The Aravali Trail run is organized in the Trails of picturesque Aravali Forest in Gurgaon. This year it was organized on Nov 24,2024.

Route Details

The 51.1 km route of the Aravali Trail run had two loops: a 15 km out-and-back section and a 10.5 km out-and-back section.

• The first 6 km were uneven, with some slight elevations and rocky patches.
• The next 5 km were mostly flat dirt roads, ideal for picking up speed.
• The last 2 km featured a steep downhill, easy on the way down but challenging on the way back, with stunning views.

Our Strategy

Priya and I decided to run the entire Aravali Trail run 2024 together. We had experience with this race, as we completed the 52 km distance on March 17, 2024, in 7:56:29 (8:36 min/km pace).

This year, the distance was 51.1 km. Our goal was to maintain an 8:00 min/km pace and finish within 7 hours( we kept additional 12 mins as buffer) . We planned to start slow and keep a steady pace throughout the race.

Hydration and Nutrition

• 1 banana pre-run
• 2 dates with salt at 13 kms
• 1.5 Shakar Para at 20 kms
• 1 spoon curd rice at 35 kms
• Started with 2 lemons + salt + water(500 ml) , consumed electrolyte + plain water + 100 ml coke off the hydration stations throughout the race

I shall explain the whole race in terms of hours

Race experience

• The Aravali Trail run 2024 started at 5:33 AM in darkness. I had only a small handheld torch, which made it hard to see the route. Sometimes I ran with Dam, Priya, or Anshu, who had headlamps that lit the way better, but I still struggled to navigate.
• Around 4 km, I had stomach trouble and stopped behind a bush to relieve myself. Without water to clean up, I pulled up my pants and continued running.
• At 6.5 km, I felt scared about falling or twisting my ankle because I still couldn’t see the path clearly. Priya suggested praying, which I did, and it made me feel calmer.
• We completed 7 km in 1:02 hours. I told Priya to forget about pace and focus on finishing safely. She agreed, and that became our goal.
• 7–15 km: This stretch was flat and on a dirt path. By now, it was daylight, and our bodies had warmed up. We picked up the pace and finished 15 km in 2 hours, feeling like we were back on track to target an 8:00 min/km pace.
• 3rd hour: By this point, we had seen most of the route. The 17th km was a steep uphill, but the path flattened after that, and we stayed on pace, covering 23 km by the 3-hour mark. However, at 18 km, my stomach acted up again, and I had to stop behind a bush for the second time. I decided to eat less for the rest of the race to avoid further stops.
• 4th hour: Knowing the last 5 km of this section were tough, we took it slow, walking uphill and uneven sections while running the flat parts. We felt strong and passed several runners. Our previous trail running experience helped as we stuck to our strategy and didn’t follow others’ pace.
• 5th hour: This stretch repeated the challenging 5 km, so we kept it steady. I felt some pain in my back and calf muscles at the 35 km mark, but applying pain relief spray helped within 15 minutes, and I felt fine afterward.
• 6th hour: This was a flat section, and we felt fresh. We joked about treating this as a training run for a bigger upcoming race. Staying light and steady, we finished 45 km in 6 hours.
• Final 48 minutes: Fatigue set in, but I reminded myself it was okay to go slow. I aimed to keep the pace under 8:00 min/km without overexerting. In the last kilometer, we sprinted and finished the race in exactly 6:48 hours.
• Also 20 mts to the finish line, we held hand and crossed the finish line, stepping together on the timing mat as a celebration of running the whole race together.

Cheery on the cake was also, we got second place podium overall for this race. 🙂

Note : We failed to maintain the decided pace in most of the practice runs and this run which was off pace by just 1 seconds felt too close to what we had planned. And we were happy with how we executed the race and felt lot of gratitude towards to trails who let us through and immense gratitude towards our coach who train us everyday to make us capable of covering this distance injury free. Thankyou so much Manjeet Singh . It wouldn’t have possible without your training.

Also very thankful to the whole 5 AM club and DXR runners for helping us with so many practice runs, by pacing us, coming early in the dark to run with us ( so that we feel safe) . Special thanks to Akshay , Govind who are always up for anything we ask them help for.

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Any comments/feedback/questions are welcome.