The Mumbai Marathon -Jan 16th '05

The Long RunAfter a long period of anticipation Jan 16th finally arrived. The lead up had started a long time back sometime in Sept/Oct, on not much more than a prayer. dekha jayega.

The training had had it's shares of ups and downs. Sticking to the schedule had never been achieved. There were supposed to be three mid-week runs, and one long run on the weekend plus a cross-training session. Initially, when the distances were shorter, it was easier to follow. As they grew longer, the schedule went for a toss, and even doing the second mid-week run was an achievement. We did however stick very religiously to the long run on the weekend. There were a couple of depressing weeks where I wasn't able to finish the target distance, altho, in the very next week that distance was easily surpassed. We did finally peak at the max recommended 30K distance a couple of weeks before d-day.

In the last week, the excitement had been building up, I was raring to go. On day T-2, at the marathon expo, I ran into Linford Christie and got him to autograph my bib. What good omen?! Now I was going to run the marathon at a 100 m dash pace. That sound the kenyans would report hearing, would be me rushing past. On Day T-1, as I saw the milemarkers being put up, and the water stalls being erected, I found myself breaking into a run. Later that evening as we were headed to my training buddy Pankaj's place for a pasta party, i got a chance for drive along the route all the way up to the u-turn at bandra reclamation and that send my pulse racing. tomorrow was going to be great!

The pasta party was great, Pankaj's wife had to do all the hard work. By the end of the pasta and paneer and icecream, we were loaded with carbs and all sorts of energy. I got home, pinned my LC autographed bib to the hi-tech, quick-drying adidas jersey and tucked myself into bed. i was all set. Didnt get much sleep though, was too excited.

I get to Azad maidan, there is complete lack of information. The prime real estate, ie the area next to the start is hogged by huge shamianas limited access for sponsors, and the page 3 types that were to grace the occasion later. The baggage deposit counter was all the way across the field, and of course, no signs pointing to it. By the time i ran across changed, dropped off the bag and got back to the start line, there were 3 minutes for the race to start. I was sweating, no time for a warm up or a leak. I also didn't find pankaj anywhere, wasn't too thrilled about running this by myself.

But the atmosphere was great, a loser DJ was rallying the crowds. There was no breeze, but it was overcast, and relatively cool. Soon it would all start. The adrenaline came rushing back in. Afterall, I was an finely tuned athlete at the peak of my abilities. ....3,2,1,0 and off we went. dekhne ka time aa gaya.

Initially, it felt like there weren't a lot of runners, inspite of being at the back, i was still very close to the start line. The field spread out really quickly and by the time I even got to churchgate, I could see the lead runners way off in the distance. As I turned past NCPA, I spotted pankaj behind me, turns out he had arrived even after I did. He caught up, and it was back to being on a training run.

As this was not the celeb run, i thought people would stay in bed on a Sunday morning. That wasn't the case, and crowds were out in strong numbers on marine drive. I was feeding off that energy. Acknowledging the cheers, and the cheerleaders, waving back and even shouting at times. Had read a list of dos in case you DONT want to finish the marathon. One thing on that list was to expend lots of energy in engaging the crowds. It was on the back on my mind, but found it impossible to not get caught up in the excitement. we saw murali and jaya waving us on.

there were all sorts of people. there was a guy in his late 40s wearing a full tricolour outfit, doing splits under the flyover. what a clown, i thought, but then saw him much later actually running the full distance. felt a little bad.

We had settled to a nice pace by the time we hit babulnath. the kemps corner bridge had beaten me once before; so braced myself and treaded up cautiously. As we got to the top, saw peggy waving us on. she was supposed to run the half, and it didn't look like she had enough time to get back to the start. all the best we yelled, and carried on. The Jaslok section was quite easy. As promised sujata was there, Altho didn't see ami and arjun.. By this time, the field had sorted itself out. all the runners around us were looking at the 5 hour total time mark, and we had a good time joking about how horrid the climb back would be in another 4hours time.

The quarter mark went by, just past haji ali and we sailed past nehru planetarium and onto worli seaface. There was a runner there who was carrying a camcorder and cell phone. as usual i pooh-poohed the guy as being a novice who didn't know what he was doing. later found out that he was running his 12th marathon. sudden surge of respect came about.

The seaface leg ran all the way upto INS Trata before turning back, and exiting at Poddar college. The long U-turn gave us a good look at the field. There were tons of people ahead of us, as behind us. There were lots of foreigners too. There was a big japanese group too. And lots of people that were above 50. Very inspiring.

As we exited out towards poddar college, there was a BEST double decker open top bus on the road in the middle of track in the returning lane. Probably ferrying officials and or tourists. Just as I thought to myself that he shouldn't be there, the lead vehicles appeared right behind the bus and were hopelessly blocked. the big ambling bus driver had no clue what he was doing. Only after a bunch of people waved at him furiously, he got out of the way, making way just in time for the lead runner to pass him by.

Was a though provoking moment. Here we were, just on the outward leg, and the lead guys had already come back after going all the way to Bandra. hmm. it was great to see them run by. galloping full stride, and always pushing themselves at peak capacity.

We rolled towards prabhadevi. had given sushrut and sharika a bad estimate of when I would get there. so wasn't really expecting to see 'em. but sure enough they were there waiting for me to show up. Major shot of enthu. when I got to siddhivinayak, saw my parents, and the guptes. my office guys ganesh and liladhar were there too. more cheering, and the crowd noticed i was a local guy, and joined in. At kirti college, sighted more familiar faces, amla, guru were there. it was a blur though. I know there were more people but I can't even remember exactly who.

