Experiences of My First Half Marathon

'Behind every successfully man there is a woman' - Saying seems hackneyed but when you achieve something and you look back, you see an army of people who made sacrifices for your success. There are some who contributes a little more than others and mostly they belong to fairer of the two sexes. I would thank my wife who stood by me and helped me in every possible way to achieve the feat of finishing a half marathon in sub 120 minutes.

The experience of finishing Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) was awesome undoubtedly. Warm-up for the half marathon started with a session in Max Hospital, Saket where marathon veterans like Sunita Godara and Tanvir Kazmi shared few of their experiences and important tips. All of were quite helpful. I ignored one of them and suffered. It was- 'Reach the event venue at least 1 hour before the start of event'. My figures would have been different if I had taken this advice seriously.

I had an inkling that certain roads will be closed but never imagined that whole area around Nehru Stadium (Event Venue) will be totally fortified. I reached near Nehru stadium at around 6:20 am and kept on looking for parking for next couple of minutes. Parking was conspicuous by its absence. At around 6:35, I parked my vehicle in a no-parking area at around 1 km from the stadium and rushed towards the venue. Count down for closing the doors of holding area was going on. When I entered it was in between 4 and 3. I had luck to enter the arena at around 7:55 am, almost 15 minutes after the start of the race.There was a huge crowd of runners in front of me which reminded me of traffic jams on Delhi ring road. I was not running at my natural speed due to congestion on the road.

Second advice that I neglected was 'you should not try anything new on race day'. But this advice got a lower precedence over another one which goes down as- 'If you miss first water station on the race day that is your first mistake'. So drink some water at each water point'. I normally do not drink water while running. I might be surviving long runs without water because I drink nearly 2 litres of it immediately after getting up in morning. That's a kind of anomaly that works well for me.

On race day I stopped at almost each water point on the route till mid way and realized that I am not very comfortable in taking water during running. So on my way back, I skipped many and felt much better.
I finished a race comfortably clocking 1:49:45. Although I had no experience of such a long timed run but I targeted 1:40. My target is not yet achieved and this will keep me desperately looking forward to the next marathon.Nothing can replace once's own experience, lessons from other's experience can just speed up your learning process.

I never imagined that an activity like running can attract such huge crowd. It was an awesome crowd. People from all age group from different races- African, Asian, White, Brown- people from all walks of life and from around the globe. Flying ladies and gliding aged runners deserves a standing ovation and so do the 'pacers' in the event. I got introduced to this term 'PACER' very recently. That's someone who helps other runners to finish the race in within a particular time. Scintillating musical performances by rock bands, cheerleaders, people standing besides road cheering for runners, superb arrangements for water and other refreshments and not to mention the glimpse of elite runners from different countries- These highlights will stay in my memory forever.



  

Fitoor

Long back when I was merely 10 yr old, it all started with a kick. I was the goalkeeper and stopped the penalty shoot in a football match during our games period. My fellow team-mates lifted me up. The feeling of  exuberance are till fresh in my mind- strong enough to give me goose bumps. And this was the splinter that ignited the passion for soccer in my mind.

I searched for a place where I could get a chance to play this heavenly game in my home town- Hisar. My search ended in Jat College football grounds where I got a chance to get training under a team of Coaches: Sh. Madan Singh Rathore, Sh. Ashwini Kumar, Sh. Jagdeep Sheoran, Sh. Shushil Lega, Sh. Vinay Kumar. I love this sport. To increase my stamina I started going for long runs during morning. In winters, when it was cold and foggy outside, running caused sweating and sweat use to evaporate. I felt excited to see vapours fuming out my body and that encouraged me to run even faster. I use to run hard to experience that phenomenon. I played football making sure that it never interfered with my studies. So whenever there were examinations, I skipped going to grounds and thus missed a couple of opportunities to play certain official sub junior championships. It was in yr 1995 that I played first state level tournament. In yr. 1996 when my classmates were enjoying preparatory leaves for class 10th board exams, I was playing state level tournament in Kurukshetra. My team secured first position in that tournament.Then in August 1996, our team repeated the feat in Pre-subroto cup. In September 1996, I represented Haryana in Subroto cup. Playing in Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium against teams like Bengal and Nagaland was experience of lifetime. Somehow, due to excessive pressure of studies during my senior secondary days and certain other domestic engagements, I stopped going to ground regularly. But whenever I use to get chance, I made sure that I visit grounds. My craving for workout shifted from sweating in grounds to burning calories in morning jogs. I love the smell of green grass and watching the vast blue skies after getting totally enervated after a good morning work out and that still keeps me ticking.

I got admission into an engineering college, shifted to a new city and football again entered my life but the level of game was much lower than what was there at my home grounds. Besides that soccer games were not regular phenomenon in engineering college. So my focus shifted more to morning work-out. Chandigarh offers a lot of places where you can do that. But nothing beat the experience of watching sunrise on banks of Lake Sukhna while listening to Sitaar. Leisure valley was another very good location for work outs. In second year I met with a road accident and suffered medial meniscus tear in my left leg. Doctor advised me to take rest for sometime and avoid strenuous activities. Jogging was out of question for 3 months till I recovered. After 3 months first run that I did was a 10k run. I was last among 6 people who finished it but I was happy that I can at least run without any problem. Playing soccer was difficult with knee injury but still I managed to play for my college consecutively for 4 yr. I love soccer so much that on every valentine's day -I use to make sure that I play football.

College got over. I joined job and was lucky enough to get a 5 month paid holiday whom my employers referred as training. It offered a chance to play different sports at a splendid location on the banks of lake Khadagwasla in Pune. My soul still clanged to soccer till the time my knee got injured again and left me limping. I took up squash-another sport that took my breath away. I use to play it all alone in the courts for hours. In few days, I became quite good at it. But the honeymoon period of training ended and I was placed in Pune city where there were no grounds or squash courts. Only badminton courts were available but it never appealed me that much. Thanks to hills of Pashan region- I ended up jogging in evening as well as in morning at that splendid beautiful location listening to the chirping of birds. There were occasional tryst with my first love (Soccer) when I played for my office and then again for west Zone of my department.

Times changed and I again decided to go back to college for post graduation. Got a chance to play soccer. For nearly one year I played without any complication till one day my knee started giving me trouble once again. I tried to play soccer after recovery but discovered that my body is not able to take it any more. Sadly I had to say good bye to my favourite sport.

The passion for soccer got metamorphized into passion for running under the pressure of knee injury. I shifted to a number of locations where I searched for locations for jogging. KBR Garden in Hyderabad, Shanti Stupa in Wardha, Mayawati ashram in Champawat and Lodi garden in New Delhi are few of beautiful discoveries I made in the pursuit of running.

My madness is shaping up in desire for running half marathon these days. Lets see what the future holds?