Ramesh’s blog This is Me!!

Delhi Half Marathon – 21 at 42

Having moved into a new job at Delhi in March, as I was getting acquainted to the new City and the new pace of life, the buzz word and the anticipation was all around the Common Wealth Games (CWG) which was to follow a few months later. My colleagues at work were both the outdoor kind of people and naturally a fair share of the conversation at Office had to do with outdoor activities. Among all things,  more discussions took place sharing the experiences of the 21 Km Delhi Marathon run than of any other event because both of them had run it atleast twice before. With November merely a few months away, and with me being the newcomer on the block, I was also coaxed and cajoled into seriously considering running it this year.

I had run a whole marathon once but that was over two decades ago and the thought of running another one, albeit a half marathon suddenly seemed to make me look for excuses to wriggle away from the proposal.  By mid October I had found myself going on evening runs of 4 to 6 Kms on a regular basis.  Though hardly an effort  towards preparing for the 21 Km run, the recollection of guys in college – one year my junior- asking me if I was serious about running the 42Kms on not having seen me practice adequately and going on to complete the entire race, gave me a degree of confidence that I might pull this one off too.

Registration done, I got myself a Running number of 5136.  A sore throat that went neglected only went on to develop into severe chest congestion. To the doctors it seemed like Allergic Bronchitis and they prescribed me some heavy antibiotics. To me it seemed like a waste of valuable time that I otherwise  should have spent  practicing for my big run.  When the chest got no better after the first course of antibiotics and I had to be prescribed a second course, I was unsure if I would be able to run at all with the run being barely a few days away.

Fortunately, 5 days before the run, my chest seemed to have cleared up and I decided to push myself to doing a 15Km trial run simply to test my endurance. Though I achieved what I had set for myself as a goal for that cold evening, I found my left knee getting jammed by the time I had finished the run. I was not sure if it was the cold, the New Shoe or simply my age telling me to GO EASY. For the next four days my knees were sore and any plans to jog even small distances had to be shelved.

21 Nov 10. The early morning was nippy and by 0700 hrs I was at the starting point all set for the run. A slight tinge of doubt clung on to me in some corner of my mind but I didn’t allow it to consume me. At a distance I could hear a countdown go from five to one and I was on my way. It was like a huge carnival with over fifteen thousand people having assembled there. The first three kilometers were covered relatively easily before the first signs of a cramp on my left calf started to nag me. It was too early in the race and I was at that point in time unsure if I will be able to complete the race. Focusing on my running I continued but not without stopping from time to time to massage my muscles and then only to speed up trying to make up for the lost time. Seeing this one of the runners came beside me and said “Take it easy man”. By the time I reached the 8 Km mark, I saw the lot of the leading runners make their way back to the stadium. It was a treat to watch their long strides and the clock read 40 minutes.

 I tried counting down from a thousand and then counting up to a thousands in steps of hundred and every other possible game to distract myself from the nagging pain that was getting worse and now concentrating around my knee. At the 13 km mark I clocked 1: 39 or so by my watch and that was nearly the same as what I achieved during my practice. If only I could keep up this pace I will easily finish the race by 2:17 or so I knew. At the 16 kms mark, it was encouraging to hear one of the onlookers shout and cheer us “Come on just five more kilometers to go”. However by the time I reached the 18 kms mark , it was nearly 1:50 or so and my knee pain had gotten so bad that even walking had become excruciatingly painful.

My only concern was not being able to go past the finish line before the three hour period ran out. With the pain I experienced and the pace I was limping at, it seemed very much possible. The last three kilometers were the most frustrating of them all for all those I had over taken in my early stage of the run, were now going past me at good speeds. And all I could do was watch helplessly.  With 12 minutes to spare I finally limped across the finish line at 2:48 – taking nearly an hour to finish the last three kilometers. Yes I had completed the 21 at 42 but  it felt like no achievement at all.

I am not sure what problems my knees will cause me in the days ahead but I am hopeful of returning to the Delhi Marathon in 2011 only to better my timing.

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