Getting Lost in Babuland

The earliest two HM’s I ran were at Ahmedabad, so going to Gandhinagar felt more like returning to familiar territory. At Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar, one also gets to meet many friends who travel to from Baroda which is another attraction. Rakesh Rawat not only hosted us at his brother-in-law’s place which was vacant for the weekend, but also drove us all the way. While RK Menon dropped out, Adil Marawala & I did our best to prime Rakesh for a super finish. We began with delaying the departure by 45 minutes. This was enough to bring Rakesh to his elements, who covered the Expressway in another 45 minutes. An early South Indian dinner at a neighbouring larri, we awoke to a cool, pleasant morning. Rakesh stopped enough to get the proper directions to get us to the venue in, you guessed it, 45 minutes. We were sure 29^th January 2017 was going to be his day, which it turned out to be, with Rakesh getting his PB. But I am getting too far ahead now…

On the way, I realized I had forgot to pick up my mobile pouch & was not sure whether I would be able to take it with me during the run. As it turned out, the mobile did not fit in the pocket & I left it behind. The main reason you won’t find any photographs in this post. Of course, I have been to Gandhinagar earlier & it is a boring city with a very monotonous layout. I am not sure, but I believe Gandhinagar would be the only city in India not to have a MG Road!! I do not think this is because the whole city has been named after Mahatma Gandhi. The naming of roads in Gujarat’s administrative & legislative capital is as unimaginative & uninspiring as only seasoned bureaucrats can achieve. More on Gandhinagar roads later…

The weather had turned cold the last couple of days & we were hoping it stayed this way on the run-day too. Of course, Gandhinagar is greener & we expected it to be not as hot as Ahmedabad. It felt good when we got to the venue. Apart from the weather, meeting up with the Gang from Baroda, many being contenders for the podium. This was the 2^nd time Gandhinagar was organizing its HM. One of my apprehensions was the start of the race. Having had bad experiences at Baroda, which is flagged off by CM’s who have always been late & follow it up with a long speech. Of course there was hope that Gandhinagar being a small town, the neta can always come on time, flag off the event & return to catch up on the sleep. So it was with crossed fingers that we awaited the flag off time. The dignitaries arrived 10 mins before the start & the flag off was as scheduled. Gandhinagar, take a bow!

Some time after the start (usually around 2 to 3 km), I always need to take a pee break. In fact, this has now become a ritual (and I planned for it during my next HM at Baroda)!! Gandhinagar does not have those convenient spots (trees, bushes, boundary walls) as other cities do where one can take a leak. Fortunately, the route passed through Mahatma Mandir, the venue of the famed Vibrant Gujarat investment fairs, which has enough public urinals. I got to one but found the male one locked. I tried the one for physically challenged but found it locked too. Fortunately, the one for the ladies had its door open & I made my way towards it. But finding a female runner also coming to it, I left the place looking for another “public utility”. Which was not too far off and, fortunately, the guy was just unlocking the door of the male urinal just as I reached. I should have thanked him but I was too preoccupied with the task at hand.

Mission accomplished & I returned to the road to find the ever-smiling Doc, Suresh Iyengar. I joined him & we ran at his leisurely pace. The only time one finds Doc Iyengar awake at an early hour is during a marathon at Baroda or Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar. He loves his sleep so much that he won’t get up even if you offer him a beer as an incentive. You should try this, but I will have to be there as a witness (to finish off the beer too).

I had told Dr. Iyengar before the start that today I will return a fast time as I did not have the distraction of the mobile. While we were chatting during the run he spoke about how he always reaches the halfway mark around 1:15 hrs, which was remarkable. Because, I run stronger in the 2^nd part of the run. So, if I stuck around with Dr. Iyengar till the halfway mark, I could make an attempt to finish around 2:30. Of course, he runs at an even & leisurely pace that helps in conserving strength & energy. We were still running around Mahatma Mandir, when Dr. Iyengar spotted an SBI ATM & pointed it out to me. Out of habit, I asked the guard whether it had any cash (remember, cash withdrawal limits had not been lofted then). An affirmative answer made me regret leaving my wallet behind. It would have been sad to leave a cash-laden ATM behind without withdrawing anything. But one had Dr. Iyengar for company.

