Big's Backyard Ultra - Oct 4, 2025

Race Report - Big's Backyard Ultra - Oct 4/5, 2025    

Ever since the first time I heard about backyard ultra, I have always felt that this was a format that I should try and see. This run has an unique concept - you have to run a loop of 6.7 km in an hour and whatever time you save in those 60 minutes, you get to rest, before starting the next loop exactly when the clock strikes the next hour. This is a "last one standing" race and is a true test of endurance and mental strength. When I saw an insta post in late February 2025 about a backyard ultra happening in Coimbatore in late March, I was very much inclined to register for it. Thankfully, good sense prevailed and I did not register then. Very soon I came to know that Chennai Runners was bringing BBU to Chennai and that too the location was going to be Tamilnadu Police Academy (TNPA) near Vandalur, and my joy knew no bounds. I had mentally registered myself for the race the moment I heard this news!

Training for DRHM (July) was going on at that time and after DRHM got over, I started doing only easy runs, focusing on keeping my heart rate below 130 in my easy runs. Registered for Chennai Trail Ultra 50k as a "training" for this BBU but that event was a flop show for me as HR was all over the place though I did finish within the cut-off. Weekends had 2.5 to 4 hour long runs and the week before the event, did one recce in TNPA itself with Aravindh and CTC guys Naga, Mani, and Sarathy. That run was for 5 loops (around 35 km). So, I was all set for the BBU on 4th. My three targets, one after another, were 8 hours (50 km), 12 hours (round figure - 4 am to 4 pm), and 15 hours (100 km).

Reached the venue by 2:30 p.m. and collected the bib and tee. Arabian tents had been put up and each runner had a designated area for keeping their stuff. Under this huge Arabian tent, I pitched a tent for myself, thanks to the CTC runners/volunteers who got one for me. Set my things in place - I had got myself 10-15 gel packets, 6 oranges, a dozen bananas, a banana cake, a couple of apples, a few lemons, a pack of dates, 5 packs each of readymix coffee and tea packets, and a packet of salt. Aishu and Tyson were there at the venue by 3 p.m. and they were my designated volunteers for the first six hours. Aishu checked on me as to what I would be eating/drinking during each break - I honestly had no idea. I told her that I would keep her informed during the first couple breaks as I expected to finish the first 2-3 loops early (based on my "recce" run). Seeing the other professional runners come and set up their things was giving me the jitters - they all knew exactly what they wanted and they had neatly compartmentalized their stuff. Here I was, planning to take things on the go! Just before the start of the race, emptied my bladder and had a couple of bread slices with peanut butter and some water and got ready.

CTC/TTB team before the race

The "race" was flagged off at 4:00 p.m. exactly after some pre-race briefing. The first two loops were supposed to be run in a route which had a mix of trail. After 6:00 p.m. the route was supposed to be fully in tar roads until 6:00 a.m. When I started my run, within a few minutes, the heart rate was 140ish. The pace was at the desired level of 6:30 to 6:40 per km. I was getting a feeling of deja vu thinking about the CTU fiasco. Anyway, I paced myself steadily and the HR stayed in the 140-150 zone and I didn't bother. The first loop got over in 44:44 (some fancy number that I called out to the volunteers marking the time too). I had set my watch for "manual lap" and so I didn't know my splits for every km and I didn't need it too. I wanted to track my lap timings only. In the first break, did not take much solids other than a couple of dates with salt on them. Drank some water and some fast and up reload and went for the second lap after sitting for nearly 15 minutes (I remember Elvis - who was Aravind's volunteer - commenting to Aishu, "your runner is sitting obediently without tiring himself; our runner is walking around here and there.")

My support crew of Aishu, Tyson, Ram (Viki came later)

The second lap started at 5:00 exactly and this one was better, HR wise for me; the heart rate was slightly lower than in the last loop though it was not where I would have wanted it to be. I just kept a steady pace and Mahalakshmi Ravi (VV) was running along with me. We both didn't talk much but we were going at a steady pace together. Did not realize I was going a bit faster till I finished this lap in 43:30. Had a decent 15-minutes break again. In this break, took some solids in the form of a banana cake and few apple slices. Hydrated with water and fast and up reload and started. First T-shirt change - from Chennai Runners light green tee to neon green FCM volunteer tee!

