SCMM 2016 - Mumbai Marathon AND the Samarpan Family Sunday, January 17, 2016

At Worli Dairy just after getting out of the car

At Worli Dairy just after getting out of the car

This year was the third year the Samarpan Family was taking part in the Marathon. Yoga Prabha Bharati Seva Sanstha Trust (YPBSST) got itself registered with United Way of Mumbai, the charity partner for the movement for the third year running, and this time we were given 45 charity bibs based on last year’s collections. We had actually got the third highest average collection per bib hence the extra bibs this time. Sadhana Education Trust ran in our support as part of the Corporate Challenge section. We also had made a team under the able guidance of our corporate acharyaa and Shri Malav Doshi to participate in the Jabong Costume/Skit Contest and in setting up a stage for promoting Samarpan Meditation. Hectic preparations and practice went in for the singing and the contest. It was great team work performed in a spirit of love and joy. The joy and energy displayed was something to be believed.....in the end all the hard work paid off, as we won the first prize in the Jabongg Costume contest. Kudos to all the team members for a great job done. God and Gurudev Bless.

Jabong Costume Contest Winning team - theme One World, One Family

I had already registered for the half marathon as an individual when the registrations opened as we had not at that point in time got clearance for YPBSST participation in the event. I had been running on an average 9km per day for about one month. This year it had been terribly warm and humid even at 5 in the morning. Running more that 3-4km at a stretch used to drain me completely. Also there were certain complications in life which meant I was running less than I would have liked to. It was only in December that the climate became slightly cooler and conducive to long distance running. At around this time last year I had reduced my weight to around 67kg, but this time for all kinds of reasons my weight had barely come down to 71 odd kg. L I had completed 21km in 2:44:00 hours, for my trial run on 1st January, so I was sure of completing the race, but the challenge was to better last year’s time – which now appeared to be a remote possibility. The only thing I looked forward to was doing much better than my practice run if I could not come close to my last year’s time. Regular meditation and a diet of fruits and beyond that initial diet I was unable to maintain last year’s diet and was eating the usual stuff – only my dinner was two whole wheat breads with cooked vegetables which was same as last year. I did 10.5km in just about 1:08 hours on 15^th January. I had lost just 3 kgs in weight and weighed in at 71kg. The aim next year is to try and reduce to 65 kg with a bit of cross training thrown in. Let’s see what time has in store!

The ideal running temperature for good timings in a marathon is said to be 12 degrees celcius. It must have been around 18-19 degrees on Sunday morning plus slight humidity was there in the air. Also this year the venue had changed from Bandra to Worli Dairy for the half marathon start, which meant I had to leave early, plus the start of the race was at 5.40am as opposed to 6am start last year.

I woke up at 3.00 am and was in meditation for about half an hour. At 4am just before leaving I sent a text message to Swamiji to have His attention on the event – he replied, “it is there” (in Marathi –chitta ahay) I was quietly confident that we all had HIS blessings. Then I got fresh and started my stretching exercises. My neighbours Aashutosh and Mona and I had decided to go by train, but I got a call from Mona at 4am saying that she is travelling in a friend’s car so I told her to proceed. I then called Vibhavji and asked him to pick me up to before going to Dadar to get Ambareeshji. He came to my place at 4.15am and then we picked up Ambareeshji ten minutes later. We reached Worli Dairy via Pochkanwala Road and we luckily got the last parking slot at the absolute end of the road, thus reducing our walk to just a couple of 100 metres. As we got off and took a couple of photos, the cops put up the barricades stopping cars from entering – it was like divine timing. We walked down to the holding area and I took the separate entry to the A,B,C,D section and Vibhavji and Ambareeshji went to the G section as they were first time runner. I had got ‘A’ section as I was participating as a ‘Change Runner’. This year too they had created 7 sections A to G based on finish timings of the previous year. It was already just 5.05am and the run was to start at 5.40am. When I entered the enclosure it was sparsely populated. I went into the A section, sat down in lotus position and calmed my starters nerves. At 5.30am I got up and did some stretches and as I finished the announcement came to move towards the starting line. The half marathon start was the biggest so far – more than 14500 odd runners!!

Lining up for the start at 5.35am

Pretty empty 'A' Section where I was sitting in Lotus position

The blue balloon line shows the starting line....

At 5.40 am the run started with the VIP and elite athletes being sent off first after which the junta was told to go. There was a huge roar of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya’ along with cat whistles from the runners and off we went. I hit the timing chip mat at around 5.41am. The start was very steady as I started running at the speed I had trained for. This year the run started off at Worli Sea face and then a couple of kilometres before we reached the sea link, the run was smoother and I got off to a smooth pretty fast running rhythm as opposed to what I was practicing at. The first three kilometres were at a pretty decent clip averaging 5.45 per km. After that the humidity got to me a bit and I walked for some time before starting off again. I completed the sea-link stretch – to and fro – pretty fast considering I also walked a bit and my 10.5km mark was reached in a timing of 1:06:30 which was well in line for matching my last year’s time. But you know how it is - old bones and muscles get tired and the breakheart hill was yet to be climbed!!

This year, due to the lesser time I had for training, I changed my tactics a bit – I ran for 750 metres and if I had the strength I pulled on till I could then walked for 250 metres and then ran again and so on and so forth. I was well under the 2:30 timing speed and I should have finished in 2:25 or less, but I lazed out in the last two kilometres and walked more than I ran!! Thus finishing in 2:32:43!!

At Peddar Road, up breakheart hill the weather suddenly became cooler and I kept pushing myself to avoid getting cramps in the cold – I walked briskly, jogged a bit, walked and went up the hill. After the hill the downward jog was pretty fast and comfortable as my muscles warmed up again.

