"What gets me back on the track to run 42 km, or what wakes me up on a fine Sunday morning, to do 70k to 80k of cycling, I don't know. But I surely would want to do more of it, till my will and body permits". These thoughts crossed my mind, as the plane soared into the sky, towards Amsterdam, the capital city of Holland. This was my fifth Full marathon. Amsterdam has been hosting marathon for last 33 years. It is considered as one of the top 10 marathons of the world (2/10 done, 8/10 to go). The beauty of canals and typical Dutch houses around these canals, tulip gardens, can take the breath away. If that is not enough, the race starts from the Grand Stadium that was built in 1928 to host the Olympics. The magnanimity of entire place leaves you in an awe. For statistics, Olympic Flame was lit for the first time and India had won its first ever gold in hockey in these Olympics.
18th Oct, 2009:10:30 am, Olympic Stadium: In cold countries, races start very late compared to tropical countries where start time is around 6am. There was a participation of 30,000 runners in all categories, while 42k comprised of 9000 runners. Outside the stadium, flags of 60 odd countries were put up, because there were participants from all these countries. I searched for it,. Yes, it had to be there, the tri colored flag fluttering in the wind. A temperature of 10 degree and some cold winds had forced me to buy an extra running top to keep the body warm. Race started in staggering time. No matter how any runs one has done, a distance of 42k is so long that you always start from the scratch. Runners took on the streets of Amsterdam. The first 10k took us through one of the greenest patch of city, the Vondelpark. Small canals, gardens , numerous trees made the scene look so perfect. This stretch also saw us pass through Rijksmuseum and Van Gough Museum, which house some of the most recognised paintings in the world, The Sunflower and The Night Watch, by Van Gogh and Rembrandt, respectively. Each of these paintings would cost millions of dollars. The city of Amsterdam is very small (219 sq km with a population of 8 lacs only). After the loop of 10k, we headed towards the country side. I finished the first 10k leg in 55mts 47sec.
11k-20k, 1:00:37: I was maintaining a speed of 12k/h, which I normally do in a 21k. I guess a bit of inexperience showed up here. I undermined the efforts that would be required after 25k. At 18k I did slow down a bit, but I guess, the body resources were already reducing. If city was beautiful, the country side was amazing. A small road ran right through, with the Amstel river on left, and beautiful cottage houses with lovely garden and driveways on the right. This followed by green farmlands, aesthetically divided in square shapes, randomly studded with grazing sheep and cows. As we continued running along the Amstel river. there were a few groups rowing in the river and interestingly the group comprised only of middle aged women. No wonder, Dutch have a very strong sports culture. After a point, we took a U-turn over a bridge and headed back towards city. It was a bit hot and I was sweating for the first time.
21k-30k, 1:13:57: I term this stretch of 21k to 30k as the dark phase. Runners have already covered a lot of distance, yet the finishing line is far away and running tends to get very mundane. This is the time when minds starts to play games. Stretch of Amstel river continued almost till 28k. The weather was getting a bit cold again. There were excellent arrangements of water, energy drinks, fruits though out the course, at every 5km. While I had touched 22km, the race was won by a debutante, 21 year old Kenyan, Gilbet Yegon in 2hr 6 mts, improving the course time by 1 second. Over two and half hours into the run, I was having major hunger pangs. It was around 1:00 pm in Amsterdam, but was beyond meal time as per my body cycle (4:30 pm IST). I had not had a proper meal since morning. Moreover, I had been up by 4:30 am local time, not because of excitement, but more due to time difference. At one of the replenishment station, I literally gobbled up on bananas. My speed had slowed down and ankles had started hurting by now. I really wanted to finish the race as fast as possible. This stretch saw us pass through more of commercial buildings.
31k-40k, 1:23:29: Crossing 30k mark is like passing one mental barrier. The remaining stretch saw us run along the canal till 38k mark. There are over a hundred kilometers of canals in the city, adorned by 1500 bridges. With ankles and knees hurting mad, the beauty of houses across the canals seemed a bit diminished. No practice is ever enough. I had worked on lot on my muscles and weighed some 4kg less than what I weighed in my last marathon (Dec'8, Singapore). Even then, the condition was just getting worst. There were lot of people cheering and pushing the runners. As I reached the 35km mark, I had enough of bananas, energy drink and power gel that another sweet thing in my mouth and I would have thrown up. My body was craving for salt. Temperature had dipped again and cold winds had started blowing. We entered the Vondelpark again. One common aspect of European cities is that in the name of development, Local bodies have not compromised on the quality of life of denizens. Space for cycles, pedestrians are clearly marked. There are about a million cycles in Amsterdam, which more than the city population.
As I touched the 40k mark, I got back my energy, and pain in legs didn't matter any more. Best part of the race was yet to come. We raced toward the gate of Olympic stadium and as we entered the arena, the place was full of hundreds of people cheering loudly. We ran the last lap on the tracks. Only thing I could feel was the goose pimples. I crossed the finishing line at 4hr 50mts, 10 mts better than my best time. In quantitative terms, Marathon runners burn some 2500kcal - 3000kcal in entire run, something unheard of in a country where cricket is considered to be strenuous sport. It takes weeks to recover from the micro stress and tears. Mind screams when I think of putting on the shoes for another run, but I guess taking it to another level, that's the fun!
