My First Half-Marathon SCMM 2016

My First Half-Marathon SCMM-2016

16 January 2016

SCMM -2015 was a great event and 1:59 finish by Rohan was a terrific achievement. It was really inspiring but I never felt I would be able to finish a marathon, although it was in my wishlist.

I used to jog a little in the morning on our society's jogging track but never felt it would be the practice ground for me. But somewhere that finish by Rohan inspired me to take up the challenge of Half-Marathon. I increased my practice jogs and joined the Sparrow group of runners in our office. It was great fun where all the group runners will record their run on an app and then everyone else will cheer them up or like their workouts and keep encouraging each other. You would have to declare your monthly target to the group and if you fall short of it, you will have to penalty. That group was great fun in the run. For the group run we used to go once every month to one of the places like Bandstand, Worli Sea face, Borivali National Park. Early morning group runs were nice fun.   

From June to December I had done my running very consistently. I used to run at least 3-4 times a week. Each run used to be anywhere between 4 to 6 KMs. Monthly I averaged around 70-75 KMs for 6 month. The month of December, I cranked it up a little to around 100 KMs, including a run of 17 KMs in about 2 Hours 5 minutes. That run put me in a very confident state of mind, I was now sure to compete and complete the half marathon, 21 KMs. So in all I had put close to 525 KMs of practice before I ran my first marathon. Now that was good practice or so I thought !!!

The day of marathon 17 January 2016 had arrived, the whole of that week comprised of full rest, although a little bit of run could have helped. But I decided to give ample rest to my body which was to be put under it's most stringent physical test. On the eve of the marathon day, I was nervous with mind having lots of negative thoughts about not completing the run, about injuring the body, about dehydration and all kinds of negative things. It was quite an anxious feeling. My big day started at 3:40 in the morning.I sat quietly for 2-3 minutes before leaving home. With fully charged up mood, I picked up Rohan for the event on the way and was soon joined by Vipul, Deven and Vaibhav. To see so many of your close friends to be there just to cheer you up was a superb feeling. There presence meant a lot to me and just perked me up for the marathon. Me, Vaibhav, Rohan walked around 2.5 KMs to reach the starting point which served me as a warm up whereas Vipul & Deven were looking for the parking spot for my car. The starting point was the worli dairy, whole stretch of worli sea face, on to bandra worli sea link, return from the other end, back on worli sea face. That itself would have completed around 10 KMs of the race. Onward it was atria mall, haji ali, peddar road with it's steep slope, babulnath mandir, on to the marine drive and then churchgate station, to hutatma chowk and then the finish line near CST. It was pitch dark when the marathon started but the mood of runners around 14000 for half marathon was very bright. In fact it was awesome. 

I started my run with clock showing 05:47 A.M. The run on the worli sea face with pleasant breeze was amazing, which kept on getting better and better when I approached the sea link. The run on the sea link was a wonderful experience, thankfully it was not cold that day. They had kept a bhangara team at one end of sea link, the noise of dhol just clicked something in me, I was upbeat listening to those dhol beats. It was a very happy feeling. On the end of sea link, I caught glimpse of my friends who were there to cheer me up, a huge boost. It was a rock-star kind of a feeling :) 

I continued my run and was running without drinking any water. I guess at 11 or 12 KM I had a sip of water and put little bit of salt in my mouth. I continued to jog towards Hajiali. There were people on both the sides of road just to cheer the runners. They were clapping their hands, encouraging runners, shouting peppy lines. They say in Mumbai Marathon the good old Mumbai Spirit is there on the show, I certainly saw that. It just kept getting better and better up on the peddar road, where everyone from little kids to senior citizens were present to encourage runners. Little kids were offering orange slices, banana, chocolates, biscuits and water. This was on and above what the organizers were providing. There were also volunteers ready with instant relief spray for the stiff muscles of runners. It was just as if whole Mumbai wanted you to complete the marathon. 

