Friday, January 24, 2014

Running on Full

Not one of those heroic tales this. A run in Mumbai is always magical though and worth documenting. Well over 6 hours to finish 42 km but that is another story...

From the moment one enters Azad Maidan, the energy and excitement are palpable. Thousands of runners from all over India nay from all over the world are here. There are the loud ones, the ultra fit ones and the debutants all raring to go.  We are all penned into alphabetical enclosures, with 'A' being for the human torpedoes. In the dismal 'C' category with only the 'D' category bring up the rear.

5:40 a.m - A huge reverberating cheer ensues and we know that the race has started somewhere far ahead. The cold winter air brings a small shiver, or is it just the nervous energy. Church Gate passes at the start point. The 'C' folks are already 10 minutes into the race even before the start line.

Lovely running the first 10K despite the tumultuous Peddar Road. Loud cheering all the way. Music blaring, cops waving, yes, this is the Mumbai Marathon! The half marathoners go by and a few celebrities swish by at considerable speed.

Amazing to run on the sealink. 20K done. The elite runners with the BMW lead car go by silently at well over 20 km an hour. Just have to take photos as they glide by and can't help but marvel at how some humans are engineered.

Great support all the way. Cookies, oranges, ice packs, energy drinks, fruit juices, chocolates, peanuts are on offer from the thousands of residents who come out for the sole purpose of supporting foolhardy strangers.

Cramps at 25K but manage to finish with a hobble, limp, walk run combo. Going past the final electronic timer, the mind is already on 2015. There's romance and magic here and one can only dream of coming back year after year.

No comments:

A wedding in Chennai

It's been a while since we had a massive wedding on the wife's side of the family. This one was especially important as it was the...