I had some rice and dal for the dinner. Before going to bed I decided to call up friends who were to run with me the next day. It was my first time in Mumbai marathon. I set the alarm for 4 am and hit the sack.
I open my eyes to see it is already 8 am. Oh my gosh! I missed the run. I trained all year just for this event and I let it go away. I was angry. Wondered how could I miss the alarm, both on the table clock and the cellphone. Was it that I ate too much last night? or because I slept very little the other day?
I wake up all of a sudden to see it is only 3 am. 'Thank god!'. I didn't take much time to realize that it was a dream. Unusual enough, I woke up one hour before time. Got all my things ready and headed towards KVV's place. Kenny was to join us from the main gate.
Reached Azad maidan. I kept my bag at the baggage counter. Stuck my bib number to the jersey and tied the chip timer onto my shoes. It was crowded. By the time we reached the start point, the race had started already. 15 mins late. Kenny went ahead with her friend. I was with KVV and his brother. We started slow and ran a constant pace. It was my first time, so I thought it's wise to stay with these guys who have run here before.
First few kilometers was fun. Loud music was being played. Radio channels had their speakers on. There was a band named
Khiladi playing their soft number for us. There were others who were playing dhols, drums and we tried running to their rhythm.
As we went past chowpaty, our body had warmed up. My body had become an automatic 'machine' by then. I had set the pace and it'd go on. I was happy that my body was responding to my call. Soon we crossed the peddar road - the descent. I knew when we come back after the 10 km U turn, it's going be a daunting task to climb that thing again. It was almost 1 km climb. Luckily we had worked out well for that part. Our regular hill climb in the campus helped a lot. At the 16 km mark I decided to take a sip of water. Just to water my throat which had gone dry by then. The body sweat had dried up and you could see a layer of salt on my skin. I felt as if I had just returned from a sea bath.
At the 17 km mark, we could meet Kenny who was all the time ahead of us. At the 18 km mark, we could overtake Mr. Anil Ambani. He was swamped with photographers and journalists blocking our way. You can see that photo
here. I am in that red shorts right behind him. On to my right is KVV.
Past 20 kms, I had a feeling of sprinting. I immediately felt a sense of cramp on my right thigh muscle. I decided against sprinting. It is better to finish the race at a slower pace than stopping 10 meters before the finish line sitting injured. It was a great feeling to reach that finish line. Even greater feeling that I didn't walk. I crossed the finish line and clocked somewhere near 1 hr 50 mins.
Someone had said
- You have conquered the unsurmountable.
