"I ran the 2nd edition of the Satara Hill Half Marathon in 2014.I had heard a lot about it from social media. Then I met Dr. Sandeep at the Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa. He told us wonderful stories about not just the race but also the town of Satara. I was very curious to see it for myself. A hidden agenda which the Race organisers may not know was that my maternal grandmother was born in Satara and always told us wonderful stories of her childhood. So in some sense this was also a pilgrimage to my roots.

The race is wonderfully tough and I absolutely love challenges. The route is a gentle climb of almost 8 km to the top where you get a breathtaking view of the valley and then run back all the way down. I enjoyed the up hill as much as I enjoyed the free and flowing descent down the hills. Since it was the 2nd year it was not exceptionally crowded. The race organisers did a wonderful job of hydration and refuelling. There was music when you reached the top. When you are running the "hard" portion you just need to tell yourself that this is all worth it for the beautifully easy ride down the hill. I thoroughly enjoyed my race and did a decent-ish timing of 1.50 with an unexpected podium finish.

I would highly recommend this race to those people who love a good challenge. We all look forward to easy, fast and flat races. But this race is wonderfully challenging and that is precisely the beauty of this run. I promise you that when you finish this race you feel like you can conquer any course.

This experience of this race can be summarised in Pam Reed's quote " Nothing that I have done in my life that has been easy, has been worth it. The harder it gets, the more satisfaction I get "

When I finished this race I got a tremendous sense of accomplishment and satisfaction !"