Auroville half marathon

okhay....I actually came really close to getting dropped out. After the Bangalore midnight half marathon I didn't run at all if you don't count the occasional 3 miler. Also I had injured my back. So I was kinda apprehensive if I can make it. Also some last minute changes meant I was going with some of my runner colleagues instead of driving down myself. The drive till the awesome till Krishnagiri. Then onwards began the nightmare involving potholes er..pot-craters.We finally reached Pondicherry by lunch time. The next day morning was spent frolicking in the beach, hanging around with runners and collecting bibs. The morning of the race was really pleasant and the race started well on time around 6 am. It was still dark and a cool breeze welcomed all the runners. Dont know if it was the spiritual aura of the place or what all the runners seemed relaxed and having fun. Few km into the run a rustic beat of drums started to approach us (or we were approaching it). Never ran to such a beautiful piece of music so early in the morning. It was exhilarating. At a bend in the trail there were these bunch of drummers drumming away and welcoming the runners and cheering them up.They were from Swaram of Auroville. I was like "WOW!!!". A few familiar faces from the previous runs made me feel at home.The trail was beautiful, thick growth of foilage provided lot of cover from the morning sun. But for a small bad patch towards the end my vibrams were doing a good job keeping my feet intact while providing me with all the tactile feedback from the ground below. I had yoga vashishtam running on my ipod. What better way to run than while listening to what Vashishta taught Rama about raja yoga.I finished in 2:15 mins which is better than my last half by over 10 mins. That was surely a cause of celebration :). Had sweet milk tea and peanut butter jam on bread. The bread slices were thick and huge and the yummiest I have eaten. Am sure anyone after a 21.2 km run wud feel the same with any bread....but no the bread was really good. Caught up with friends who had finished already. Took some pics before I was rushed into a car to get back to the hotel. I wished I could stay around for a while and enjoy the crowd. I later regretted not doing that. The way back was fun with friends, way side coffees, dosas etc. But for the bad road to Pondy it was an awesome trip