About 5km from the finish as we came onto Marine Drive I enjoyed the sunrise – an orange ball of flame visible on the horizon. As I came near the Taraporewala Aquarium a band was playing music from its heart – full of passion – the energy at that point suddenly changed and I felt myself washed with pure cold energy – I could not get the bands name – but thank you for energising tired muscles at that point in time. At Catholic Gymkhana I saw the sight which I had been anticipating for a long time – the Samarpan family along with banners, drums and ‘dhamal’. On seeing them suddenly I was energised and started running with my left hand raised to them and there was a loud roar as I passed them. As I passed a cold shower of energy washed over me and I passed by that spot around 7.40am. As I passed the stage I put out my hand for getting high fives from the band playing on the stage, which suddenly came to life as I passed by belting out energising music.

The last kilometre was proving difficult as even though I had the stamina and strength for some strange reason I was walking. After coming to the flora fountain turn it became extremely crowded for the last 800 metres to the finish. I tried running but it was difficult to weave through the mass of people so I had to walk, jog, side step and try to make my way through. From the two hundred metre mark I went to the extreme left and sprinted down to the finish. Time taken 2:32:43. My Garmin watch said I had run 21.250 km rather that 21.097 which is what the course distance is supposed to be. The best part was my Garmin timing and the official timing was absolutely the same to the last second – an unbelievable coincidence!

This time the arrangements were different. The exit was on the road adjacent to Azad Maidan – as soon as we entered on the left was the recovery tent where volunteers were applying pain balms and massaging tired muscles. I kept moving on and found out that the medal distribution and refreshment counter was at the other end of Azad Maidan – the Metro end, so I decided to first go to the Procam Marquee for refreshments and a massage. I was given a lovely foot massage during which time John Abraham came in with all the girls getting up to go have a glimpse of the man. Post the massage I went and took my breakfast of Idli, soya beans and fruits followed by a fruit juice. Then I decided to leave and try and catch up with the other 7 half marathon Samarpan runners. As I left I saw my all time Athletics idol – the absolute star of hurdles world – Edwin Moses who had one of the longest unbroken victory streaks in the history of athletics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals and set the world record in his event four times.

At around 8.45 I called Vibhavji and he said he was just a kilometre from the finish, I told him to come to the medals counter. I went to get my medal when I saw our Juhu centre Acharya, Santosh Remje sitting alone with  a huge pack of paraphernalia and food which was supposed to have been carried by our 45 Bib Runners for the Dream Run. I asked him what happened and he said that after Samarpan won the Jabongg Costume contest all the Dream Runners entered the start enclosure and disappeared for the Dream Run leaving him behind as caretaker. Nobody took his phone calls, he kept trying in front of me too. It is very sad that the others left him alone out there – poor guy had to sit in the sun for more than 5 hours guarding the stuff. Vibhavji joined us, then Vandanaji and Ambareeshji too came in around 9.30 or so. Vibhavji completed in 3:13 and Vandana in 2:55, unfortunately we could not get Ambareeshji’s timing as he probably missed one of the timing mats. We then ate a couple of idlis and left for Marine Drive to join our band on stage. I called Harish Suriya who had come from Chennai for the run and he said he completed the run in 2:09 and as no one was there he took a train and was back in his hotel! I carried one of the food bags which was not too heavy so as to reduce Santosh’s burden a bit and also the food could be distributed to sadhaks at Marine Drive.

We four reached Marine Drive at around 10.15am and joined our gang out there. There was a lot of enthusiasm and dancing with the youth – young and old kids – having the time of their life. I met Khamankarji and family with Krishna on stage belting out songs. At around 10.45 our Bib runners came to the stage and the party began in right earnest with Ambareeshji going on stage and joining in the singing and dancing – for about 15-20 minutes it was a complete jam session with Samarpan Marathon songs being sung with high energy and a frenzy of dancing taking place with the prize money cheque being taken on stage and shown to the public. At around 11.05 Ambareeshji left with Vibhavji and we all started walking back to Azad Maidan to complete the Dream Run. We reached Azad Maidan at around 11.35am. I went to see Santosh and to my utter shock he was still sitting alone with the stuff. I was a bit upset as this was not done......I went back to our Samarpan group and asked Rajiv Shahji (who was one of the persons in charge of managing on behalf of Samarpan) why he did not ensure that the material such as banners and flags were not taken for the Dream Run, when he knew that Santosh was sitting with the paraphernalia since 8.30am!! He had no answer, so I just let it go. I took some sadhaks and helped carry all the stuff to where our group was sitting. We then sat and distributed all the oranges and idlis to the sadhaks. Lots of idlis and chutney were left – this was then given to one beggar family – about 50 idlis and a plastic bag full of chutney. At least it did not go waste!!

After that Deepaliji, Vandanaji, another sadhika and I left for Marine Lines station. We walked that kilometre and a half to the station and I reached home at exactly 1pm. That day I must have walked/run more than 30 km!!

A big thank you to Ruchitaji, Malavji, Deepaliji, the youth who designed the costumes and make up and last but not least Ambareeshji for providing the theme for the skit and of course Swamiji for ensuring that we won the contest!! Also thanks to sadhaks from Rajkot, Chennai and Akola for coming all the way to Mumbai to support our cause. Of course a VERY BIG THANK YOU AND JAI BABA SWAMI to all the sadhaks who thronged Marine Drive shouting their support, singing songs, dancing and waving flags and banners – it just goes to prove that there is great strength and harmony in collectivity!

– JAI BABA SWAMI