Running a 21km Half marathon in close to 2 hours is no more a challenge. My normal schedule ensures that I do this every 10 days. But this race was different. It had different challenges. One, recovering from the exertion of a full marathon done in September (Berlin Marathon). Second challenge was copping up with a very demanding work pressure. The result of the same was that I barely ran for more than 3 days between 29th September and 8th Nov. I dared to participate without a preparation only because it was 21 km. Had it been a 42km, I would have safely stayed way. But there was always a doubt of uncertainty in terms of completion.
9th Nov, 2008, Delhi: Delhi Marathon projected as the richest Half marathon in Asia, with a tofla prize money of $2,10,000. This was the third edition of Delhi Half marathon, starting from Hutch to Vodafone and then finally to Airterl Delhi Half marathon. I have been lucky enough to participate in all three. This event had some 7000 participants. The weather in Delhi at this time of year is pleasant. A bit of smog ensured that the sun did not shine till the race was finished. Buzzing with excitement, the race started at 7:30. As always, its a pleasure running on the roads of Delhi, with no cars zipping past. Wide roads, greenery around, the coarse looks beautiful though out. I had come with a mind to enjoy the race. I wanted to enjoy the journey, not the destination, for that is where I was to spend more time.
I was consistently running a pace of 6 minutes per km. The 10 km mark was completed in less than an hour. Even at 10km, I could feel that still lot of energy was left. I continued to maintain the pace at 12km and beyond. When I touched 14km, I was doing a good pace of 5:30 minutes per km. This was really giving me a kick. But obviously I was running a risk of injuring myself. The best par to 21km i that even before you realised, the race is about to finish. At 15 km mark, I realised that only 6 km more where left. The weather was good and was really helping. I remember the first editing being held in Oct had sun shinning very strong at halfway.
This time the race was won by an Ethiopian, Deriba Merga, completing the race in 59 mts and 15 sec, a record time for this event. At Beijing Olympics, he had finished 4rth in the Marathon event. At around 18km finally my lack of preparedness started showing when I started slowing down. I could feel stiffness in my calves. Nevertheless I was feeling extremely satisfied so I didn't mind slowing down. I had kept a target of 2:20 minutes, but went much beyond my expectations. As I ran past the finishing line, I finished my 8th half marathon, and another completion medal on my soft board. Each and every medal I have, has a different story and different circumstances to relate, but there is one common string which runs across these medals, the feeling of grit and determination.
