SCMM 2012 - Mumbai Marathon

I was not as prepared for this marathon as the 2011 edition as I had a niggle in the left knee ligament which had got aggravated due to driving. Nevertheless, regular meditation and a diet of fruits and juice for breakfast and sprouted beans with salad of tomato, beetroot, onion and cucumber with butter milk meant that I had a low carb high protein diet which helped – dinner was two whole wheat breads with cooked vegetables. In fact I was doing 10km in just about 65 minutes. I did the 21km trial run on the Sunday prior to the marathon in 2 hours 25 minutes or so. This year there was no need to visit the physio like last two years and in fact I got her sms wishing me for the run the day before. I just ran 6 km every alternate day and rested on Saturday, a day before the run. I was on a complete protein and banana diet on Saturday.

The morning of the Marathon was also Makar Sankranti and Pujya Guruma was to give her discourse at 7.30am. I woke up at 4 am and was in meditation for 45 minutes, after which I got fresh and started my stretching exercises. This time too I carried the camera in a waist belt pouch along with my cell phone. My wife dropped me off at the Mahim causeway-SV Road signal from where I walked down to the holding area. The holding area was better organized this year at the area below the flyover near the Bandra East fire brigade location. It was already around 5.50am and the run was to start at 6.15am. I did some more stretches and then walked into the holding area. There was a huge crowd as there was no separate area for veterans and the non veterans, so we had to wait in the crowd. Some youngsters started pushing their way through to get to the front of the crowd, I let them pass and enjoyed myself by taking some pictures. There were a couple of young ladies who were running for the first time and one of them said that she could not sleep the whole night in anticipation of the run. This definitely reminded me off my first marathon nine years ago, when I too could not sleep the night before!

At 6.15am the run started with the VIP and elite athletes being sent off first after which us junta was told to go. There was a huge roar along with cat whistles from the runners and off we went. I hit the timing chip mat at around 6.20am. The start was very slow as the crowd took a few minutes to spread out. The route had been tweaked slightly so that it had more fluidity for the runners – a definite improvement! I just let the eager beavers go ahead and kept slowing down and giving myself room, as I definitely did not want to be stamped on nor tripped! This year too, like last year, there was a sight which one would probably only get to see in India! As the run started and progressed onto the flyover to a section which did not have street lights, a whole lot of runners suddenly had weak bladders and you could see an entire line of maybe a couple of hundred males standing to water the shrubs planted on the road divider! This year the run was smoother as the start was straight onto the bridge which was wide enough to avoid bunching of runners and I got off to a smooth running rhythm. We got onto the road leading to the sea link, the broader road actually helped in easing the crowd, with the runners also now spread over a larger area.

I continued to run at the speed I had trained for, this year there was water being distributed at the 4km mark on the sea link which was a big help. Once off the sea link, I continued running along at a decent clip and ran non-stop for around 13 kilometers. At the 10km mark I called my friend Deepak and asked where he was, he said he had just passed the 7km mark. He asked me whether I would wait for him after the finish as that is the only thing which would motivate him to finish. I said sure, and told him to soak in the energy and finish, as this was his first marathon attempt. I did not see any of my office colleagues even on the turn at the sea link! I walked and then ran alternately and was well within striking distance of my best time which I had clocked year before last of 2 hours 30 minutes and 53 seconds. I ran up more than half the Peddar Road hill and then downhill. I had picked up a banana from the volunteers on the road and a packet of glucose biscuits. I took photos on Worli sea face, drank water which was being handed over by volunteers and generally enjoyed my run in peace and tranquility with my Guru for company. There were a lot of consistent runners this year and the mass which was moving at 2.30hrs speed was the biggest I have seen so far. On Peddar Road I tried to take a snap of the elite athletes as they passed by, but I was too slow to get them into the frame! I cheered and shouted along with a whole bunch of other runners as they passed by.

About 5km from the finish as we came onto Marine Drive, I saw the Sun up, and stood at a bus-stop to thank it for its energy and generally offered a prayer for providing the earth with light and energy, before moving on after about a minute. We passed a Gujarati dance troupe which was dancing to Gujarati song and music – the energy which was flowing from there was amazing, I was bathed in cold positive energy. A little further down, a Marathi “lezim” troupe was performing and they were just going through the motions – no energy there! Similar energy I felt at the Navy Band performance at the 18km mark. I had completed only 17km in two hours that meant I had just half an hour for completing the last four. At 7 minutes per km it was going to be touch and go! The last two hundred meters or so, I sprinted and finished the race strongly, and finished two and a half minutes faster than last year. In fact this may be my best time so far, I will wait for the official time for confirmation. I collected my refreshments and finishers’ medal and went off to the corporate challenge enclosure, which had a huge crowd waiting for the dream run to start at around 8.55am. I went to the Asian Heart enclosure for treating my knee ligaments as the crowd at the Corporate Challenge enclosure was too huge. I got into the enclosure and was asked by Poonam, a United Way staffer whether I finished! I joked and said no! I took a short cut and came! I took some snaps and when one of the United Way staffers came to talk, I said it was too boring sitting alone when they asked me whether I would like to play some games. I said I was too old for games but young enough for the marathon. They asked me to play arm wrestling with their staffers with a Perk Chocolate as prize. One by one their staffers came and tried to beat me, but did not succeed. I beat about 5 of them for which I got two Perks, when I said I beat five, they said “utna budget nahi hai” – and I laughed out loud. It was all fun!

Around 9.45am my daughter and wife came and we had another photo session. Around 10.30am Deepak came and met us and we had some more photos taken. As we could not spot any more of our office guys, we decided to leave. We met Isha Kothari, an office colleague and the baby in our office, at about 500 meters from the finish line we egged her on to finish, took some snaps and left for home.

It was very disappointing to see the response from the rest of the participants from Geodesic as about 10 people did not show up, including the HR person. Next year I will not recommend participating in the Corporate Challenge as the attitude of the youth in the office appears to be to care two hoots!

Raising money for Project Crayons and running for them was a pleasure and I thank all those supporters who have helped Project Crayons by contributing to their cause. Thanks everyone and God Bless. See you all next year.