Mumbai Marathon 2010

I could tell when I woke up in the morning and smelt my coffee that I was going to have a special day. I had even shaved for the first time for a race. I never shave on weekends but this time I thought I will make it special by even trying to look presentable. Today would be the day I would kick the butt out of my previous poor timings after having run the Mumbai marathon for the 5^th time. I could imagine being overwhelmed when I finished.

Now wait a minute. This was how this post was supposed to read!

All my bloody premonitions came to naught. I had a terrible race. I ran a reasonably steady first half. I know this tends to get repetitive. But I didn’t try anything silly (That is, if you discount the fuel efficiency test I tried on Sat! But hey, that was only 10 mins of running). I had a tried and tested breakfast. I didn’t eat anything with gas. So I didn’t make any known mistakes. So much for all the pain! I finished in a very humbling 4:39 with some depressing degradation for every milestone. So I bettered my previous best in Bombay by about 1 min. So much for all the training up and down Peddar road, losing weight, etc.

Well ,things could have been worse if Vetcha had not warned us about the fact that there was no water on the sealink. So I did carry 2 bottles both of which ran out. The sea link sloped upward twice when you come in from Bandra. So that hurt a bit. And for the first time, I had major cramps. My calf muscle seized up and was projecting out like a banana. I got scared just looking it. Thanks to the medical tent from Asian Heart Institute, that got better. And once you begin walking, your race is more or less over, unless you are of the run-walk types. And then I had post race nausea...

So the day I was waiting for a whole year turned up to be a damp squib. It is a bit like ending up at your b'day party and then realizing there is no party happening.

Anyways, I will have to wait for another year for redemption I guess.

Some friends had a much better race, most notably Bhasker who ran in an incredible 4:01, Sanjay who ran a 4:10, Chandra, Vasu et al. Siraj who ran his first in Bombay, ran a mean 4:20 ish and is now wondering what he needs to do to get better J