It was that time of the year in Delhi. Post-Diwali smog and pollution debates and then came along ADHM… bearing the brunt of the ‘concerned’ health professionals… After days and weeks of uncertainty, it did happen!
2017, to me, was the year of Full Marathons. I have been training for it since February with weeks of training plans. Though I didn’t achieve my sub-4 target, I had hopes on this Delhi’s biggest running festival – a half marathon.
I knew I could break into the sub-1:50, but a 1:45:10 finish was not expected. I even I surprised myself. I knew I had a cramp coming. I had that feeling since the Bangalore Marathon. It can come anytime and it will ruin my run! I was sure.
I planned to board the 1:45 bus thinking I can finish sometime around 1:46-1:47. I was certain, I won’t be able to race at the end. But, after all the ‘star sports drama’ (another story), I was all fired up. I was going at a pace between 4:50-5:00 min/km and when I cracked a PB for 10k, I was fired up. However, I was aware the cramp that may come at any time. I kept my pace; finished 18km under 1:30. What was left was a race until the end which I did.
In between, the shoelaces failed me. it never happened with my Nike before. There should always be a first time. I might have lost 7-8 seconds there. But, I didn’t matter to me at all. I could have slowed down anytime in between and lost those. The thing that happened after that is I raced and never slowed down during those usual slow-down splits: 18th, 19th! In fact, I raced the last 200m @4:41!
In the end, I ran 130m more; didn’t take the shortest route. Or else, it could have been an easy sub-1:45. That is good in some sense. It will keep me grounded and at the same time will give me confidence for the next 10 races.
I am excited. Excited for the coming races; excited for the Singapore Marathon, which is going to be tough and TMM, which again, is going to be tough and NDM.
Happy days ahead!
Eat, Run, Live, Sleep, Repeat 
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