Marathon woman

At last year’s full marathon in Bangalore and the Goa half marathon she stood first in her age category, as also in the Mumbai Marathon 2015, she mentions. She has also successfully completed the Leh Ladakh half marathon run at an altitude of 10,000 ft.
Batliwala explains that the Comrades race is held every year in South Africa; run alternately as an up run one year and a down run the next. "The route has five big hills and numerous small ones. There are six cut off times during the race and the final cut off is 12 hours. You cannot continue the race if you don’t make it at any of the cut offs. The up run starts from Durban and finishes in Pietermaritzburg and vice-versa for the down run,” her email mentions.
Training for the CM lasted four months. Starting in February 2015 it entailed five days of running up and down hills, one day of cross training (gym and swimming, which she enjoys, along with yoga) and one day of complete rest. The mileage each week was between 100 kms to 127 kms. "In order to practice I also did three long runs of 56 km, 65 km and 56 km in Lonavala, between Bushy Dam and Aamby Valley. I had to follow a proper diet during this period,” she notes.
Crediting her achievement to "full support from my husband Kushru” who is also a runner, she also acknowledges the contribution of her family and Savio’s Star Group (Savio D’Souza is a former Indian national marathon champion, now in his 60s, who has dedicated himself to get others to run better). "Savio is my coach and I started running with him in 2005. My running group joined me on each of my training runs. To complete a race of this nature, one needs a very strong mind, faith in one’s ability, focus, hard work and a strong support team,” she concludes.