25km - 2 memorable runs

9th Nov:
16th Nov was the date for Bangalore ultra - a trail run of 25/50/75/100k. The feedback from earlier years was that its a tough trail. So a few of us decided to do a 25k trail somewhere else. The spot chosen was belandur forest. I didnt know what to expect till we reached the spot.The place was a small thicket with a patch of forest in the middle. The forest led to a asphalt road. The whole stretch was out and back 25 km. The best part of the whole run was in the forest and along the fields. The morning mist added to the whole magic. The dew drops collected in spider webs made them look like white shiny hammocks for little people. It was cloudy, misty and all magical. The run itself was a pleasure trip in itself. Vibrams helped me absorb all the tactile sensations the ground could offer. The villagers we passed by were amazed at people running with ipods in their ears.I finished the run in just under 3 hrs.

16th Nov:
The day of the ultra. I had hardly slept the previous night. Plan was to meet at a frnd's place at 4:45 am car pool and drive down to the venue at Our native village. ONV is a resort around 30km outside bangalore. The surrounding area is woods. The drive was pleasant except the worry of impending rain. But the worst we saw was just a drizzle.It was about 6:30 by the time we reached ONV. The place was a nature lovers delight. There was lot of forest cover and the morning was pregnant with cooing of birds and cool wind. It was a bit cloudy with nice breeze and the sun wasnt out yet. The whole place was abuzz with activity. 100k and 50k runs had already started. From the look of it the trail looked tough with hills and hard rocky ground. My experience with Kaveri said vibrams are ok as long as I know where my feet are landing. The run started at 7:30 am. I was running with my frnd and decided to do the first loop (12.5km) easy.In retrospect that seems like a mistake as we took it too easy. We covered 12.5 km in almost 2 hrs. But the rest of the run was a breeze. The total time came to 3 hrs 12 minutes