The marathon this year was different in the sense that the half marathon started from Bandra and ended at CST whereas the full marathon, dream run and other events began and ended at CST. As I have been running the half marathon for the past three years after graduating from the Dream Run, for me the start point was in Bandra. This was close to home and it just took me ten minutes to get to the venue.
As this was the first time that the marathon was being held from two venues, I expected certain logistic problems to crop up as the usually do in such cases. From my point of view the entrance to the holding area for corporate challenge participants, veterans and general runners should have been separate. The coporates pay quite a hefty chunk for their runners, plus the runners themselves raise money for charity so a different treatment was expected, as it has happened in the past. Once we entered the holding area we were cloistered together for almost 45 minutes. Luckily it was not as cold today as it was in the recent past, otherwise the nearly 45 minute stationary position one had to endure in the enclosure would have definitely cramped up the calf muscles and made the run a non-starter for me. A staggered start for elite participants followed by the corporate challenge runners followed by the veterans and then the general public would have made the start a little less exhausting.
At sharp 6.45am the starting gun went off and the runners started moving on to the road – it was one moving mass of humanity – 11000 runners is a lot of people, to be beaten only by the mass for the dream run. The run started from the MMRDA grounds at Bandra, past my daughters’ school and then turned on to the flyover which connects to the sea-link. I thought the run had started from MMRDA, but to my surprise when we turned onto the road leading to the sea-link on the flyover, near the SV road exit, the timing chip marker mats were placed – that is a good one and a half kilometers from the starting point – it would be a better idea to have the holding area close to the start point – maybe the glamour of the sea-link run blinkered the organizers! I hit the timing chip mats at around 7 am and that was when the real run started. Moving ahead of the mass of humanity was a test of patience and speed, but eventually as one reached the sea-link one could get enough space of one’s own to run at a comfortable pace. We had 15 people running from our company, but I did not come across a single colleague till the end of the race. The run on the sea-link was refreshing in the cool morning breeze and relatively clean air - it took me about 30 minutes to run the 5.6km distance on the sea link, and on to Worli sea face. We turned left after leaving the sea-link and ran on till we reached Cadell Road and turned back from there on to Worli sea face. The intermediate timing chip mat was placed just after the U-turn off Cadell Road.
The atmosphere as usual was electric with a lot of people – young and old – lining the streets to encourage the runners and give biscuits, oranges – one fruit which really refreshes you on the run. The various media teams on the road having their parties – song dance and music – it really shows that Mumbai has a never say die spirit and I love the city for it.
As I was passing the race course, I saw and cheered the front runners of the full marathon as they literally flew past us. The entire stretch from here on was full of people encouraging the runners with placards stating “YOU CAN DO IT”. I had targeted completing the run between 9.15am and 9.30am – I finished around 9.21am just as the Dream Run commenced.
As I entered the Corporate Challenge enclosure I was the only person there as none of the half marathoners had come back. I had my wife and daughter for company as we relaxed, took some photos and I stretched to relax my tired muscles. At around 10.45am we had quite a few of my colleagues back from the marathon and we had a photo session, then I pushed off to meet the Project Crayons (the charity we run for) personnel near the Metro theatre. We met them and had a short conversation and photo shoot with them too. My wife and daughter joined me at Metro, and I got one of the dirtiest looks I ever have had (you know the saying “if looks could kill……”) from my daughter (a Scorpio dirty look to boot for delaying her!!). Sonal from Project Crayons said that you better go else your daughter will make chutney out of you. On that note my marathon 2010 got over.
Last but not the least, A BIG THANK YOU to all those who contributed to our cause.
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