Realizing my physical fitness- or lack of it- I started my planning five months ahead. First task was to identify a community to run with. It is always fun to run with partners. It not only provides you with a sense of discipline for adherence to schedule of mileage, pace, strength building but often provides motivation for the big event also. I was lucky to find ‘The Mumbai Striders’- a group that trains under two highly motivated trainers (Deepak and Praful) at the Mumbai race course. Suffering from a shin injury and unbearable pain towards the race day, I for one would have certainly given up participation but for the constant motivation of my running partners and trainers!!!Having gone through the injury and its physical and emotional aftermaths, I can also vouch how important it is to avoid one while training- the mantra is 'stay within your limits'-
500 kilometers of training, all leading up to 18th January 2009, I was finally running the race!!! The atmosphere at VT (the starting point) was electrifying with bands playing loud music and the bollywood and other celebrities in its full strength cheering the runners.Didn't I miss some cheerleaders straight out of a LA Lakers match at Staple Center? If Standard Chartered promise this for ext year( at regular interval,of course ),I may even attempt the full!!
I must admit the first two kilometers were rather frustrating. I'm not a fast runner, but the crowd I was running with was downright slow. Running in the no-time-objective zone, I felt cheated of my marathon moment. I was trained about the importance of starting slowly and building up speed during the race, but I also knew I wanted to express myself at a faster pace than this. Consequently, I did what I thought must do: I zigzagged around the other runners and tried to pull free of the slow crowd.
End of second kilometer as I reached Marine Drive turn, I saw the frightening mass of people that were ahead of me in the race. Wanted to prove to them that I was made of steely stuff too!! The deafening music from the ‘Radio Mirchi’ stand had its own aphrodisiac effect. To top it all, my wife was waiting at the halfway turn at Mela to cheer me up. How could I be a slowcoach in front of her?? That would have, in split seconds, floored my ‘husband ego’ laboriously built over past seventeen years!! With these heady mixes of emotions, I decided to defy what my trainers told, I started accelerating my pace and also managed to overtake a few (best thing that I did in the whole race)!!!!
All that accelerating, to pass and impress some random runners (and of course my wife) had taken its toll: by the time I reached Haji Ali (on return), I was already spent. I lifted my head only to see the grueling Pedder Road slope (why did I do that?)!! There was nothing left in me to do but relax and enjoy the run, which paradoxically was what I had set out to do initially!!! By the time I reached Chowpatty, my speed, already hovering at 'slow' at Pedder Road was gradually slipping into reverse gear. My posture slumped; my strides became stiff and irregular. At MD flyover, I hit the proverbial 'wall' and started to wonder whether I was even going to finish this race. The corporate manager in me already started looking for excuses!!! Heat, humidity?? Dehydration, cramps?? Finally, I zeroed in 'shin-split', which I thought was the most convincing as I was anyway suffering from it ‘once upon a time'!!!
I kept drinking and taking my energy drinks frequently, so finally the nutrients reached my legs (why did it take such long time on that day?? Did Newton momentarily tamper with the law of gravity? someone certainly owes me an explanation). At Churchgate, my strides evened out a bit and I started kicking again! what a wondrous sensation !!. I'd known about the sense of despair and fatigue that hit one upon reaching the 'wall', but strangely no one had mentioned the sense of elation, of physical emancipation, that comes when one passes the wall and really starts to run again.
At Hutatma Chowk I felt my feet pound the ground with rhythm, Even as I finally started to feel the excitement of finishing the half marathon, I felt really bad for a lady who overtook me at Churchgate but couldn’t go on. Forgiving her for hurting my male ego at Churchgate, I tried to egg her on to see her starting and overtaking me again ( oh! c'mon, not again!)!!!! but..... only to stop and join the now walking group a few meters ahead.
I lengthened my strides (as much as I could) and looked ahead to see the finish line!! Hurray, I‘ve done it for the second year!! I told myself and began to pat my back when I heard a dejected voice of Deepak- my coach- saying "you clocked ONLY a 2.09"!!! Gosh,it's 21+km, I wanted to tell Deepak, but......
What an emotional roller coaster!!! Better experienced than said!! Hey Deepak, sorry for disappointing you, but I shall....next year!! Friends, put on your running shoes and join me for Mumbai Marathon 2010.
You may contact the Mumbai Striders on -99202 72883
Labels: fitness
posted by Ramesh Panicker @ 10:40 PM
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