Sunday 19th Jan 2014 a big day - completed a marathon at
Mumbai along with my wife. It was truly an amazing experience. After having run
the Airtel half 2012 I wanted to go for the full marathon even registered for
one in Jan of 2013 but did not participate for the lack or perhaps no preparation.
This year I wanted to do one. I was not sure if Bhawna will agree to run this
and I did not want to push her into running a full as this was not going to be
easy. When I talked to her around June 2013 she nodded and said let us register
and then decide later if we really want to do it. I took it as a yes and went
ahead for the registration. 
Luckily I engaged couple of my office friends to form a small running group.
They all registered for the Airtel half as well and we did some good runs together. The prep was going fine until
we came to know that the dates for Airtel half were pushed to Dec 15th. This
was not as per our plan, nevertheless the Gurgaon marathon was preponed to Nov
so we needed to switch but unfortunately we could not try the longer than half
in Nov as our training wasn't enough. So we finally decided to run both the
half and then do a longer runs alone. Our practice pitches were standard. For
less than 5K Jasola sports complex was the place to go, for around 7 to 12 K we
preferred Jahanpana park and for 12+ we chose Lodhi garden and the roads to
India gate. I must say I enjoyed the training, getting up early sending kids to
school and out for our runs. We did the Gurgaon half on 24th Nov the timing was better than before but still short of our goal of 2.30. We wanted to get that in Airtel half. Airtel half took place on 15th Dec. It was really a cold morning I still remember we were shivering at the start line but a few Kms down cold made no difference. We completed very close to our target time. And between these two runs we
also did a 25k at Lodhi garden/India gate. Now we had
to do a practice run for over 30 K. We had exhausted all known routes and
wanted to try a new one. We decided to run from our house in South Delhi to my
in-laws place in north Delhi. This would be a good 25K and then we could do
another 5-7 K on our way. We set out for our longest run on 27th Dec around
8.30 AM running on the busy ring road. To our surprise there was a cycle track
for most part which was available for running. It was a great experience
running the entire stretch past the Rajghat, Red Fort, ISBT etc. With these
training runs under our belt we geared for the big day. Unfortunately for 10
days post our longest run we were out on vacation due to winter break of kids, we
had an awesome time but No runs. This led to the final week before the run on 19th.
The last week we did close to 25K over 7 days.
Finally the day arrived we left for Mumbai on Friday 17th
evening by train. We had our friend Anuj and his wife joining us for the run.
We reached on 18th and checked in the hotel. We were out by 12 PM for the expo
center for bib collection. We took a local train from Andheri, this was my
first experience on a Mumbai local. We reached the expo center by 1.30 PM
collected our bibs and also met Anuj and Namita there. We then went for lunch
along with them to Colaba Causeway. Anuj mentioned a good restaurant. We had a
good lunch and did some shopping. Came back to hotel early, ordered food and
went to bed by 9 PM as the next day had to start early by 3 AM.
So here was the D Day which I longed for almost two years. We
woke up around 3 AM got ready. I had asked for a taxi at 4 Am and cab was there
on time. We reached Azad maidan - starting point for the race by 5. It was
still dark. We did some stretching and got into our running zone. There were flutters in my
stomach, I was reminded of all the trainings that went in to make this day
happen. I was also fearful for myself and Bhawna. This was a distance we had
never done before “what if” was the question & I really had no answers.
Well finally the race stared at 5.40 AM, we were lined up in
the section C and walked to the start line and stepped on the start at 5.45 AM.
My goal was simple to be able to complete it with no injury in less than 6 hrs.
We began our race at a good pace, it was still dark when we left Azad maidan. Around
3000 people were there for this race hence we had to steer our way through the
runners. Once on Marine Drive the breeze got better and we had broader road to
run. We joined the 5 hr bus and carried with them till about 10K. The dawn was
setting in and things were looking very positive. Even at 6.30 AM people were
out of their homes cheering on the Mumbai streets for us. I saw an old lady
must be in her late 80's sitting on the roadside waving at the runners. At
about 15 K mark we entered the sea link a beautiful site with great winds blowing,
very scenic view. Around the middle of the sea link I could feel some cramps in
my stomach not a good sign for any runner, I slowed down to walk and asked
Bhawna to continue running but she refused and walked with me, about a KM down
the pain eased and we started running again. We completed our half in around
2.40 which was as per our target. At about 26 K the sun started roaring,
someone had told me that you should try and cover as much distance possible by
9 and now i could see that it was so true. We switched to run/walk by 31 K,
this was the longest we had done until now. Also the uphill at Malabar hill was
pulling us down and we decided to walk that stretch. The people on the street were still cheering us but we were almost out of energy. The last 6 KM on the
Marine drive were the longest ever. The scorching sun was ablaze with no trees
to gather shade from and the refreshment counters also dried up. Our run/walk
switched to walk/run. Bhawna seemed to be in better shape taking lead. I was
trying to do the catch up. We knew that to keep to our target we had to take a
stretch run. Last three KM we decided to give it all we had and forget the last
39KMs (easier said than done) the feet refused to lift up, only mind was
pumping in energy. Then I saw 1000 meters mark, wanted to run fast but could
not, finally at 500 meters mark gave myself a final push to finish within our
target time. Finally we did it. I almost rolled down to my knees 50 meters
inside the finish line onto a side and took a water bottle from a fellow
runner. The feeling was overwhelming. Bhawna got some cramps and we went to the
medical room for some first aid. Then we collected our prized possession our
medal. We limped our way back to the taxi and got back to the hotel.
Mumbai we might see you again next season until then keep running..!!
