Racing again!!!

8 December 2019. I crossed the finish line outside Viva College in Virar, crushing my personal best in the half marathon. On 18 September 2022, I lined up at the start line of the Satara Hill Half Marathon. 3 minutes before the start, the crowd of 5000+ runners started singing the National Anthem. As my chest swelled with pride, my eyes started welling up with joy. The joy of being with so many like minded people after so long. I was ready to run a half marathon after almost 3 years, after having gone through several crests and troughs of fitness through the pandemic. 

When the registration for the race was announced, I wasn’t very sure about running it. But Sushma(my dear elder sister) prodded me a little, I thought, “hmmm this time I could attempt to get the Gold Hill Champion Medal there”. So the instant registrations opened, I was in the registration page and tadaa….I had registered for this scenic, challenging run which I had done twice before and witnessed once as a spectator/cheerleader.

The training was very different from the last two times, with enough emphasis laid to easy flat ground running, strength training and yoga! The MAF Block this year was slower than last year due to several factors, including weather, start time, etc. After that, both the distances and elevation gain on weekly runs ramped up. The last week before the one leading up to the race had me running up Mount Mary and also Katherine caves at BNP. And I was not dying at the end of these runs. With minimal running over the last week due to the weather, I reached the start line of the Satara Hill Half Marathon better prepared than ever before. I had met the 2 hours pacer at the expo and had got a good idea of the strategy to be followed through the run. Being in line-up A was a big advantage to get the Hill Champion medal since the medal colour was decided by the gun time and not net time. 

Bathing in sunshine atop the hill

A little after the national anthem, the race was flagged off and I crossed the start line in less than half a minute. A good start. Then the first separator slope started immediately, sieving out the people who had managed to train well and the ones who could not. It is quite chaotic to go up a slope where there are slow people in front of you and fast people coming up from behind you. The first 3.5km through the city were good fun, the slopes giving a warmup session before the main Nivant slope. Being my normal chatty self, I managed to befriend quite a few runners, including a long haired guy running barefoot. We were both just a short distance behind the 2 hours pacer and the conversations made it clear that we were quite comfortable with the pace and effort. 

Then came the Kaas Road with its famous/infamous slopes. I remember the first time I had run Satara, a description online said that from kilometre 3 to 7, the slope goes from steep to ridiculously steep. They weren’t joking. The slope goes on for almost 4km and it just keeps climbing. These 4km magically feel like a lot more. A few hundred metres into the climb, I realised that running continuously up the slope may not be the best way to proceed. The pacer had told me that the best way to ascend for a sub2 finish was to maintain a pace of 7-7:15/km. I figured out that seasoning the run with some walk breaks for recovery would be the best way to proceed. And so I started running for 40 seconds and walking for 20seconds, over and over and over again. And voila! I went past one of the two hours pacer who seemed to be struggling and then reached the pacer I had spoken to the previous day. 

One of the 20 second walks

This was when I made the mistake of boarding the bus which was walking forward. Little did I know that this was a long walk, a far cry from my strategy of rewarding myself with a walk break for 20s after every 40s of running. When their walk break ended, the bus started moving up continuously and managed to build up a lead. I went back to my more rewarding strategy and kept moving up at an average lap pace of 7:30/km. When the slope ended and the route flattened out, the pace quite effortlessly got a lot faster. I reached the u-turn point in 1:07:55, giving me 52 minutes to cover the rest of the distance. The sun was up, beating down in all its glory, making the route even more beautiful. Blue skies with grey clouds, green hills and a lake down below! It was beautiful!

The return leg had a few short and sweet uphills, but I somehow felt I may get to conserve energy for the downhill with the same 40-20 strategy. In retrospect, that was probably not the best decision but knowing that I had reached that point faster than ever before made me just want to enjoy the course, without fretting too much about the timing. I saw the board which said ‘Ghat road starts here’ approaching. There was a live music station where the band was playing ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’. Just as I went past them, I saw the person who got me to register for the run (scroll up to read who it was if you missed it) with her phone out, and she recorded a video clip of me being me on a run. She was initially planning to come up to the waterfall and turn back but I was hoping that she would go ahead and complete the entire course. We were both enjoying being where we were, doing what we were doing. And that is the beauty of running. However fast or slow you are, there is almost always someone faster or slower than you on a different journey. Comparing your journey with that of others just sabotages your happiness 

Flying downhill!!!

