Would you begin the New Year with a marathon?

When the clock struck twelve, Cinderella's carriage turned into a pumpkin, her coachman into a rat, her horses into mice and her beautiful gown into rags; and in the real world Anand Anantharaman was making one of his dreams come true. “We started running into the new year at midnight. Pyrotechnics lit up the city skies, even as tolling church bells announced the arrival of 2015. In temperatures below -15 degree celsius, we ran along the gurgling banks of the Limmat river, as moonshine bounced off the white snow blanket beneath our feet. Dream indeed!” says the 62-year old who has been running since 2006, inspired by the marathon endeavours of Anil Ambani and Milind Soman.  

Image courtesy alphafoto.com

Anand who has run full marathons with his feet shod, on all the seven continents as well as at the North Pole and raced barefoot on four continents—Australia (Gold Coast), Africa (Pietermaritzberg), North America (Utah), Asia (Mumbai)—decided to take it easy, and signed up for the half marathon this time. Running on snow and ice on a dark, cold night requires some strategising. Having earlier run at the North Pole and Antarctica, Anand's third time running on ice involved three pairs of warm socks, a powerful headlamp with six halogens (which he wore on his hip) and a Go Pro camera secured to his forehead, to document his adventure. And of course ice cleats which he strapped onto his shoes. “These offer a good grip and you need not buy spiked shoes. Else you could slip, especially in places where snow has hardened into ice,” he remarks. 


Image courtesy alphafoto.com

The route which consists of laps along the river Limmat, requires about two loops to complete a half marathon and four loops to complete a full marathon; though beautiful it can get monotonous. Flames burn at strategic locations, lighting up the way.

ccording to the organisers, the 11th Neujahrsmarathon Zurich took place after five days of heavy snowfall, leaving a carpet of snow about approximately 5 inches thick. Of course, record-breaking finishes were unlikely in these conditions, but for the 814 runners from 41 different countries, this will always be a run to remember. Oddly, “the t-shirt and the medal that you got on completing the run had to be paid for,” mentions Anand, which could take away the joy of winning if you let it. But as Anand recalls how his run into the New Year brought Maithilisharan Gupt's lines (below) to mind; we gather that there's nothing on earth that can detract from a soulful experience. 
   
"Charu chadra ki chanchal kirane     
Khel rahi hai jal tal me                      
Swatch chandni bichi hui thi              
Avani our ambar tal me"                
(Lilting rays of a shiny moon were romancing with land and water, spreading a carpet of moonshine all around the environs) 

Anand Anantharaman

Here are other interesting marathons that a few runaholics we spoke to intend to participate in this year.

Brazil, Antarctica
Having completed 5 ultra (50 km) marathons, 19 full  (42 km) marathons and 49 half (21 km) marathons, 66-year-old Hariharan Ramalingam, aspires to run the full marathon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in July 2015. "I also plan to run the Antarctica Marathon in March 2015. This will give me the satisfaction of having run marathons in all the seven continents," says Hariharan.

Hariharan Ramalingam

Japan, Australia and New Zealand 
Bhasker Desai, who has run three editions of the Boston Marathon, is on the lookout for smaller races in more scenic locales, and intends to run the Ecorace in Japan, come April 2015. Australia and New Zealand are the other places on this sexagenarian's to-run list.
 
Bhasker Desai

Bordeaux 
The Wine Trail Marathon, which Girish Mallya—who has been running for over 25 years now—intends to do next September, offers pure pleasure en route, with wine stops along the way.  
 

New York, Boston, Pan-India, South Africa 
Srini Swaminathan hopes to run the New York and Boston marathons, all the full marathons in India as well as the Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa, between Durban and Pietermartizburg in which participants have to finish 89 km within 12 hours.

Srini Swaminathan

Chicago
Running in downtown Chicago would offer several delightful sights—the Chicago river, the Michigan lake, the high rises... “If I travel there again, I would definitely time it with the marathon and see the city whilst running,” says Ajay Reddy, Founder of GoUNESCO, who has been organising marathons in India since 2009. 

Ajay Reddy