The third lap was fully on the road. I decided to continue with my shoes on as I expected the tar road to be hot at 6:00 p.m. We were told to wear head lights as it would get dark by the time we return. There was slightly heavy traffic on the road and we had to be careful to run in a single file. Ms. Mahalakshmi was running with me in this lap too. Carried a gatorade bottle in hand but sipping it only made me feel even more thirsty. Completed this lap in 44:10 and again had a decent break time. Avoided any solids during this break and only had liquids including lemon juice. Told my volunteers that I would have solid food in the next break. Removed my shoes. Tyson was helpful with that, he literally removed my shoes and socks himself though I felt bad that he was doing it for me. Was feeling a bit of tightness/soreness in my hip flexor area and tried to get that area stretched. Aishu and Elvis helped me with that.

Lap 4 was similar to lap 3, the difference being that I was running barefoot. I could see Aravind, Naga, and Mani running ahead and I just kept running at my pace. The HR was getting lower during my run, from 140-150 in the first two laps to 130-140 now. Lap 4 got over in 45:10. I decided to use the 15 minutes break to charge my Garmin, just in case. So, removed it and gave to Tyson who put it on charge. I used the break to have some bread omelet and mashed potatoes (dinner by CR had this and a few other things I guess). Took my first rest room break to relieve my bladder. Decided to carry my handy water bottle from this loop, ditching the Gatorade stuff.  When Tyson handed over the watch to me after charging it for 10 mins, realized that the activity so far had gotten saved. So I had to start my activity fresh. 27.08 km was the distance that I had covered in these 4 hours. Time for a tee change - this time to the green TTB tee ("Life is better in running shoes" - ironically after I had removed my shoes).

Started a new activity in my Garmin and started lap 5. So far, in all the laps, I was among the top 5, if not 3, finishers. Aravind, Naga, Mani would finish slightly ahead of me or just behind me. I was probably going faster than ideal, I am not sure. But the breaks helped me. Interestingly, there was one runner (Rohit?) who would shoot off like an arrow once the bell was rung. He would cross us after the first U-Turn when I still had 400 mtrs to go to the U turn. And then he would disappear, only to appear slightly ahead of the second U-turn, around 200 mtrs before that. He would be seen walking at the time. He would continue to walk the rest of the road and finish probably in 53-55 mins. If Rohit is reading this post, I would love to know what his strategy was, and how much he completed. Anyway, back to my story, I thought maybe it is a good strategy to walk for some time and then run again. So when my lap time showed 15 mins, I walked a bit (one min to be precise) before resuming my run. I felt good with this and finished the rest of the lap running. Finished this lap in 46:43. HR was completely in control. Used the break to again get some more stretches to relieve my hip flexors and adductors. Elvis and Soorya checked on me if I needed any foam rolling or any calf/hamstring stretches but I did not see the need for any of those other than the discomfort in the hip flexor area. Stuck to only electrolytes (F&U) in this break and refilled my handy bottle. Salt tablets, which neither of us carried, had arrived, and so took one salt tablet at this time.

Lap 6 was when Cheetahs Suresh, Deca, Rajesh and all ran along with me for a short while. They started walking after around 1.2 km (their strategy probably involved walking in the uphill). I kept running as usual and in the 15th minute, just like the last rep, took a small break. Took a leak break on the side and walked for a minute. Resumed the run after that and finished the lap in 46:42 again. It was dinner time. Viki had brought curd rice from home. Ate curd rice with mango pickle and mashed potatoes and it was filling. In terms of liquids, drank the F&U reload. The profound sweating meant that it was time for another tee change. Now that I was going to finish the marathon distance in the 7th loop, changed to FCM "finisher" tee. It was 10 p.m. now and I told Aishu and Tyson to leave as Ram and Vikenesh had joined the support crew for the night shift. Aishu said that she would come back at 4 a.m. I told her I may not be running by that time, she warned me to better run and that she would come and support after that!

