Spice Coast Run & Fun

I don't like to write about the same topic twice, especially in such a short gap. And that's what all the senior runners told me too -  'Don't run two half marathons in such short gap of a week'. 'But someone in the US did 50 marathons back to back according to Kiran Doc' 'But you moron he is an athlete not a dumb couch potato like you !' This was the conversation that was playing in my mind over the last few days. But being an idiot, I went on to run the Spice Coast HM and now have the OCD to sit down and write about it.

As always I was joined by my running company Sujit on my way to Kochi and picked up Simham Vijayaraj en route. We promptly jumped into carb loading exercise opening the innings at Mothers Kitchen somewhere past Karunagapally. If nine appams and three egg curry cost 300RS and is no were near the taste of what your Mother makes, you have chose the wrong hotel to dine at. Taking the wheel from me Sujit drove us till Allepy where we lavished up the Neera and continued onward to Oberon mall. With the tech savoy Singham around our conversation revolved around different gizmos for the runner and biker in us.

Bib collection

We reached the mall and collected our bibs, tees and bit adieu to Simham who crashed at his bro in law's place for the night. Sujit and self decided to go to Decathlon sport store, the Mecca of sports enthusiasts in Kerala. After much deliberation some how we convinced our self that we do not need an inflatable kayak, a camouflaged tent, angling rods or a bow right now, and after three hours of ogling at the sports accessories and emptying the wallet we emerged grinning like idiots. A hefty malabar briyani followed by directions to Thopumbady/Tevera by Dr Louis and Cubelio we found a dirty little hotel that was cheap but had the necessary amenities like car parking and an attached beer parlor. Freshed up, we downed a couple Elephant strongs and had a dinner of fried rice. In between Cubelio and his sis who were my running buddies in last years Spice Coast 5K payed us a visit. Reached back to the hotel and set our running gear in order so that we could wake up at 3.45, get ready in 30 minutes, drive to venue in another 15 to reach by 4.30. Warm up and wander around till 5 and begin in style.

Geared up

This is cliche at its best but 'The best set plans are the ones which fail most spectacularly'. We woke up, got ready and went down to the lobby according to the plan and then shit happened. The shutter at the lobby was down and locked and there was no one around. We tried the restaurant, the bar and every other possible exits in the building but everything was locked. With the level of panic raising faster than lactic acid on a climb I started to bang on the shutter rattling the entire street. After an eternity someone responded from the other side and told something which we could not make out. A few more tensed minutes later the security fellow emerged from one of the corridors. I showered him with the most choicest of adjectives and ran towards the car. We blasted to the venue,locked the car and started running towards the start line and just kept running. Mind you this is not the regular long distance run but a mad dash that leave you panting like a dog. At around the 500 meter marker I noticed that I was clenching my mobile phone and wallet in one hand and car keys on the other. Asking Sujit to go ahead, I tucked them into my pockets and secured them with a couple spare safety pins I had in my pocket thanks to the Tracs HM last Sunday.

As this is my second HM my plan was to finish it in a better time than what I did last time. A sub 3 hour run was my idea, but now starting 10 minutes late my new plan was to make sure that I am not the last one to finish. The second kilometer brought the welcome sight of the tail of the HM runners, I once again quickened my pace to catch them. Once the task of being not the tail was accomplished my next quest was to find and catch up with Sujit but could not reach him. Hydration points flashed by, the volunteers cheered and the band boys hammered their drums to boost us up. I always wondered why they had drummers in medieval war games but today it was clear. In war it causes blood lust, in a marathon it must be run lust, pretty awesome idea Soles. At the next way station there was this guy giving hi-fies to the runners and myself who was feeling the first signs of weariness decided to give him a hi-ten and he responded with a bear hug. I must confess that I am not a very touchy guy, but this dude just infused me with a magic mushroom that Mario had. Shaking off the tiredness, I took off through the aromatic spice market, Jew street and finally towards the turnaround point. The lead runners flashed back on their way back and soon the main body of the HM hit me. I saw may familiar faces in them cheering each other up. Singham and his bro in law rushed pass so did Vishwa and Abhay from Tracs. Sujit waved and ran on while I took the loop around the ground. The return run was mostly uneventful other than the beginning of a nagging pain in my left ankle. In between out of nowhere Paul Mathew on his bike appeared and cheered me on and there was this band guys lighting it up. I stopped for a minutes and broke into a small dance involuntary. Composing myself, continued the run. By the 20KM or so I was  running on fumes and it was a couple of co runners who coaxed me to keep up with them. With the finish line in sight I pumped up what was left and went for a sprint . The thing I loved the most about Spice Coast events is how they present you with a medal. A kid gifts it like you are an Olympic winner, it is the one moment that washes away all the fatigue in you.

Toiling hard :/

 I went directly to the food counter where Sujit joined me and I drowned six iddalies in sambar and ate them in minutes. A few photographs, congrads and smiles later we joined the bunch of guys to shake a leg to the tune of the band guys one more time. Simham joined us and we head back to the hotel to freshen up and leave for home. In the car it was decided unanimously that we would return for the FM next season. Three rapid pings in the car meant that our timing message had come and to our joy all three of us bettered our times from the last marathon. My self bettered by a huge 18 minutes !

Shake a leg

The return trip was enjoyable and relaxed with all three of us sharing the wheel and had an awesome meal from a Kuttanadu shop. I consider the karimeen pollichathu as the medal I gave myself for the most enjoyable run I had till date.

Kudos Soles, see you next year.

Simham, Sujit & Self

With Tracs

A Fried Medal