If you are a part of those thousand Indians out of a Billion, who are to attempt the longest recognised athletic distance, you automatically know that you are a blessed soul. Its time to keep aside your higher-end training shoes, state-of-the-art instant dry apparels, Power gels, Energy Bars, and close your eyes with all modesty and humbleness to thank God for making this happen. Whether you complete the run or not, is totally on the preparation one has done. I must admit that some three weeks down the line I had lost my focus on the preparation. This showed significantly on the last 15km of the course.
7:40 am; 0:00:00, Azad Maidan; There were not many takers for the Full Marathon. Count was limited to 1300 participants, including overseas runners. During the start, there were a lot of enthusiastic runners from various walk of life. Surely, they knew what they are into. I definitely knew this would be a toughest race I would have done till date. As the race started, participants picked up their pace. Sun was already up an shining and was to just get stronger.
0 km - 10 km, 01:02:23 ; While doing the first 10k, I was keenly watching the half marathon contestants running on the other side of the road. Till last year I was a part of them. The first leg did not take much efforts and infact I was through the Peddar road flyover without any issues. I was satisfied with the current pace, looking at trying to improve my 5hr 28mt time of last marathon. Guess it was too early to judge.
11 km - 20 km, 01:10:40; The second leg of the race saw us go past Annie Besant road, to Worli Seaface, Shivaji Park and Mahim Junction. Though I managed this leg with comfort, but at around 18k, my calves were showing signs of fatigue, This was not a very good sign, as I had a significant distance to cover. Contestants were evenly spread out across the course. As I finished 20k mark, the Full Marathon was already won by some superhuman.
21 km - 30km, 01:33:20 ; This phase took us from Bandra Reclamation, back to Mahim Junction, Shivaji Park and then to Worli Seaface. At Bandra Reclamation, my wife and kids awaited with some drinks. For the first time my kids saw me running a race. But probably it would take them another 10 years to understand the magnonimity of the task. It surely was great feeling to see them amidst all the struggle. My knee had started paining. I knew this will just keep getting tougher from here on. It was already around 11:15 am. Heat was coming out from the tarmac into the shoes.
31 km - 42km, 02:06:00 ; I must admit that I had to walk most of this distance. My lack of practice and focus was showing up and I am definitely not trained to run at 12:30 pm or 1:00 pm. We were 4hr and 30 mts into the race. At Mahalaxmi race course, a police van was escorting a bus, meant for tired runners who wanted a hitch back to finish point. Some of the runners in the bus asked me to come in. Nothing doing. My legs were hurting, my sole was numb, but this option was definitely not on cards. They cheered my spirits as the bus went away. I was left wondering if I did the right thing. But this was not the end. Trust me, trying to run on the Peddar road at 1:00 pm, after you have already done some 35km is no joke. It can send your thoughts spiralling. I just wanted to go home, snuggle into my bed and go off to sleep, pretending that it was just a bad dream. I almost stopped a cab to take a ride back home. But just the thought of going back empty handed, without a completion medal was very depressing. My kids look forward for such booties. I continued walking. By this time traffic was released and we were left to fend for ourselves, mostly running or walking on the footpath. As we reached near the finishing point, I was in no condition to run, but managed to cross the line at 05:51:55. This was surely a bad day at the office. I did get the completion medal, which I gladly handed over to my kids as soon I reached home. They were thrilled. Now it is lying somewhere at the bottom of their toy basket. Anyway, its was never mine, it was always theirs.
I read this line somewhere, "I am a dedicated and determined marathon runner, only God can judge my running and only God can stop me from running."- Anonymous.