I must confess after 15-16 KMs, it was more of a mental race. The body was tired and was not really aware of what lies next. I kept pushing myself and realized it was more of mind game. After turning on marine drive, I just thought "Ok...lets run upto Aquarium...after that lets run upto Wankhede....after that lets run upto Brabourne stadium...after that just upto Hutatma Chowk...and then would be the finish line. Kept breaking goal into small milestones, I guess that helped. They had kept indicator for every KM right from start to finish, but after 16 KMs, I got a feeling that they had forgot to keep the landmark for every KM, that long every KM felt. It was very tiring in the last few KMs. They also had kept nice and cool shower so that runners can have a gentle fresh water on their body. On the marine drive, at almost every 400 meters there was a stage where some performers were performing, some were singing, some were cheering. I was just smiling at all this. I do not recall a single name from that but it was full of energy, full of enthusiasm. So full that it lasted up to my finish line. 

The marathon was very comparable to life of Mumbai in my mind. If you want to compete with the whole world, you can do so in marathon. If you want to compete with a specific group, you can certainly do so. If you want to compete with a specific person, you can definitely do so. If you wan to compete with nobody, you can do that too. In a way marathon truly represents Mumbai. It gives you your own space in the crowded place. It's upto you what challenge you want to face. I was happy to finish the marathon. That was my own space.

The finish line was now nearing and when it was just a kilometer to go when I suddenly felt that tremendous joyous feeling rushing to my mind. The wishes before the race were very generous and one from Raj "Health First, Glory will follow" was the best one. I certainly did not wanted to stretch my body and was very comfortably nearing the finish line. Once I was on the finishing mat, I just could not believe myself. 

Yes I did it. Yes I finished my marathon. Yes I had done it. Well Done. Terrific. Superb. These were the thoughts. The celebratory raised hands and a loud shout released all my energy and happiness at the finish line. I had finally managed to finish the big task with sheer hard work, practice, planning and execution. I certainly deserved a pat on my back from myself. It was an awesome feeling. I have rarely experienced such happiness, such joy, such pleasure. It was incredibly beautiful feeling. I was just ecstatic. The race finish time for me was 2:49:59. Nonstop run of almost 3 hours, I had put my body through a lot. It came out all right though.

At the finish line, I realized the pain in my body. But it was certainly more of a joy than any pain. After resting in recovery zone, I went on to collect my medal, the coveted medal. 

Around 15-20 minutes after that I just sat quietly soaking in the joy at Azad Maidan and waiting for fellow sparrow members to join. Saw Vikrant on my way to recovery zone and then met Preeti, Mona, Unmesh in the Azad maidan. We clicked few photographs as a memento. All I wanted to do now was to go home and take a well-deserved rest. It was an incredible day and will certainly be itched in my memory for my whole life. That was a good achievement. 

Must say that SCMM was a very skillfully organized event with attention to minute details right from bib collections, medical stations, ambulance, biker pilots, good number of water stations, ample volunteers and most importantly the people who came to cheer the runners. 

The spirit of Mumbai was really on the show and I was glad to be a part of it !!!!

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15-January-2017

The second half-marathon was ticked. Huge improvement over the first one. 

2:27:14 is a nice improvement over the last year's finish. 

Finishing two half-marathon in two years is a great feeling

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21-January-2018

The third half marathon was ticked. Drop in practice and finish time. 

2:38:11 is a step backwards. 

Finishing three half-marathon in three years is a very satisfying feeling


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20-January-2019

The fourth marathon was ticked.  Drop in practice and finish time. 

2:35:52 was not bad compared to last year. But with little bit of effort 2:30 is possible. 

I felt the freshest after the run though. I was not at all tired like previous years. It was certainly to do a lot with my reduced weight. 

Finishing fourth marathon was great looking forward to next year's run.

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19-January-2020

The fifth marathon was ticked.  Huge drop in finish time. 

2:49:59 was bad compared to last year. First 16 KMs was perfect and I was on my way to record my best time. But then suddenly something snapped. Last 5 KMs, I preferred to walk and never wanted to stretch myself. 

Saw dark spots at the finish line. It was a good indicator that I was extremely exhausted. 

Age catching up? May be...........But certainly, I need lot more practice. Running single half marathon is never good enough. Practice, Practice and more practice.

Finishing fifth marathon was very satisfying though!!! 

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