Goa River Half Marathon (GRHM) — 2011 at Goa
On December 9th, I participated in my 21st Marathon event “GRHM – 2011” at Goa.
I completed my office work and called my family and friends before my Goa Journey. My family and friends wished me well and blessed me.
Before leaving, I went through the checklist for Garmin, Camera, Train tickets, Snacks, Water, and Dresses.
I reached Guindy at 1:30 pm to board the Vaso Express at 14.10 hrs.
My friend Anbu bought 2 tickets we both met around 1:40 pm at Guindy Railway station and proceeded to Central Station by a local train.
We reached Park Station at 14.00 hrs and sprinted to board Vasco Express at 14.10 hrs. The train left 5 minutes late and we were able to catch our breath after a few minutes.
After we boarded the train we started playing cards and we enjoyed Elagiri Hills in the evening. We took some snaps of this amazing scenery from the train. We reached Yesvantpur Junction, had our dinner and went to sleep. Day 1 happily finished…
On December 10th, I woke up around 6:00 am and the train was on its way to HUBLI.
We had breakfast and we were ready to enjoy the travel from Castle Rock to Kulem hills.
It was very amazing travel with a lot of “S” band curves, tress on both sides, 20+ tunnels. The train was going slowly and then we saw Dudhsagar falls. The travel through the mountains lasted three hours and we enjoyed this very much
We reached around 2:30 pm at Vasco railway station and went to the bib collection expo at Municipal garden, Swatantrapath, Vasco.
We collected Bib, Timing Chip and Goody bag, and we met Ashwin (RFL).
We test ran for Puma “Faas 300” shoes. The shoes were very nice to run.
We checked in the hotel and had a good lunch at a Udupi restaurant.
After returning to the hotel, we saw the movie “Death Race and 2012”. We had dinner and prepared for the event. Day 2 joyfully finished…
On December 11th, we woke up around 4 am and got ready for the event. We walked from the hotel to Municipal Garden and caught the event organizers buses to reach the starting point.
We warmed up for a few minutes and I thought about a plan similar to the Delhi Half marathon.
(First 10.5k average 12km/hr and second 10.5k increase my speed 12km+…)
The Half Marathon event countdown was started sharply at 6:00am. 9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…0... Start… All participants started running. I’m also started running at my own pace…
The course was more up and down (like a hill runs), marked every km, every km aid station and good support volunteers.
I remember Jaga’s advice on hill running “Hills upwards: slightly down your head and short steps. Hills downwards: look forward and long step. It helps you maintain your average speed and also save energy…”
I took water breaks at 3k, 6k, 9k, 12k and 16k.
First 10.5k, I maintained my average speed. Midway I see Jaga and I told him “Your current position is in 21st place. So keep going”.
The second 10.5k, I ran with Suresh and at around 2kms, he told me “Break your records. After this, I got new energy and increased my pace and maintained my average speed and finally, I successfully finished 21.09km at 01:46:48 hrs.
I think this time there were no mistakes in my plan. I’m really happy that I participated in this event.
Later, all our participant friends met. My Friend Jaga (Bib No. 1200) finished 21.09km at 01:23:56 hrs.
After hearing some good music’s and we started to dance with co-runners and all of us enjoyed it.
The event was well-organized and we had a lovely team of supporting, Music’s and cheering volunteers.
We took snaps after having a gala time. We reached the hostel and freshened up to have lunch and caught the train.
The return journey was very tough; the train was linked from Goa to Bangalore separate compartment (1 AC, 1 UR, and 1 SL), the train was fully crowded.
We had one RAC seat and the other two were waiting listed.
We went to sleep in the evening after we had dinner and adjusted to be seated.
I think around 12 am I got a confirmed seat and I went to sleep.
Next year if we go to the Goa marathon change the route Chennai – Palakatu – Goa and return. Day 3 gladly and tiredly finished…
On December 12th, we reached Bangalore around 8:00 am and we caught Sanghamitra Exp. at 9:00 am from Bangalore to Chennai.
We played cards sometimes and we discussed the upcoming events and reached Chennai at 3:00 pm.
We finally went home with the memories of our event. Day 4 successfully finished…
We got a new friend and runner from Chennai Mr Srinivasan, who is eager to participate in many upcoming events.
We got a new friend and runner from Chennai Mr Srinivasan, who is eager to participate in many upcoming events.
