The D-Day was finally approaching, it was almost a year back when I was amazed at NB running for 4.5 km on a treadmill and I could see myself running a km with a great difficulty. It was then that I decided that I would also do a 5km stretch in half an hour. It was a matter of months that I could reach it and another couple of weeks that I realized that I should do something more, a marathon seemed like the thing that was challenging enough.
Here comes Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon, just a week after the month of Ramzan. It looked very unfair for people fasting during the month, it would be difficult to keep up with the training schedules. But I had been waiting for this since almost half a year now and couldn't just let it go. I was in a good shape, my best timings had peaked at 11kms in 57 mins just a week before Ramzan. My practice schedules were now shifted to the evening, start at 6:40 PM, right after the breakfast at 6:20 PM after a few dates (which by the way, I realized a great source of instant energy) and evening prayers.
Last 12 days of Ramzan, I went home in Kolkata, this was again not helping in my schedules as I could not run much back at home. I come back to Noida on Monday and decide to come up to speed as soon as I physically could. The very Monday I come back I do a 12 km in a dismal 1 hr 20 mins. As impatience would have it, I forgot all the basic rules of running, dont exceed 10% of your previous week's total; Take one day rests between two long runs; In the haste, I decided to run everyday till the coming week, and the following week run only on Monday as the Sunday following was the D-Day. This turned out to be expensive decision, the last run up to the Marathon, I sprained my ankle!!
On Friday we had an office party in which I danced a bit (too much, should I add!) . My dance form basically involves a lot of jumping. With the sprain in my ankle only a little noticeable, by Saturday morning I was limping. Someone advised a crepe bandage and someone else advised a complete rest. Saturday evening it the pain was a little better than the morning. I had to go get the running bib and the timing chip on the Saturday evening. The timing chip, by the way, is an extremely cool use of technology. For a security deposit of a 1000 bucks you get a small RFID
chip which you tie on your foot while running. There are strips on the running track that not only make sure that you have actually crossed the milestone but also track your timings at various points in the race which are later presented to you in the form of a timing certificate. The chip is also used to identify your race photographs which you can buy later(The race-photography itself is pretty interesting, there are cameras around these timing strips, they take your pics as you pass by them and an image identification is done on the basis of your bib-no and timing chip). Anyways, I had to reach Ansal's Plaza in Delhi to collect the timing chip (which by the way was a full-fledged expo, complete with live entertainment to stalls of Sports and health-food companies); On the way back, as luck would have it, the bike slipped on a polished floor!! The speed was slow and the I had a helmet on, but the fall was enough to slightly injure my right knee!!!
View Larger Map
Less than 12 hrs for the event to start, there was no turning back. At 6:00 next morning, a banana, a few dates a liter of water and a broad smile on the face, I start for Delhi. The race started from the Gate 1 of Nehru park with a lot of commotion. There were elite runners, people who are famous for running and record holders; Celebrity runners, mostly movie stars, models like Milind Soman (He actually ran the complete race, at least I crossed him at 8-10 km mark), Sports-Stars like Rahul Dravid, Actress like Priyanka Chopra (who I dont think ran at all) and even Villians like Gulshan Grover added to the fun; Politicos Shivraj Patil, Sheila Dikshit (who also flagged off the run), Suresh Kalmadi, Navin Jindal; And obviously the super star... Me..
We march.
For our lands, for our families, for our freedom.
We march.
For honor's sake, for duty's sake, for glory's sake, we march.
We march.
The run was really fun, the first 5 km was relaxed, without a stop and without water overtaking as many as I could. There were residents waiting on the roads to cheer us up which brought up the energy levels. With every group of people cheering and hooting I ran at my top speed for a km at a stretch. There were water/glucose supplies all along the way. Most volunteers really looked eager to help. After the fifth km mark when I took my first water bottle, I noticed the volunteer offering water was really happy when I grabbed the bottle from his hand.. shouted a thanks to him he shouted back a real loud "Keep it up" to me... Interesting how we all work...
At the 6th km I felt the pain both in my knee and the ankle, I was thinking of slowing down a bit when I saw this very old guy, probably in his late 60s or early 70s going steady. I decided to slow down when he slows down. We ran together for the next 2 kms. Without a stop, and without any more water... and then I had to slow down after the 8th km for the old guy was really not planning on reducing speed leave alone stopping or taking water !!!
It was around this time that the first runner (foreigner) had started coming back from the other end. We all clapped... Then a bunch of more guys (foreigners)... We were like... Where are our guys? Then we see a group of Indians... We all cheered very loudly for them.... and I got my new dose of energy to run for another 2 kms till I saw the old man again... Running comfortably at the same old speed >:) Amazing...
We had finished half the distance... I met Kuldip (my mentor in the last company) on the way... and we ran together till the end... I took more breaks as my ankle would complain every now and then and so would the knee... But overall it was not bad.. I could cross the finishing line at 490th position in the Open Male Category finishing the race in 2:04:12 hrs. A very long wait for the certificate and an extreme pang of sudden hunger and an absolutely unsupportive ankle and knee (I shouldn't be blaming them... At least they carried me through the race >:)) were not really pleasant but the joy of crossing the finishing line made up for it all.....
And though I still have miles to go before I can sleep... But for that day... I came with the medal around my neck I came back home.... and slept the whole day long...
Race day photographs till I order them