Lap 7 was uneventful and boring (like they say in all investment strategies, boring is rewarding in the long term). Stuck to the routine of 1-min walk after 15 mins and run steady before/after that. Did not feel any issues and the HR was fully under control, in the mid-130s. The good thing was then I crossed Aravind (initially with Mani and later with Naga) many times when they had their short walk breaks. They would again cross me in a while. They had strategized their walk breaks too. I realized that I had gotten slower only when I finished the lap and it showed a time of 47:18. Had only some liquids in the break. Got Viki to administer some stretches. Sathya helped with filling the handy bottle with cold water.

Started lap 8. Quite a few known faces had dropped out by this time. Now, my first goal when I started the run was 8 hours. I did not want to stop before that. My previous longest distance is 50 km, done during day time under the sun, and so I wanted to do at least 50 km considering that this race started in the evening. So far so good, I did not find any issues. This lap also went with the same routine that I had set - walk break at 15 minutes for 1 min. This time around the 32nd minute had the urge to pee and so had to take a leak break. Resumed running after that and ended up finishing in 48:41. Ate a couple of pieces of potatoes and sweet potatoes during the break. Had a lot of liquids and refilled the handy bottle (I was almost emptying the 300 ml bottle in every loop). 8 laps done and time for a tee change. This time wore the CTU tee that I got for the 50k run, as I had finished 50k+ in these 8 loops (54 k to be precise). Took another salt tablet in this break.

Lap 9 began with a 30-second walk after the tong of the bell. The last 50-100 meters of the route (and the first 20-30) had to be run on grass/mud and my soles were getting a bit tender and sensitive after this. So, thought I would walk the first bit and then run once I was on the tar road. The routine of taking a 1-min walk break at the 15th minute continued. Again took another walk break at the 32nd minute but this went on for 90 seconds as I was getting tired. Ran after that and completed the lap in 48:41. I was definitely getting slower with time and the breaks were getting slightly shorter. I was very hungry when I reached the tent and I called out. Soorya gave me an avocado sandwich. I devoured that piece and he got me a couple more, I took one from that. It was really filling and gave me good energy. Had some liquids (someone offered tender coconut water (ilaneer) - not sure if it was in this break or the next). When Viki asked me as to what I wanted in the next break, I told him that I had not taken dates at all and so to give me honey-soaked dates in the next break.

Lap 10 - again a 30-second walk at start. The run was still very comfortable and I thought that since I was taking two breaks now, I should probably space them better. Decided to take first break at 18 min and then the second one at 35 min; this would mean that I run 17.5 minutes first, then another 16.5, and finally less than 15 minutes. This strategy worked well and I finish the lap in 49:46 and this still gave me a 10-min break. Utilized this break to get some more stretches from Viki and Soorya. The honey-soaked dates and raisins were ready. Had a few dates and washed it down with F&U reload. Carried the handy bottle, which had been refilled. Oh, of course, time for another tee change. This time, donned the TTB black tee - "Deep down we do not know how to give up" says the tee (only if you could look deep down in the bottom of the back side - in small font).

Lap 11 - it was already 2 a.m. I always have this apprehension about the toilet time when I stay up in the night (in travel or at home) as my usual routine is going to the loo as soon as I wake up. Now that I was running so long and having so much to eat, the demons started showing up. As I am used to the TNPA road and I know the "blind spots", decided to use my knowledge and take a break in the shrubs after switching my headlight off, around the 15th minute as per the set routine. The break lasted all of 1.5 minutes and my position suddenly changed into squat position (which had not been employed in the last 10 hours). Anyway, work done, got up and walked a bit before starting my run. Did not feel much discomfort, HR was fully under control but the default pace was going lower (to the 7:30 range). The "second break" in this lap was short and I ended up finishing the lap in 50:06. Since the last 3 laps, Soorya had been asking me to switch to shoes as this would help me to avoid the sensitivity in the feet and I could push longer. I was okay with the idea but was afraid if the shoes would cause any calf cramping. Now after this 11th lap, I had mentally told myself that I will stop at my second target of 12 laps. So, I wore the shoes again in this break. I told Elvis, Soorya, Ram, and Viki that I would be finishing with this lap. Elvis gave some subway sandwich (aloo something) and Soorya gave some hot black coffee and they told me to take one loop at a time. Ram was like, Jagan, come back within 50 minutes, we will treat you with a bath. That will help you to push for a few more laps. If I had listened to them with an open mind, it probably would have worked but I had set my mind for just 12 :( Somehow I felt that if I crossed 12 and stopped at 13 or 14, I would have been upset at not doing 15. 

