a personal best!! I haven't checked my time yet, and forgot to stop my watch until we got back to the hotel, but I think my half PR now stands at more than 2 hours/less than 3; somewhere in that range (which is a perfect goal for next year's Surly Trail Loppet). And so now, celebrating and luxuriating in the glow of a PR, it's time to finish off the bottle of Ibuprofin, ice ice ice, try to rehydrate, and stay very very still.
For our MSP readers, the Mysore Palace is to B'lore what the Mall of America is to the Cities: it's big, there, and where you are supposed to take friends and family visiting from out of town.
OK, that's not quite fair, at least not to the Palace. The current palace, built in the late 1800's, is quite impressive: halls and courts with majestically tall stained glass ceilings, wide and stately corridors with incredibly intricate and detailed arches, massive viewing courts; all the modern conveniences one would expect in a palace.
Unfortunately, there is also a very strict no-camera policy inside the palace. Not just a no-photo's policy but a no camera's policy, which almost got us thrown out. But that's a story about shiny objects and the art of distraction for another day. Unfortunately, then, you will need to imagine an interior as impressive as the exterior.
Can you guess who I am here with?
Realizing that the day was getting hot and remembering that we had a race to run, we cut our site-seeing short and returned to the hotel after the palace for a quiet night in before race day.
Ready to run!
Pre-race smiles
On Sunday Runners For Life staged a full and a half marathon. The full and half marathons followed the same course: a 10k+ out and back that we ran once and the full marathoners ran twice. And it was a gorgeous route, winding through ridiculously monsoon-green fields and forests and farms. And aside from a few massive mud puddles and getting stuck behind the occasional ox-cart, the trail itself was in really good condition. It was almost enough to make me want to stay another year to be able to run it again.
10k start (where I should have been!)
Marathon start
Half start (do you see us waaaayyyy in the back?)
Beautiful run!
Especially if that means running it again in something a little bit closer to half shape. Let's just say that I wasn't quite ready for a half - a fact that really sunk in at about the 16k mark (my longest run leading up to the race was somewhere between 6 and 7 miles (it's hard to keep track doing laps around Ozone)). But, like last years Target 10k, this was a personal best!! I haven't checked my time yet, and forgot to stop my watch until we got back to the hotel, but I think my half PR now stands at more than 2 hours/less than 3; somewhere in that range (which is a perfect goal for next year's Surly Trail Loppet). And so now, celebrating and luxuriating in the glow of a PR, it's time to finish off the bottle of Ibuprofin, ice ice ice, try to rehydrate, and stay very very still.
Almost finished! (Four miles too late.)
Rachel Carter - 4 time women's marathon winner, 2 time over-all marathon winner!
After she passed us on our first leg my goal quickly became: don't get lapped by a marathoner!
I think it is wonderful you did it, you survived and are getting ready for our 1/2 marathon here next Oct. Love Ya
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