First race of 2019 and it ended with a new Marathon PB…
Race day: January 20
Place: Mumbai
I love running in Mumbai… Not just because Mumbai marathon is one among the IAAF road races, but also because it challenges you as a runner and also the local support is the best in country… Mumbaikars are the best supporters of the sport, IMO…
In India we have 4 IAAF gold label races and Mumbai being the only one with Full Marathon category, you can imagine the hype as well… Everyone wants to run a full in Mumbai… Since I started my running season in August ’18, Tata Mumbai Marathon was my showstopper… The race I was looking forward to end the season (of big races) with…
The Mumbai weather is humid… I was concerned about that… I grew up in Kerala, the land of humidity and back in Not, I had run a race in Kochi, Kerala finishing under 4:00 and also on podium… But, training in Delhi’s cold and going to Mumbai on Friday to run on Sunday, that’s not enough time to acclimatize… Well, we do it every year… So, just go with it…
The race started at 5:30am… My plan was to finish under 3:50 (the original plan was sub-3:45; but an hour after landing in Mumbai I realized the humidity was not going to allow it), first half under 1:50 and do the second in 2 considering the heat and Peddar road with lots of elevation… Did my 10 just over 50, half in 1:48 and eventually finished in 3:49:54… Sounds smooth… But, it was not…
I almost missed my PB due to energy gels or whatever what didn’t sit well in my stomach… All started after the 8th km when I took the first sip of energy gel… 4 minutes later, my tummy felt weird… I was thinking trouble… I thought, not a big deal… 16th km, when I took the second shot, things felt bad… From there on, I felt the need to take a loo break every 4-5 km… But, held on and never stopped… After the second shot, I threw all gels away; so, I had to depend on the energy stations en route… It could have gone bad, but, I held on and finished the race as per plan…
Well, I felt sick until I reached my hotel and rested for a while…. and missed most of post-run photoshoot including one with a close pal who ran her first half marathon after taking inspiration from me… It was a big deal for her!!!
Later in the afternoon, I chilled out with runners from Delhi in the famous Leopold cafe… Post Mumbai marathon crowd in Leopold cafe never fails to amaze me…
Now that marathon racing season is over, I can chill out doing some trail runs and few pacing assignments… Fun time ahead!
Eat, Run, Live, Sleep, Repeat 
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