Bangalore Half Marathon

2 hours 10 min.
That is the result of my efforts at running a long distance for the first time in Bangalore. Since that is almost 10 kmph, I am within striking distance of my regular speed. However it is lower than my attempt at Mumbai for the same distance when I covered this in 1 hr 57 min, in the course of running the full marathon. So much for the numbers. To put it in perspective, I have added about 5 kilos since I moved to Bangalore, thanks to my mother’s cooking.

Now, for the race. After quite some scrambling to get a new route authenticated, the Bangalore marathon started at the appointed hour at 6 am, while most of the city was sleeping. Then the half marathon (my race) began 30 min later, also on schedule. The route was absolutely unromantic (in stark contrast to the earlier route which passed through MG Road) what with no schools, colleges, etc. The saving grace were the trees in Bangalore making it much easier to run in the shade for the most part.

Despite this, the profile of participants made a strong attempt at compensating for the lack of vibrancy as in Bombay. The members of the club of which I am a member (Runners for Life) were in full attendance. There were the software engineers whose companies had printed special Tshirts for them (McAfee, LG Soft, etc) and there was the contingent from Levers in the bright yellow Lipton Tshirts. And there were the assorted young men, who were there just for their first race. There were loads of pretty women (I love this city!), most of them participating. Then there were the men from Services – lean & mean looking. There were a few women athletes from the Sports Hostels. And for some weird reason, the organizers were writing down the bib numbers of all assembled runners.

When we moved into the stadium to the starting line, the excitement became palpable.

And then we were off. The golf course stretch in Bangalore is one of the best stretches to drive on, early in the day. The same holds for running too. I didn’t touch water for the first 48 min and made great progress. In fact when I approached the 11 km mark, it was about 3 min beyond the hour. I even asked one of my fellow runners whether we were going too fast! The route included two underpasses – at Windsor Manor and one more near the Mekhri Circle. And then there was the humongous flyover at Hebbal. When I had done one loop, I had lost my direction. And when the race officials pointed towards the flyover (it has 2 loops), I said, “I just finished looping it!” Then they reassured me saying that the second loop would put me back on the route I came from. I did retrace the route and like my friend who had told me about our speeds, the underpasses did kick in on the return when the knees started to hurt and hence one has to slow down. But I was still doing ok – 15 km in 1 hr 32 min. I began to slow down for a simple reason – body weight. You know when you are heavy and have to drag yourself. For a similar feeling, just go up and down an 8-storey building a couple of times and then try to climb the stairs again. You’ll know what I am talking about. Thankfully for me, one of the regulars from Levers, urged me on and then I picked up pace, but about a km before the finish line, I did slow down and the guy carried on. All through the race, occasionally there were a few members from Runners for Life or some fellow runners from the Bangalore Marathon Meetup group who would pass by and say, “Hey Dhammo, keep it up! Buck up.” And I would up my pace. And then after about 10 mins, they would carry on.

Eventually the consistent runners finished in about 1 hr 56 min. Arvind who heads Runners for Life was ecstatic about his sub 2 finish. Now our target (Arvind’s and mine) is the 4 hr for the Mumbai Marathon. The best runner that we have currently for the half decimated the field in about 1 hr 40 min! And our best runner for the marathon is a 46 yr old. He cracked 4 hr 14 min for the marathon.

And when I sprinted into the stadium for the finish, there was the fantastic sound of traditional drums being performed by an energetic set of people, whose community usually does this for most functions in Karnataka. You got to hear them to feel the rush of energy. At the finish line, a fellow runner added that the officials were timing only the top 10 finishers. Only time will tell whether I get my certificate with my finish timing! (No PJ intended)
It feels great as always to complete yet another race. The organizers have a lot of distance to cover (chuckle!) and so do I. So I guess I shall look inward till early 2006, when Maximum City beckons.