My second half marathon-2009

After the first half marathon , which i barely managed to finish in 2 hrs 40 min, I had made up my mind to prepare and run next time properly.  I must say that every time we used to run  a cross country in our cadets time( cross-country was about 14 kms) , I remeber, we used to be dead tired at the end of the run and used to sleep all afternoon. I wanted to complete my run and still remain fresh and fit without any body aches and so on. In Delhi, staying at Moti bagh was an advantage as "Nehru park" was just 1.5 kms away and therefore, I used to run daily in the mornings from 0530 to 0615. On weekends , I practised running longer distances by taking more rounds of Nehru park. I had once taken my elder son, 7 yrs old, on his bicycle, and he cycled alongside me for three complete rounds of Nehru park on the road. The perimeter around Nehru park will be approximately 3 km as the track inside Nehru park is 2.8 km.
         Just one month left for the half marathon, I noticed a group of people practising daily in Nehru park. One of my course mates was also a part of the group. So I just joined the group and realised that the group was a part of the Reebok initiative for preparing people for the ADHM 2009. Ms Sheeba Mehra was the coach and I  started attending the sessions. These sessions were about performing stretching, warming up, cooling down, diet planing, carbo-loading etc.  Phew! I never knew things could be so scientific, after all, I have been running all these years. But it was good because I suddenly felt the change, I never had any aches after proper stretching exercises.
      D-Day... Pandemonium in Nehru park, huge crowd... searching for the loo to dump one last time before the run... My wife dropped me near the venue and then it started...  I was jostled madly by the crowd and it was 6 minuted by the time we reached the "Start" point. I started well and picked up pace. I was running with my course mate and we both kept pace with each other. At times, we realised that we were trying to go faster than we could and we used to slow down... At the return leg of India Gate, the sun was bearing down on us and we were mighty exhausted. I reached mid point in 52 minutes. Was very happy and thought that I would reach under 2 hrs. Then after that, when we reached the Safdarjung flyover, my friend wanted to take a leak, and went to the toilet booth. I continued to run and was feeling very tired and hungry too. Picked up bottles of water with lime and biscuits on the way. The last stretch near NCS Chankyapuri was extremely psyching as it was an uphill road and a long run before that with a U turn was most psyching. Speed had reduced a lot by now. Somehow, I mustered all my courage and gave a sprint in the last leg and reached finishing point. My timing was  "2hrs 06 min" . Phew... FInished much better than last time and ran continuously.  I searched for our reebok coach and went for a good stretching exercise.  I felt fresh after that and actually went for a party to a friend's house after this. so far so good!

My first half marathon

Place New Delhi
Event: ADHM 2008
I have been running since the age of 18-19 , that when I joined the Naval academy as a cadet. But somewhere, I was not the "athlete" kind and I was more an academics variety than an outdoor kinds. Nevertheless, we had to run 9-15 Kms every Sunday - we call it the cross-country race and it was a mad competition. I always managed to come somewhere in the last barely managing to complete the race.
So in 2008, I am posted at Delhi and thirty six years of age, and have managed to continue going for runs somewhat consistently say three - four times a week, but restricted to five kms and at the max 10 kms. Therefore, 21 kms will definitely be a first time. But I say to myself, as a cadet , I have done 15 comfortably... so another 6 will not be difficult... after all it is only a mind game.
So i prepared myself for running ... but just one month before the d-day, i observe a kind of black thorn in my leg ( sole of the feet just below the toes... exactly the place which impacts the ground .. and it is painful. I try to extract the thorn... and then I realise it is not a thorn but a corn.. basically my shoes were old and the continuous chafing has caused this problem. So i visit a doctor and she tells me to stop running and gives me a treatment of some lotion and corncaps and scrubbing everyday. The corn becomes worse and bigger and more painful. So I give up the idea of the half marathon. But I have already registered and collect my goodie bag and BIB . It was 300/= in 2008 for entry in ADHM. And we got a magnificent deal in the GOodie bag. Ther wer items in it worth at least 2000/= ... Things like face creams, shampoos, deodorant, chocolates... the bag was full.
On the marathon day, I woke up and since my house was close to Nehru park.. the starting point.. I could hear the noise of the crowd... that was the moment... I decided to go for it.. So i put on my socks and shoes and tried to run.. ouch... it was paining.. but then I said, I will get over the pain and get used to it once I start running.. So i left home with butterflies in my stomach not knowing what was going to happen.
At the site, there was pandemonium.... huge crowd, a lot of known faces and then the race started... I started off very well and very soon we were running on the roads towards the safdarjung airport and i was comfortable very soon.. I mean i got used to the pain in my foot. I slowed down my pace as i was not able to keep up with the guy who was running with me... I reached India gate and was psyched to see people in hordes already on their return leg. The distance seemed too long... I was feeling tired... and leg had started aching badly.. distance was about 13 km completed. So I did the most stupid thing ... I thought Ill stop anmd walk for some time.. and that was the point I got my thigh cramps... and calf muscle cramps... and toe cramps.. I was screwed... At this point I was overtaken by 100's of people... people in twenties... they are very young, so it was acceptable. But when I had an old man ( about late fifties or early sixties ) overtake me, I couldnt take it.. I strarted jogging again...but I could not keep up to his pace.. i spoke to him.. he says he normally does it in 2 hrs 10 min.. I was shocked... The horror of horrors i saw a verrrry old man running.. he was 83 years old... then i saw a man with an artificial leg running.. I have never in my life been more ashamed and humiliated than what happened here. I am a defence offcier who has undergone cadets training and today I am struggling to complete a mere 21 kms. What physical fitness are we talking about? So i managed to somehow limp and run and barely managed to reach the finishing point in 2hrs and 40 minutes. But I was elated and happy that i completed my first half marathon successfully... But I also understood that there is a long journey ahead of me and I needed to improve on my running tremendously...