The ghat while going downhill! It was so lovely! I just switched off my engine and let gravity do its work. Effortlessly gliding past people, enjoying the views of Satara and the entire landscape, enjoying just picking my feet off the ground the moment they landed, I felt like I was running in heaven. I finished the first km of the downhill in a little under 5 minutes. I asked myself if I wanted to push and the answer was a resounding NO. So I flew on, making some friends along the way. All this while clocking 4:45/km consistently. 

Where I realised how well I had trained was after the ghat. I was still being kind to myself, not forcing myself through pain, walking whenever I felt like, yet I was clocking a good pace. I met Biriyani Badshah Saurav Chakravarthy around 3km from the finish and it felt good to have a familiar face to run with in the closing stages. On the last kilometre, I was running alongside my downhill running friends from Belgaum and a lady who was also on the 2hour bus and had dropped off. With a final push, we turned into the police parade ground and sprinted towards the finish line. I subconsciously finished with a huge smile on my face, underscoring how happy I was to have done the run. And the personal best at Satara was an added bonus.

The joy of finishing!!

Thank you Satara for being an awesome race venue again! Thanks for making me fall in love with you! I will be back soon!

Rendezvous with Riddhi

Almost every wildlife lover in India would at some point of time have heard about Machli aka T-16 the queen of Ranthambhore. She is said to have contributed immensely to tiger conservation in India. She created a gene pool of about 50 tigers in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. She is also widely regarded as the most photographed or most famous tiger in the world. She was a fierce tiger who held on to arguably the most picturesque territory of Ranthambhore, the Rajbagh, Padam and Malik lake area. She had often fought off bigger male tigers too protect her cubs. She once wrestled a 14ft long crocodile on the banks of one of the lakes. Such acts are just a small part of what made her a legend. Ask any guide of Ranthambhore about Machli and you'll hear the line, "her personality was different" or "uski baat hi kuch aur thi".

By Bhavik Thaker - https://www.flickr.com/photos/24592211@N05/7313557652/

I've never had a chance to see her even though I had been to Ranthambhore when she was alive. But documentaries and guides all continue to echo the same traits. She was extremely tourist friendly and wouldn't get flustered with the hordes of gypsies around her. She was seen regularly in the lake area and people who visited Ranthambhore were almost always sure to meet her. Most tigers are known to be sedentary during the afternoon since it's quite hot that time. Machli on the other hand would move during those afternoon hours too. She was just in her element and that made the world her fan. People who saw her often said that they forged a bond with her.

I visited Ranthambhore in 2021 after a long gap of almost 5 years. In the build-up, I'd heard stories and seen videos about the power struggles for the crown jewel of Ranthambhore, the lake area which was ruled by Machli. The power struggles involved fights between Arrowhead and her two daughters, Riddhi and Siddhi. The mother had been displaced and was far from the lake area. When we were on our first safari, our guide told us how bloody these fights had been. He said that Siddhi has a cut on her right ear and Riddhi on her left ear. Also, Riddhi had once so badly injured her tongue in a fight that the forest officials had to give her surgical stitches.

Siddhi at Malik lake

The first two safaris got us a sight of Arrowhead and Siddhi, the latter on the banks of the disputed Malik lake. A road bisects Malik lake into two sections. One is bigger than the other and dotted with a lot of dry tree trunks in the middle of the water. The other is smaller and has lesser water, with tall grass on its banks. We saw Siddhi on the bigger part of the lake she was stalking sambar deer for an evening snack.

Love at first sight

First sight of Riddhi

On the third safari, we were exploring zone 4 when we heard a solitary spotted deer alarm call from near the lake. Knowing that tigers are generally on the move at that time, we rushed to the area and happened to see a lovely full grown tiger on the smaller, drier section of the lake. She walked up onto the road and straight towards us. We had an unbelievable one on one session with her for almost 10 minutes before other vehicles reached the scene. It was so awesome!! Her wonderful eyes were twinkling in the 7am sunlight. She was relaxed while strolling and marking her scent on trees. She was patrolling the borders and marking them as well. She walked, yawned(showing us her battle scarred tongue) and went about her own business. After a while when a lot of vehicles had made it to the area where she was, she took a break and decided to take a nap. We couldn't have asked for more in terms of a tiger experience.

