We, The Runners For Ever (RFE), had decided last year that Auroville Marathon at Pondicherry would be a celebration run for us every year, where none of us would chase their Personal Best timings and just enjoy the run, and of course, the entire trip, as a group. This year, we implemented it in letter & spirit.
The preparations had started several months back. Kishore, the de facto planner of the group, had planned everything well in advance. Ravi, the generous RFE member, offered his membership to get us rooms at Club Mahindra, Pondicherry, a beautiful and well equipped resort with a private beach, away from all the buzz of city.
We got into a train at Bangalore on Friday night, and the celebrations were kicked off then and there itself. Bafna ji, the master entertainer of the group, took over the charge instantly. Our conversations covering everything funny under the sun went late into the night, which ended only after a couple of fellow passengers requested us to let them sleep for a while, before the train reaches Pondicherry.
A 10+ seater vehicle was ready to pick us up at the railway station, courtesy - the meticulous planning by Kishore. We headed directly to Auroville to pick up Running Bibs, and had sumptuous breakfast en route. Auroville is a few thousand acre area, a few KM away from Pondicherry, that's developed by Sri Aurobindo Society as an experiment in sustainable living, which started in 1968.
Auroville: The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity – in diversity. Today Auroville is recognised as the first and only internationally endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity and transformation of consciousness, also concerned with - and practically researching into - sustainable living and the future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs of mankind.
We reached the resort by noon. As I observed earlier, the day before a run, we typically behave as ambassadors of saatvic diet. But, Auroville trip is an exception. This being the run planned purely for celebrating our otherwise gruelling running year, we defy all rules here. We started our lunch with a couple of beers, followed by an elaborate buffet lunch. We spent the rest of the day exploring the resort and several in-house activities that include, pool, swimming-pool, ping-pong, a bit of fooling around in the beach. Activities of the day concluded with rocking the dance floor, inspiring rest of the guests too to join us. Highlights of the activities include, Bafnaji's unisex swim-suit, Nirup's transformation into Pappu, Ravi's futile attempts to save himself from getting bullied etc., The day concluded with yet another round of elaborate buffet dinner.
Natraj deserves a special mention, who missed joining us in train due to some emergency meetings. But, not to miss his outstation run and annual celebration of the group, he traveled by car, 2 buses and finally a taxi and reached the resort, late in the night. Hats off to his spirit.
The run was scheduled to start at 6:15 am on Sunday. We reached the venue on-time and socialised a bit with the usual suspects. The entire group decided to follow 9:1 method of running, i.e, 9 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking at an average pace of 7:30 min/KM, an extremely comfortable and enjoyable pace for all the seasoned runners. We followed it till we crossed the finish-line as a group, and had an unforgettable 2 hour 40 minutes of running experience that will stay fresh in our memories for quite some time. Shouting silly slogans, wearing our team T-Shirt with our team logo and our names, encouraging fellow runners, we made our presence felt in every inch of the course.
We reached the resort back by noon and treated ourselves to drinks and lunch. With that much of fun overdose, the entire team was tired and just dozed off in the lobby in the oversized and comfortable lobby chairs. As good times move extremely fast, it was time to leave for Bangalore. We spent the evening at the beautiful promenade sipping some coffee and nibbling on some snacks, at the legendary Le Cafe, enjoying the sea breeze.
Reached Bangalore by next morning and dispersed, only with a promise to make this an annual RFE affair.
Natraj deserves a special mention, who missed joining us in train due to some emergency meetings. But, not to miss his outstation run and annual celebration of the group, he traveled by car, 2 buses and finally a taxi and reached the resort, late in the night. Hats off to his spirit.
The run was scheduled to start at 6:15 am on Sunday. We reached the venue on-time and socialised a bit with the usual suspects. The entire group decided to follow 9:1 method of running, i.e, 9 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking at an average pace of 7:30 min/KM, an extremely comfortable and enjoyable pace for all the seasoned runners. We followed it till we crossed the finish-line as a group, and had an unforgettable 2 hour 40 minutes of running experience that will stay fresh in our memories for quite some time. Shouting silly slogans, wearing our team T-Shirt with our team logo and our names, encouraging fellow runners, we made our presence felt in every inch of the course.
We reached the resort back by noon and treated ourselves to drinks and lunch. With that much of fun overdose, the entire team was tired and just dozed off in the lobby in the oversized and comfortable lobby chairs. As good times move extremely fast, it was time to leave for Bangalore. We spent the evening at the beautiful promenade sipping some coffee and nibbling on some snacks, at the legendary Le Cafe, enjoying the sea breeze.
Reached Bangalore by next morning and dispersed, only with a promise to make this an annual RFE affair.
