Vagamon trail run 2020, a sideline saffron story.
I am all over the place from start to finish, I am the proud way-finder for all the runners here. And these are a crazy bunch whom I am associated with! I am saffron in colour and I fluttered in fresh air of vagamon in abandon.
Thanks to the organisers, they might have taken all the trouble to mark this trail and then hang me in all prominent places. I am talking of the https://www.vagamonultrail.in/
The runners I am associated with are running a whopping 90kms in a day ( grit or it is sheer existence in the test!), Some not so mad, they just need to cover 60 kms… then comes the fun run, it is 33 Kms ONLY. Ha ha! So a crazy bunch got together in a beautiful place called Vagamon to do this stuff and I am witness to all the fun.
Ethereal is the word for this heaven on earth! located in the district of Idukki, Kerala the skies here still have sky colours, the place where I was brought from.. I never could see stars in the sky…. here I am witnessing all hues of the sky. And much more…. the green patch intact and people simple as Indian rural are….
I was in the path of a crawler who did 33 just for fun! She cannot be called a runner at all in this crowd of athletes. Registered for this run, just to be in the hills and knows that she can walk it through in the stipulated time. The terrain of 33 kms was mostly runnable, others were a single footpath between tea estate or hills, which needs a lot of training and of course more than that grit. First almost 10kms this runner seems to have run past me, so didn’t see her much, but after that, I could see her stopping by mostly to gasping for breath because of the climb, other times to gape at the mystical beauty of these hills or to eat at the well-equipped aid stations ( Idlis, sweet potatoes, tangerines(juicy ones) with salt, coffee in coconut shells and chikkis, anybody would indulge in these protein-rich refreshments….. btw you are trekking the hills, needs that extra push, cant be using the already stored stuff in her body, that has to be taken back intact to her couch, seemed her approach)
After her first 10 kms of run/walk, she seems to have befriended a set fellow runners/trekkers, then I was mostly ignored between talks and but some of them looked out for me whenever they felt they are lost and didn’t want to trek an inch more than the 33. I heard them speaking theories which they termed as #babagallopkumar philosophies, as one among them was dishing out tricks from his non-experience of being on a run. The company made the rest of the journey easier I guess, saw them gasping lesser, supporting each other when cramping and resting more often (the fun run that is!) and eating as many refreshments as possible.
Whatever said and done, these hills do call me back to show the way for more runners. So would these runners get back to enjoy this fresh air and the scenery.
Kudos to organisers https://www.facebook.com/SolesOfCochin/ and all the runners who attempted this great feat!
Attaching some photos from the run. for more www.instagram.com/lthampi
