Tl;dr : After preparing for a Full Marathon, I complete the Half Marathon – in just under 3 hours.
This reminds me of a tweet I read “Woman completes marathon without talking about it” – and thought about myself. Here I am chronicling each week of my Marathon training![ Starting here ]
Anyway – here is a brief write up of my running the Kaveri Trial Marathon 2015.
I had booked a cheap room near MG road, one of the fancy startups of 2015 – parallel to Church Street – where all the pubs are there. Woke up at 1:00 AM, freshened up and walked to the bus pick up point near Queen Victoria Statue. This is near the Chinnaswamy stadium – and till I reached I was not sure if the bus will be there – and was wondering what will the plan B be if the bus had already left or didn’t show up.
Thankfully 2 buses were there – and a volunteer cross checked my name and let me in. I got in and immediately dozed off.
Took more than 2 hours to reach the race venue. It was still dark. They had music going on and felt energised.
Some 200 odd Full marathoners were there. Their race was to start at 6:00 AM. The race starting point was a Km away. For the 800+ Half Marathoners , the race was to start at 6:30 AM. The full marathoners started proceeding to the race start point.
I went and stood in the queue for the Portable Potty. There was a long queue and there were 5 units, but only 2 were functioning as water and toilet paper were out in others. Next time – carry a roll.
I had to rush to the race starting point – and boy oh boy – there was such a huge crowd. And the track was so narrow. I thought – there is going to be a stampede.
It was beautiful. Just perfect weather – not too cold and fresh clean air. And the excitement and enthusiasm all around crept into me.
6:30 Start.
The fast runners pulled away quickly and we laggards started slowly – the narrow road was not a problem. I was looking at how people run and a few were stomping heavily – felt bad for their legs – it will hurt bad at the end.
I ran without a break till the turn around point came – and still kept going – passed all the aid stations and finally stopped at around 12kms. I was listening to 2011 Space odyssey. What a brilliant book.
I was munching parle biscuits and looked at the sky – and it looked so clear. My mind was calm and devoid of any thoughts. Paused the audio book and let the moment sink in.
I resumed running and continued my gentle unhurried pace. Soon I was just 5 or kms from finish line. No pain came thankfully and was enjoying the run. It is all in the mind.
The sun was up, but clouds quickly covered and there was a gentle breeze.
Finally completed it in a new Personal Record time of 2hours and 53 minutes.
The deed was done.
The Full Marathon looks impossible now. Perhaps will give it another shot next year. Will continue my training. Have to increase the pace. This number I put up – was still slower than the veterans – 60 years and above – first place finish ( 2:45 I think ).
