I also-ran a marathon!

I proudly proclaim to be an Also-ran! :)
I completed the marathon!
I took 5 hours to complete it..:( Am a little disappointed with that as I was aiming at doing it in 4hours 15 minutes or so. But the joy of completing a marathon (in spite of the pathetic arrangements made by the organizers) is the predominant feeling.

We started at around 6am and had good attention from the volunteers and traffic cops for the 1st 2 hours or so. We were given preference at the traffic signals and with the barricades in the right places I wasn't worried about being run over by a bus/truck! The weather was just right and Bangalore did look beautiful! I observed a lot of the beauty that I hadn't noticed in so many years, while zipping past in my car. A lot of areas in Bangalore are still very green and running in the backdrop of a lake set against greenery is a unique kind of experience. It just makes you feel great, about life and about yourself. And there were a lot of very sweet Bangaloreans who stood by, cheering us and making us feel like celebrities! You also form a bond with your fellow runners and everytime you do something against the commonly known best methods, someone or the other reminds you 'hey, dont do that, do this instead' It is a nice feeling...you are out there with a bunch of people you don't even know and you are helping each other achieve what you set out to do...all by yourself...probably all for yourself. At a point when you are ready to drop and your body has just thrown up its hands...and seems 100% confident it can't budge another inch, a simple pat on the back from a fellow runner with 'hey, you can do much better than that' or a hand sticking out from the sidewalk to just shake yours for what you have achieved thus far just magically pushes your body to run along and takes you another km or so.

When I started, I was very conscious of all the fundas for conserving energy and was at par with my target for the 1st 2 hours. Once you run about 5km, your body just gets into rhythm and all the panting etc stops. At that point, you feel you can run for ever! I know glucose level in my body dips very suddenly and after I had done 15km, I craved for some sugar, some salts, something! All the water stops had water...no dearth of that but nothing to replenish your salts. I kept myself motivated by telling that surely at the 21km stop I would be treated to something more than water. All I got was an apologetic shake of the head from the volunteer when I asked for glucose/electral. I was cursing myself for not carrying money...I could have bought myself something from the shops near by :(

After I did about 22-23km...I was bored. All the runners were separated by atleast 1/2 a km...barricades were beginning to be removed...traffic had increased..and auto waalas were being their usual selves...and my body was deprived of sugar. That is when I started to walk a little...and run a little. My feet weren't tired...I wasn't panting...I was just a little dizzy cause of lack of salts. I was a little paranoid about blacking out. At one of the water stops, as usual, I begged for something sweet, and I got lucky. Got the last mentos chewy dragee that a volunteer had! :) Fortified with that, I felt replenished and started to run as if I had just started the marathon! I know..I know..most if it is probably psychological...but thats what this is all about.. after 10km it ceases to be an effort on the body...it is overwhelmingly about the mind! And even a seemingly trivial thing (like a blarring indica taxi) is enough to upset the shaky focus you have built in your head...and makes you want to stop.

At about 28km, my messiah came along! He was one of the members of the medical team and was cycling with water and electral. He stopped and offered me electral! He must have thought I din't know what I was doing...cause I gulped down so much of it in one go...that I could have been in trouble. I profusely thanked him and ran along again. I knew I would need some again after 4km or so and tried to keep him in sight. That kept me going and I caught him again when he had stopped to help the runners.

The last 7km or so was just pathetic. There were hardly any water stops...all the barricades were removed (and I was beginning to lose track of the track). The messiah had departed...and no new ones cycled past me. Somewhere around then the emergency van drove past and the guy stopped to check if I was doing ok or if I wanted to join some of the runners who had quit and were in the van, being driven to the stadium. I was dizzy but I did not even have to think before I shook my head and said 'thanks, but no thanks'. It did not even occur to me that quitting was an option...that's how much I wanted to run the marathon and am glad, everything aligned well for that.