The 12th lap started with the customary walk even though I was wearing shoes now. This time since I had already given up mentally, had another walk break in the short uphill stretch before the U-turn. And again another walk break before the 15th minute. Just did not set into a routine of running at all till around 22-23 minutes. Then realized that I probably would not finish the lap in 60 mins if I was so lazy and so started running like before. Took a short walk in the U-turn. I very well knew that the walks were only because I was mentally satisfied with the 12 laps. There were no pressing signals from the body to stop. Now, I had a mental map of the distance left in the route. At the U-turn the distance left to cover was around 2.7 km. At the first bend after the U-turn (ignoring the one which comes right after the U-turn), the distance left was probably 2 km. The next bend comes half km after that. The entrance to the police academy is another half km from there. From the entrance till our start point, the distance is 1 km exactly. So, as I did not have km splits, after around 6 laps, every time I would look at my watch when crossing the police academy entrance and would add 7 mins to that to arrive at my potential end time. What initially was 37-38 mins slowly moved to 40 to 43 mins. In this lap, when I checked my watch at the police academy entrance, it was 46:00, which means I still had around 14 minutes to complete one km. I decided to walk a bit after seeing this as I did not have the mindset to go for one more loop. So ran walked from then and finally finished the 12th lap in 53:57.

The Pace/HR progression loops 5 to 12 - illustrating the "walk" breaks!

All of my TTB friends tried telling me to go for another lap as I had 6 minutes left. I told them I had decided to stop and I was not sure of completing the next lap in 60 minutes (though actually I might have done one more lap in 60 min if I had started). I was surprised to see another CR runner (Krishnan) stop at 12 though he too had finished lap 12 in 54 odd minutes. He probably had fixated his mind at 12 too; no amount of cajoling by his team could make him start the 13th lap. Out of the 35+ starters, after loop 12, 14 people started the 13th lap but two of them returned in 10-20 minutes without completing it. So, technically, only 12 people completed the 13th lap. After the run, took some time to relax. Krishnan's team helped me with a glass of tender coconut water. It was very refreshing. We both were discussing as to why our mind played games on us and made us stop at 12 :)

Scoreboard after 12 laps

All in all, finished around 81k in 12 hours, both the time and the distance are my PB (personal best) performances. My max timing in a run was in Malnad when I did 50k (my max distance). Aravind continued to run and finished 18 laps I guess. Naga did one lap less than Aravind. Mani ended up being the "assist" with 24 laps. Sarathy ended along with me in 12 loops .

"Did not finish" medal ceremony!

Overall, the event was organized wonderfully and being one of its kind event, it was an unforgettable experience. It helped me understand myself as an endurance runner - the limitations that I had with respect to distance were more mental than physical and that breaking up the run into smaller buckets (which is the format of this race) is a wonderful strategy to employ. I actually was thinking at one point (around the 8th or 9th lap) that a 4-1 strategy of run-walk should be tried, but I did not actually attempt it. Next time I enroll for such a race, I would seriously contemplate trying a 4-1 or 5-1 strategy from the first lap. Also, the importance of understanding hydration/nutrition supplementation helped. I did not consume a single gel packet for the 12 hours. I just survived on "natural" foods like dates, bread omelet, fruits, curd rice, potatoes, and cake/sandwich. I did not face any lack of energy anytime during the run. I am certainly looking forward to try this again and hit the holy grail of 100 km and probably 24 hours, God willing!

The breakup of the 12 hours!

I have two regrets from this run. One, I could not save my activity fully to show as 81 km, 12 hours, due to the Garmin charging issue. The other regret is that I was running almost all alone and did not eat on experts' brains to understand their thought process and execution. Being my first event of this kind, I did not want my pace/routine to be altered by their pacing strategies, however superior they might have been. Next time, I should probably talk and understand from them as to how they go about! Huge shoutout to the CR team for setting this wonderful event and the amazing volunteers who guided us on the route and marked our timings and all, through the night. Special mention to CTC/TTB crew who were working tirelessly for all of us. Without all the volunteers, this 12-hour run would have remained a dream.