SCMM 2009 Marathon Experience

We left home at 5.15 am, my wife, younger daughter Vallari and myself for VT. We had to take the route via saath raasta to JJ Hospital and thence to the Police Commissioners office. As we had left early parking was no problem. We parked the car and walked all the way to Gate number 3 which was our entry point for the Corporate Challenge. There was pretty decent security, with screening of people entering the holding area for the participants, this led to long lines at the entry points. As I had come early, I got in well in time, some of my colleagues who came late had to stand in long lines and missed the start time for the half marathon and had to rush off without warming up. We had 16 people running the half marathon from our company and 27 participating in the Dream Run. As usual we had quite a few drop outs but I guess these guys missed out on the experience once again. We were running for a cause to support “Project Crayons” an NGO which works for the underprivileged girl child – Health, Education and Rights (HER) and 13 of our runners were running for Light of Life Trust. We also had a message on our T-shirts which said “Remember 26/11, Enough is Enough, Do not Participate, but Contribute to a Positive Change”. I am confident we will do just that in the coming days.

After doing stretches for ten to fifteen minutes it was time for the race to begin, this time the organizers had a separate holding area for chip holders which made life less complicated. Last year I was trampled upon by the hoards which were let free by the organizers and had to run with both my toe nails damaged - towards the end last year I was running in excruciating pain. This year was much better, I helped a couple put on the timing chips in the dark, just before the race started, encouraged another veteran like me (his first time) that he should not worry and he will definitely finish the race. I met him after the race and congratulated him - he had a huge smile of satisfaction on completing the distance.

At sharp 6.45 am we were let free, the chip holders had to run about 500 metres to the start line - when I reached the start line it was 6.48am. This year it was way too warm and humid for a comfortable run as compared to last year. After the four kilometer mark I was completely pooped and had to walk for some time before running again. I have been training early in the morning and finishing my run before sunrise. I guess this also makes a huge difference - one should train in similar weather conditions to get an accurate assessment of one’s running ability.

I took the race kilometer by kilometer and resisted drinking any water till about the 7km mark, after which I took water regularly, finishing more than twenty bottles by the time I finished the race. The climb up Peddar Road, after Babulnath was painful as it is quite steep and long. I saw the lead runner in the half marathon half way up the bridge at Peddar Road and cheered him on, about 200 metres behind were the second and third placed runners and then the other lead runners, I shouted a cheer for all of them. After doing the climb, the downhill run to Haji Ali was a pleasure. A young kid offered me an orange which was a welcome relief and really helped in stopping my mouth from drying up. As a veteran, one gets an extra cheer and calls for buck up, you can do it, which is really encouraging. I saw Anil Ambani surrounded by a group of his employees on his way back opposite Lala College. I am sure he would have finished in around 1 hour 45 minutes – something I look forward to emulating in due course. I passed the 11.3 km mark, the turn back marker at around 8.15am. I was running past NSCI when I saw a young colleague, Mahesh, on his way towards the half way mark. By this time the sun was up and I had started developing a blister on my left foot. With last years experience, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ran slowly to protect the foot and ensured that the blister did not fully develop. This made my balance 9km much slower than I would have liked. I had planned on completing the run in around 2 hours 15 to 20 minutes, but that was not to be, I managed in around 2 hours 40 minutes.
As I was going up Peddar Road, I met another young colleague, Sudhir and told him to buck up and not run like he was old!

On the way up the hill my right calf muscle started becoming stiff and I again started walking as I had just recovered from a calf muscle injury which had happened on 1st January, 2009. It was a suspected muscle tear / muscle spasm which was extremely painful and had left me with a limp for 3-4 days. An orthopedic surgeon who stays above my flat, Dr. Deepak Govekar had told me to take muscle relaxants and had given stretching exercises, had told me to wait for a week at least before thinking of running. He had also said that it takes 6-8 weeks for a muscle injury to heal completely! This had left me quite down in the dumps, as I had been training pretty regularly since September last year. I was to start running again on the 10th of January, so on the 9th I went for a long walk and on return home did some stretching exercises. While doing this I felt my calf muscle jump and the pain started all over again. I went to visit my friend, the orthopedic surgeon and he told me to forget running this year. I asked him whether physio-therapy would help, and he said it would. He recommended Ultra Sound treatment along with SSF with calf and hamstring stretch exercises. From 11th January I started this treatment at Dr. Tripti Verma’s clinic at Bandra. Every morning I used to leave home at 7.45am to be at her clinic at 8am for the treatment and exercise. This took half an hour and thereafter I left for office. I thank both the Doctors and Neha, Dr Tripti’s assistant for doing a wonderful job and getting me up to speed to run the marathon. I ran 3km on Wednesday, 6km on Thursday and 10km on Friday, rested on Saturday and the half monty today. Without their help I would not have been able to run and I am really grateful to them for helping to put me on the road again!

On the home stretch, I met some of the Dream Runners – Venky, Navita, Praveen, Vibin and Vaibhav. As I was now trying to protect injuries, I was sure Mahesh would have passed me on the way to the finish. At the finish I met Mahesh and he said he had just come in, so I guess we finished close to each other. There were a lot of first time half marathoners from our company, and I congratulate each of them for completing the run. I am sure each of them will agree with me with the sense of satisfaction and sense of achievement that the run gives on completion in a decent time. I hope they all train harder and run the half marathon again next year, and those who did the Dream Run graduate to run the half monty next year. Another hope is that all my young friends will do slightly more than they did this year in running for a cause! If I could have inspired more of my young colleagues to run the half marathon this year as compared to last year, I hope I can inspire them to raise funds for the under-priveleged also. They need to realise asking for donations for a cause is not akin to begging for money and making statements like I did not have the time do not hold water. If in my position I can, then I am sure all my young friends too will be able to find time to do what is right!

You can view the snaps on : http://picasaweb.google.com/gmbfca12/SCMM2009