If strangers on the road are cheer for you and take pains to make dishes, offer fruits and biscuits, hold placards and root for you, then the standards for people close to you in life must be much higher. This perhaps my first thought after finishing my first full marathon.
The Mumbai vibe was totally different from runs in Delhi. I never saw this level of public participation and enthusiasm, possibly because Delhi’s official runs happen in the central part of Delhi which mostly has residences of politicians and government offices.
The Prep
On a random afternoon, I was scrolling social media and thinking about random things. I registered for the New Delhi Marathon and subscribed to a marathon training plan on Runna.
But on another day, I wondered that if I am training for a full marathon, then the first one should be iconic. That was after seeing Instagram reels about Tata Mumbai Marathon.
Let us pause and acknowledge that doomscrolling can also benefit a person based on their mindset. I get a lot of book and movie recommendations and maybe, my feed has been optimised for serendipitous discovery.
Though Runna gave a comprehensive plan, I believe that I completed only 75% of it. If I had done 100% my timing and physique would have been far better. But anything more than 0% still means progress. And I saw this progress turn into reality after three months.
The goldmine discovered during this process was zone 2 running. Maybe I should have discovered it much earlier. But the counter-intuitive truth is that you need to run slower more often to run faster. Ideally 80% of the mileage should be in zone 2.
Delhi’s toxic air and brutal winter did pose challenges. For an entire week, my training halted as I was not sure about training on a treadmill. But I took the leap and made a shift. The stats shown to me were kinda wrong because the watch and treadmill measure vital stats on pace and distance differently.
During the last couple of weeks I was very concerned about the variation in stats and the reality of training fatigue. But I am glad that I didn’t give it more importance than the desire to show up and finish the full marathon.
Logistics
One can assume that a person should either be crazy or passionate to book flight tickets to just run a marathon. But I had already made a decision and it had to be followed through.
That is another skill that I wanted to work on via this Marathon dream. To stay put and see through all ideas till completion. So, I managed to figure out all the logistics including booking a room and finding transport on race day.
There were no rooms for a decent price near CST railway station, so I found Zostel rooms in Andheri. I had planned to get a cab on race day. But thankfully, the new metro in Mumbai had a direct line from Marol Naka to CST. This was like an icing on the cake.
Travelling in a metro at 3.30 AM full of marathon runners is an experience that always makes me feel great. The vibes and shared goal make it a borderline emotional experience. I reached the venue at 4.45AM and found myself in the holding area for the last wave.
Surprisingly there were many people older than me who were running the marathon. So here was a model for me to dream of. That I would still be fit enough to run 42K at the age of 60.
The chances of finding highly motivated people drastically increases when you decide to take up a big challenge. The marathon was no different.
The Marathon
It was a hilarious start when I felt the need to pee after the second kilometre and lost time waiting for a chance near the toilet. Apparently some guy wanted to take a dump and I gave up the wait after 3 minutes (approx). That was my slowest split.
I did take a pee after the fifth kilometre I guess. And may be one more later. Keeping myself hydrated was on top of my mind.
The other key learning was nipple chafing. I did buy some nipple pasties which were not meant for men. I have no clue when they fell off.
But I did cool my nipples whenever I found ice or wet sponges on the path. Some dude stopped and showed me some tight fitting shirt he had worn inside. I need to try that.
The last important point (which annoyed me) that my watch indicated that I had covered 42.2km near the official mark which showed 41km.
If step count was taken into account, I have covered 43km during TMM. This was obvious because I went sidewise several times while trying to navigate my way in the crowd. Probably that is inevitable in a run that has thousands of people alongside you.
That said, a deep dive into my splits makes me very happy.
My longest run in the past was 32km. This is clearly the reason for my falling pace after 32 km. All said and done, it was truly a herculean effort. That said my 30km record improved significantly (~ 34 minutes).
Another point to be happy about is regarding aerobic efficiency. The average heart rate for the marathon was 149 BPM. The max heart rate was 164 BPM. This could have been pushed up, but the limiting factor must have been my ankle and knee strength which needs more attention.
But, I have more faith in my ability to listen to my body and calibrate. As the image above explains, it was truly a historic run. It is a solid stamp of approval on my ability to envision a dream and strive to achieve it in spite of the odds.