All this time, i was running on excitement. Now i started thinking more clearly about the task at hand. we had done about 18 km so far, and more than half was yet to come. hmm.

We got to the half way mark at Mahim church in 2hrs10. on dot at our targeted 10 min/mile pace. I wasn't tired at all. well a little, but not even remotely exhausted. So far so good. The situation changed fast though. Past Mahim fort, the shadows afforded by the buildings thus far went away. The section upto the U-turn at the end of the BandraWorli Sea Link and back was very tough. Concrete is definitely tougher to run on, and the direct heat, zero breeze took their toll. The tide was low, and the beached fishing trawlers in the bay looked tired and dead. Peggy's dad, was the saviour there, yelling out to me and handing out a bottle of Tang. Had started to feel the pain by now, and decided to fortify myself with the energy goo pack. dunno if it really helps the body, but mentally it did wonders.

Things steadied as I headed back past the Mahim darga. Pankaj had opened a little gap on me now. I synched up with the 12 time marathoner at this point, and happily trudged along with him past shivaji park and towards home. At Kirti college saw more familiar faces, Chitnis kaka, deepak mama, shaka mami, abhijit/sonali and shreyas were all there. As I went past my home, I was pleasantly surprised, even elated, to see more building junta waiting for me. the guptes were still there too.

At that point we were at the 29-30K mark. Mentally, it was a big resistance, becus one had never run longer than this before. The only thing that you had to egg you on is that the online training guide says confidently that if you do 30K and stick to the schedule, you will find the additional 12K somehow. Doubts begin to creep in. I didn't really stick to the schedule did I? but then neither did Pankaj, and he's looking good. the 12 timer says i'll be fine. and then there are all these folks cheering me on. Seeing familiar faces egging you on has an unbelievable effect. Distracts you from the now hurting knees and feet. can't let them down, can I? Besides, everything was looking great, wasn't too tired, and was on schedule as i headed past the passport office

I turned on to Worli seaface, had a swig of water, and 20 mts later hit a mental wall. My knees and thighs stiffened up, and the balls of my feet were hurting at each impact. I simply couldn't go on. I stopped, decided to stretch out a bit, and then go on. Ended up taking a short break.

At that time, I can remember thinking i didn't have choice. I had to stop. But later, after thinking about it, and talking to a some people, I have changed my mind. There was an medical aid station after the water halt. The well meaning doctors were asking every runner to stop for assistance if we weren't alright, or if we had cramps. Until that point stopping was not an option, suddenly it was a possibility. Another factor was that during the 30K training run two weeks ago, i had similarly stiffened up, and had been able to continue after a short break. So in my mind, it had become okay to stop. The fact that I had never this far before also must have weighed in.

I think for amateur runners like me, a training run of 36K is minimum, training schedules need to rewritten atleast for first time marathoners

I did recover, and made my way back to AB Road. At the Mela, I joined the straggler half marathoners. There were lots of blue bibs(full marathoners had red ones), but it was obvious right away that the ones that "ran" the half had already gone past. Most were in groups, having a party carrying banners, and generally having a good time.

By the time I reached haji ali, I was running on fumes. I had decided that I would try to "run" up the jaslok bridge, but didn't even attempt to find out if I could. Walked all the way up, and used g sin theta to basically roll down upto babulnath. It was actually reinvigorating to get there. Was in almost what could be called the home stretch, just 4-5 km to go. The joy was shortlived though. As i turned round that corner, the usually inspiring sight of the Air India building, turned out to be anything but. It was well past noon by now, the sun was beating down. The task of running all the way back felt ominous.

At this point any plan I had, had gone to pieces. Completion was the only thing in my mind. Had no familar faces to run with or cheer me on. Ended up walking half of marine drive until i saw the 2km to go mark. Felt a little ashamed, and limped into a lame run. Couldn't keep it up for long, started walking again around braborne.

As i got to Fountain, the less than a km to go signs showed up, and breathed in some last bit of energy into me, and I finally ran across the finish line. walking across the finish line would have been very sad indeed.

The finish was not very eventful at all. It was just past 1 pm, the traffic restrictions were off, and the cops were already tearing down the finish clock. The timing chip mats were also gone, so there was no way I was going to get an official finish time. There was no water at the finish line, and no blanket. Worse, i was told that there were no medals for tailenders. Nobody to say well done.

Had no money on me, so walked half a km across azad maidan to the bag counter. Would have had to walk back to buy stuff, but some nice fellas sitting next to a truck offered me a drink, which i graciously devoured. I just lay down there in the truck's shade thinking about the last 5 hours. And as I did, I felt better and better. Fished out the phone, and then the celebrations began. Everybody had finished well. peggy, shankar and murali had happily finished the half. pankaj had finished in about 5 hrs. my parents called. garima and ranjeet called. vipul jesal called. prashant and anu had called earlier. All the way from the US. Peggy and shankar tracked me down. She also found out that there was a finisher medal waiting, but i would have to walk back across to get it. heck, why not? deserved it didn't I? :-))

All in all it was and still feels brilliant. While on marine drive, and on countless occasions during training, I questioned the whole effort. But half an hour after finishing, as the 12 timer had promised, the first one was special, and I was already thinking about doing better in '06.