A second tryst with Riddhi

Riddhi surveying her kingdom

Turning the clock forward to Feb 2022, I planned a trip to Ranthambhore with my family to make them experience the beauty of this legendary tiger reserve. On our first safari guess whom we met. It was Riddhi on a morning stroll. Her distinctive trident patterns over her eyes and the triangle on her right cheek are dead giveaways of her identity. She traversed a wide open expanse, marked her territory, crossed the trail and then saw some deer. She paused for a while and judged that they were too far. She realised that the odds were stacked against her and then decided to take a little cat nap. Her slumber was disturbed by some peafowl. The result was her showing her displeasure by roaring! It was the first time ever that I heard a tiger roaring. What an experience it was! I was so glad that even my folks got to experience the regal beauty of this wonderful tigress.

Riddhi on an afternoon stroll

In the afternoon, we headed back towards the area where we had left her last. On hearing some langurs give an alarm call, we rushed straight there and out of the tall green grass emerged Riddhi!!! This time she wore a serious, angry expression on her face and seemed to be walking with a purpose. This was at 3:15pm, a time when most tigers take a siesta. She again walked past us and followed the path which would have led her to Malik lake. Our guides told us that this trait of Machli of being on the move at all times had come down to Krishna(T-19), then Arrowhead (T-84) and now Riddhi(T-124). This boldness of such tigers is what makes these National parks so popular and a favourite destination for wildlife lovers from across the world.

Riddhi baring her teeth

The next time we saw Riddhi was the following afternoon where she was seated on edge of the road dividing Malik lake, surveying the lake and perhaps scouting for lunch. Our guide confirmed that she hadn't made a kill for 3-4 days and she was hungry. After a while, she yawned, stood and walked straight down into the lake. She was literally touching distance from one of the gypsies as she headed towards the lake. Most of the vehicles went along the road in the direction where she was headed, hoping to see her come out from there. We waited right there, getting a grandstand view of Riddhi, the apex predator queen of the lake in action.

The climax

There was a sense of excitement as we saw her go through the tall grass, carefully staying out of view of the sambar deer and surreptitiously creeping up within striking distance. Being an ambush hunter sure needs patience. She waited for the deer to get closer. We too waited and watched with bated breath. The minutes kept ticking by.

The chase continues

After about 15 minutes, she pulled the trigger. She charged towards her nearest quarry in the water and all hell broke loose. The sambar deer started the alarm calls. Despite the distance, we could see Riddhi's muscles push her towards her meal. Her 100kg frame was splashing water with every step. The sounds of the alarm calls and the water splashing drowned everything else. The deer could move in any direction but seeing death coming towards them got them running helter skelter. I had my camera going up and down just to watch the sights unfolding through the viewfinder and through naked eyes. Riddhi was putting in 100% efforts. She got close to one deer who got away, then close to another. Riddhi was looking to cut off angles while the deer were looking to get to solid ground and hopefully escape. In this game of big cat and deer, finally all the deer managed to get away with their lives. Till the last one managed to flee, Riddhi tried her best. Hungry, tired and wet, she walked into the grass near us and took a nap to recharge her batteries

The calm after the storm

The three gypsies who had waited had the best view of the entire scene. Our hearts were in our mouths, marvelling at the beauty of nature's creations playing the game of Life and death. The tiger despite being the most amazing predator, fails in 9 out of 10 attempts. We were a little disappointed for Riddhi but were reminded of how beautifully nature balances things out. The sambar deer who survived were the fittest of the lot and were able to stay away from her grasp. We felt assured that she will make a kill soon enough and stay energized to rule her Kingdom!

Just as our time for the evening safari was coming to a close, we heard some sambar deer alarm calls again. That's when we realised that Riddhi had sneaked up without us noticing that she'd woken up and moved through the tall grass. Knowing that the hunt won't be possible, she walked towards us for one last photo op for the trip. It was as though she came towards us to say see you soon/ Au revoir/auf wiedersehen/phir milenge.

My most viewed and downloaded photo of Riddhi

The beauty of all these experiences with Riddhi at RTR are bound to keep me going back from time to time to say a casual hello