18th Oct, 2009:10:30 am, Olympic Stadium: In cold countries, races start very late compared to tropical countries where start time is around 6am. There was a participation of 30,000 runners in all categories, while 42k comprised of 9000 runners. Outside the stadium, flags of 60 odd countries were put up, because there were participants from all these countries. I searched for it,. Yes, it had to be there, the tri colored flag fluttering in the wind. A temperature of 10 degree and some cold winds had forced me to buy an extra running top to keep the body warm. Race started in staggering time. No matter how any runs one has done, a distance of 42k is so long that you always start from the scratch. Runners took on the streets of Amsterdam. The first 10k took us through one of the greenest patch of city, the Vondelpark. Small canals, gardens , numerous trees made the scene look so perfect. This stretch also saw us pass through Rijksmuseum and Van Gough Museum, which house some of the most recognised paintings in the world, The Sunflower and The Night Watch, by Van Gogh and Rembrandt, respectively. Each of these paintings would cost millions of dollars. The city of Amsterdam is very small (219 sq km with a population of 8 lacs only). After the loop of 10k, we headed towards the country side. I finished the first 10k leg in 55mts 47sec.
11k-20k, 1:00:37: I was maintaining a speed of 12k/h, which I normally do in a 21k. I guess a bit of inexperience showed up here. I undermined the efforts that would be required after 25k. At 18k I did slow down a bit, but I guess, the body resources were already reducing. If city was beautiful, the country side was amazing. A small road ran right through, with the Amstel river on left, and beautiful cottage houses with lovely garden and driveways on the right. This followed by green farmlands, aesthetically divided in square shapes, randomly studded with grazing sheep and cows. As we continued running along the Amstel river. there were a few groups rowing in the river and interestingly the group comprised only of middle aged women. No wonder, Dutch have a very strong sports culture. After a point, we took a U-turn over a bridge and headed back towards city. It was a bit hot and I was sweating for the first time.
21k-30k, 1:13:57: I term this stretch of 21k to 30k as the dark phase. Runners have already covered a lot of distance, yet the finishing line is far away and running tends to get very mundane. This is the time when minds starts to play games. Stretch of Amstel river continued almost till 28k. The weather was getting a bit cold again. There were excellent arrangements of water, energy drinks, fruits though out the course, at every 5km. While I had touched 22km, the race was won by a debutante, 21 year old Kenyan, Gilbet Yegon in 2hr 6 mts, improving the course time by 1 second. Over two and half hours into the run, I was having major hunger pangs. It was around 1:00 pm in Amsterdam, but was beyond meal time as per my body cycle (4:30 pm IST). I had not had a proper meal since morning. Moreover, I had been up by 4:30 am local time, not because of excitement, but more due to time difference. At one of the replenishment station, I literally gobbled up on bananas. My speed had slowed down and ankles had started hurting by now. I really wanted to finish the race as fast as possible. This stretch saw us pass through more of commercial buildings.
31k-40k, 1:23:29: Crossing 30k mark is like passing one mental barrier. The remaining stretch saw us run along the canal till 38k mark. There are over a hundred kilometers of canals in the city, adorned by 1500 bridges. With ankles and knees hurting mad, the beauty of houses across the canals seemed a bit diminished. No practice is ever enough. I had worked on lot on my muscles and weighed some 4kg less than what I weighed in my last marathon (Dec'8, Singapore). Even then, the condition was just getting worst. There were lot of people cheering and pushing the runners. As I reached the 35km mark, I had enough of bananas, energy drink and power gel that another sweet thing in my mouth and I would have thrown up. My body was craving for salt. Temperature had dipped again and cold winds had started blowing. We entered the Vondelpark again. One common aspect of European cities is that in the name of development, Local bodies have not compromised on the quality of life of denizens. Space for cycles, pedestrians are clearly marked. There are about a million cycles in Amsterdam, which more than the city population.
As I touched the 40k mark, I got back my energy, and pain in legs didn't matter any more. Best part of the race was yet to come. We raced toward the gate of Olympic stadium and as we entered the arena, the place was full of hundreds of people cheering loudly. We ran the last lap on the tracks. Only thing I could feel was the goose pimples. I crossed the finishing line at 4hr 50mts, 10 mts better than my best time. In quantitative terms, Marathon runners burn some 2500kcal - 3000kcal in entire run, something unheard of in a country where cricket is considered to be strenuous sport. It takes weeks to recover from the micro stress and tears. Mind screams when I think of putting on the shoes for another run, but I guess taking it to another level, that's the fun!
1 comment:
dear sumil, gr8 to read of the experience on the road- at the end its all in the mind- i am really happy for u- wish i cud carry on running on myself -been asked to stay off running and impact sport.
guess will have to evolve a new regime with swimming n running.
u must carry on-- all d best n keep it up.
karan
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