On the 29th day of
January last year (2018), something happened that didn’t look quite significant
but it took nearly a year to realize the value of it. With a lot of motivation from
friends, a small group of runners was formed and we started our journey.
This year (2019) last Sunday, 20th
day of January….
Asia’s largest Tata Mumbai
Marathon with 46500 registered runners in all categories.
Race day. Half Marathon. Target –
Finish running 21.0975 km | Dream – Enjoying each inch of the run.
Running, in my opinion, is not a
skill or an art to learn. It is merely an experience to earn. It gets me closer
to the ground and helps me stay with myself as most of my runs are solo runs.
Against my nature of blabbering constantly, running helps me stay quiet; however
there is a huge amount of self-talking during these runs.
A practise of 800 km of endurance
over past 360 days during the practise sessions and a good amount of strengthening
made me land at the start line at 5:15am to initiate the first dream sprint of
my life.
As a part of rehearsal runs I had done 20 and 21 km respectively
during end of Sep and Oct 2018. I was all the more excited to set
my feet on the legendary Bandra-Worli sea link which is truly an engineering marvel.
It opens to the marathon runners only once in a year and to run on it, one has
to qualify beforehand.
On a surprisingly very humid
early hour, we were flagged off at the Worli dairy and as me and my partner in
run greeted each other, we set out first step with smiles on our face. After
around a km, we were on track to enter the bridge. I had quite a unique
sensation of belonging whereas my partner was enthralled for the 8th
year in a row.
Both of us had an agreement of starting
together and hitting the finish line at the same time. However, the vital clause
in the pact was to have total fun and keep talking a lot; both the things had
already pepped me up.
3 km down and it was still dark.
In my notorious style, I kept running on the white patch on the bridge. I got
penalized as my toe hit the cat-eye and I fumbled. Within a second, a couple of
kind people got me up and I was back on track in 7-8 seconds. Half a km back,
my partner had a fall after an intervention of another leg that was running
next to him. He was up by himself, I patted his back and recommended him to be
careful although I myself didn’t quite follow it.
The feel of enjoying the sea and
the link was such a mesmerizing one that I forgot about the speed and distance.
Just before the U-turn, while passing through the water point, I picked up a
bottle although I wasn’t thirsty and handed it over to my partner who was
asking me to slow down as we were ahead of target. His idea was to take it easy
until the first 11 km and save some energy for the remainder.
I strived to follow my veteran
partner but somehow I was still speeding. Meanwhile, I gargled a little on his
suggestion and we made a U-turn together. On seeing a colleague ahead of us, I
called him out and realized that he was panting. I went closer and exchanged a
couple of statements with him. He asked me to go ahead and he shall follow. My
partner and I were constantly talking thereby observing a lot of silence
amongst the fellow runners. Surprisingly, I asked him about the reason behind people
being so quiet. A fellow runner replied saying they wanted to consume their
energies only for running. We smiled and went ahead. I couldn’t resist myself
from taking a couple of pictures.
By this time, my partner was speaking
less and hence I turned on some peppy music on the phone. Meanwhile, some of us
including me were shouting out the spirit of Mumbai and others would respond
too. Another runner in the line informed me that, nearly half the runners are
not from Mumbai. I reciprocated by telling him – All are welcome to the maximum
city with open arms.
At the end of the bridge we had
to make a right turn and a phenomenal scene was already set. It was the end of
darkness and my eyes could see nearly 200 people waiting for us at the turn and
as I went close, I could see that they were waving at us. I waved back, my
energies doubled and I am certain that all the runners would have experienced
the same or similar. Imagine a bunch of people who are totally unknown eyeing
at the runners to come and offer all of us, sweets and fruits and energy bars
and what not! My eyes were tear-filled though the perspiration could manage to overshadow
the water.
The timer showed 59m 26s and we
were at the 11 km milestone. I was more than surprised to realize the speed and
asked my partner about the next. He told me we are quite well paced; in fact
ahead of what we had planned. We decided to reduce our pace; grabbed a couple
of bottles of water. My partner had a little and I gargled although wasn’t
quite willing to put anything in mouth.
On the Worli sea face road, I
happened to meet a couple of my friends at a distance of hardly 500 metres;
just did a small conversation and one of them went ahead while the other had
slowed down.
The next milestone was the Haji
Ali signal that was around 4 km from where we were running at that instance.
Something surreal happened and we had to slow down quite a bit. We made a right
turn on the street connecting the Atria mall to the Heera Panna signal. My
partner wanted to gulp in some ORSL and we picked it up on our way.
By now, we were sprinting at nearly
6m 10s a km. We had to prepare ourselves for the next challenge that was an
incline of 1.5 km from the 14th km onwards. We wanted to cover the
upward slope at a pace of a maximum of 7m to a km. It was done. This path was
full of people cheering for us and the fellow runners recommending to take
smaller steps. Also, we could witness a few sweet looking hoardings cheering up
the runners and also some were spreading awareness related messages.
Until now, my mind crossed a
feeling about the purpose of the runners including me and the one who had come
to see us. Happiness was the only answer. Yes, I was more than happy,
naturally. I felt closer to myself; unknown of the self.
The kemps corner bridge was accomplished
and at the Prempuri Ashram signal, we made a right turn. The most beautifully
designed necklace called Marine drive patch was just around the corner. We had maintained
a little slow but quite a decent speed until now. I made a call to one of my
closest friends in the town who had conveyed that he would be waiting for us
somewhere near the Aquarium. He told me that he was already there and asked me
to focus on running instead of using the phone. I smiled and hung up.
There was a lot more to it and
the legs were supporting a lot. The heart was full of joy and the body didn’t intervene
in its feeling. It really wanted to continue without any apprehensions about
the distance remaining.
Gradually, we kept going together
and in some time, we did arrive where this dude was waiting for us. I went
ahead, thanked him and we exchanged a hug. Very sweetly, he took a few pics of both
of us. Also, he ran with us for half a km and we bid adieu, post that. I feel
more than grateful for this presence that really made my heart happier and soul
soothe.
The last leg was just there. We
had to cover final 1 km and it was 2 hours on the clock. It was an amazing
feeling to finish 20.4 km in 120 minutes although during my last practice run,
I was a tad bit faster. However, this was about living the feeling and relishing
the enriching experience where half the city had woken up and come down to the
streets with a lot of love to see me. Wow!
As we crossed the sign board
saying last 400 metres, spectators were encouraging us to sprint it to the end.
The final 200 metres, we were still together, tossed our hands in the air and
hugged each other as we crossed the finish line. Stupendous! We had done it.
Accomplished the dream! We felt humbled. We had to kiss the ground.
Finishing the 21.097 milestone
was a warm invitation to the new beginning…
From my within, I now am really
short of words to express my heartfelt gratitude towards my partner. Had he not
been around, the entire experience would have dwarfed, and I mean it.
Worth mentioning, we celebrated
it with a fantastic breakfast facing the sea at the Mafatlal club, along with
my partner’s friend who had come to pick us up and a friend of mine who had
come to the aquarium. Also sincere thanks to both of them for registering our
entry to the club.
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