Around 8K mark, we knew we would now be coming across the faster ones from Baroda on their return. Soon, they arrived – Sameer Gaikwad, Shital Pawar, Narpatsingh Jadeja (Bapu), Siddharth Katju & the rest of the express runners. At around 9.5K, Rakesh crossed us, lost in thought (was it about the 4 things?). Bereft of distractions, he was running a fast one today. The route was flat till this point after which there was a mild downward incline to the turnaround at half way. It was also cooler here with the breathe frosting as we exhaled. Thus, if you want to return a PB, Gandhinagar should be on your calendar. But, maybe not & I will tell you why a little later.

I had earlier during the run decided that I will stay along with Dr. Iyengar (who usually finishes around 2:45) & break away at 15/16 K. But Dr. Iyengar was slowing down & I was getting restive. So, wishing him well, I went ahead. Running alone is something I am quite used to. I was frequently checking the watch to see if I could make it in about 2:30 hrs, perhaps the reason I did not notice the surroundings or other runners. I simply maintained the pace & followed the other runners ahead of me.

Let me now take a breather & count some of the positives about this event. Apart from the timely flag off, the hydration & fuelling arrangements were very good. The hydration/fuelling points well provisioned & I did not find any station out of stock. There were enough volunteers at these points to hand out stuff to runners. The medical aid stations were also sufficient for an event of this kind. It helps when the government machinery itself is involved in organizing an event as I had observed at Rajkot last year (http://runfunetc.blogspot.in/2016/03/and-bapus-ran-on-cold-winter-morning.html). I didn’t come across any traffic (which is a big problem at Baroda & Ahmedabad) along most of the route except at very few junctions. Now for a couple of negatives.

Crowd support was practically absent. Compare this to Rajkot/Baroda & one would think one is running in a ghost town. It seems the netas & babus catch more than 40 winks on Saturdays. Lack of crowd support would turn off 1^st timers & those coming from outside from returning for the event. But this was not such a big problem as the nature of Gandhinagar’s road layout. This was my prime fear prior to the run. I have always been confused about these whenever I have been to Gandhinagar in the past. Fortunately, this time I didn’t lose my way in the maze of metal & tar. Unlike some others.

After around 15K, I came across runners walking dejectedly & telling friends they met about how they took the wrong route & gave up. The first time I heard this I thought the lady was from outside & got lost in Gandhinagar. But a few more times & it dawned that I hadn’t come across any markers along the entire route. Later when I finished, I came to know that Sameer ran into a group of 7K runners on the return & ended up following their route to finish, thus ending up with a DNF. Another podium contender returning empty handed. A little before Mahatma Mandir, I came across a runner carrying a staff as he ran. I wished to know what bus it was (though passengerless) so that I could guess my finish time. He informed that he found it lying on the road & picked it up. Well, a positive here – Swachh Bharat works! Upon finishing, we were told that the entire 2:00 hour bus went along a wrong route & ended up with DNF. Probably, the staff that our friend found was the one this bus threw away. When I was some 3K away from the finish, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There, in front of me, were a couple of runners, one of them I could make out to be Bapu. As I reached them (the other guy was Abdul), I asked them how far it was to the finish. I thought they had already completed & were just out to relax the muscles. They had another story to tell – they actually had already run over 21 km (again, victims of this massive blunder) & had given up when they realized this. They were just jogging to the finish line. Mind you, all of these were the fastest guys but ended up with nothing. Seems more like a modern day version of hare-and-tortoise story, doesn’t it?

Now I wasn’t sure whether I had run the correct course, but looking at my pace & distance it seemed to be in order. I have never run this fast earlier over this distance (I had done Goa & Daman, both in 3:00 hrs the previous month) & the last few kilometers were tough. While I wasn’t really tired the legs were losing their strength fast. I was also very much within the target time of 2:30 hrs & pushed ahead hard. I was forced to take frequent walk breaks on this last stretch. And each time I started walking I would realize that this was only slowing me down. While I gathered strength to run again I also walked as briskly as I could. Never before have I been so focused while running. It was as if the last few days were left in the year & a few more orders would see me through to achieve the sales target. It seemed, real life is so much easier!! The watch showed that I was just a few hundred metres short, the finish was in sight & I pushed along with whatever I had, my eyes set on the watch throughout to see whether I would make it. It told me that I had managed to run 21.1 km in 2:29:something but the finish was a little further away & I raced to it. Later, the official timing turned out to be a little over 2:30, but it was still worth it.

After catching up with the rest of the gang at the finish, a round of selfies & hearing more stories of how the faster ones got lost, the first thing I did was get my mobile from Rakesh’s car, next thing was having some tea (the Gandhinagar one is so less that it can’t even be called cutting) & then another tea, but not before placing the medal on the altar as some rituals need to be done religiously.