Hennur Bamboo Ultra 50k 2024 - a mini skirt!

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"No more races for the year", I had pompously declared after the Stonehill half marathon. Yeah right!

Then came across this Sunday, 6th October, wedged right between ex-job and new job, with my family out in Chennai for their holidays, me wanting a bit of a celebration for having pulled off a single-parent week and most importantly, the 2nd anniversary of my 2nd ACL surgery.

I had two options - the Bengaluru marathon, with thousands of runners taking over the CBD of Bangalore OR the Hennur Bamboo Ultra, tucked away in the trails of a forest patch in Bangalore North. I had signed up for this ultra in 2022 before accident had cut my plans awry. So I wrote to the race director, an Ultra runner himself, Sushil Bhasin and he was kind enough to offer me a spot.

Bib collection:

One could choose from among 4 locations to pick up the bib, which was convenient. Done the previous day, without any fuss. Also, there was no goodie bag, tee shirt - less waste, more sustainable - just a bib to be picked up!

All instructions were carefully detailed out in an email sent out to participants well in advance. I registered the key points - reporting time 5:30AM, race start 6AM, 5k out and back done 5 times for the 50k, 8hr cut off and the bachelor that I am this week read - breakfast and lunch will be provided for 50k participants!

Race day:

I was able to ride my bullet right up to the start point (essentially a break in the forest fence), parked close by and walked to the pendal. I had to make the crucial shoe decision - use my heavily worn out Saucony Triumph or almost unused Asics trail shoes. A short recce using the mobile torch convinced me to go with the trail ones, but thankfully, Sushil was nearby, said the trail was hard and not slippery for most part. The Triumph has more kms to add to the nearly 7000kms it's already done!

As I was chatting with Mithilesh at the start area, I hear a shrill familiar "hey". I turn around to see my dear friend Athreya, from the Ultra running batch of 2007! 

And so it turned to be, when we were flagged off, Mithilesh took off and soon disappeared and I ended up reminiscing the first 2 laps with Mr. A. The one thing that has remained a constant in all these years, running fast feels easy with A. After 20k in 1h:47m, with the 2 of us leading the race, I let A move on and decided to go a notch slow to save myself till the end.

The loop was like a Mini skirt - short enough to retain interest, but long enough to cover the subject (mileage, in this case)

Sushil, the race direction had said, "if you are going right (turn) you are right, if nothing goes right, go left" (or something to that effect). There were some slippery sections due to the overnight rains, good excuse to take some walk breaks! I had a slippery moment or two, but happy that my knees held (no pun intended). With the sun coming in and out on a mostly overcast day, the shady loops didn't feel monotonous.

Back to my race, the next 10k, from 20+, was still OK, and I completed the 30k (3 loops) in 2h:43m. On the fourth loop, I started talking longer breaks at the water stops, always looking for a chikki, but settling for bananas and jaggery instead. Towards the end of the 4th lap, I was always trying to keep a right quad cramp at bay. About this time, Mithilesh was had been tracking me closely about 200m behind, passed me and was looking strong. 40k in 3h:49m

For the last loop, I got the company of a veteran runner, Jeyakar, management consultant, prof and dean of a B-school who had researched the effect of slow aerobic running and impact on cognition. After a good 5k of run-versation with him, I shuffled ahead to try and keep go under 5hours for the finish. At the final bend, I was motivated by Srinivas Ramparsad, who egged me on to race the home stretch. 

I stopped the clock at 4h:58m. At the finish line, Sushil Bhasin was waiting for the third place finisher to get the podium formalities done with. Some cheers went around as my timing was announced. Mithilesh had won the second place and Athreya had won, completing the course in under 4h:30

I hung around until I finished the breakfast and then also took a shot at the lunch a bit later. Mini skirts or not, I was still a bachelor at home this weekend and any meal is welcome ;)