my half marathon!

So the marathon this year was a rather emotional see saw for me.

Run…not run…as most of you are aware I really was undecided whether I should go for it or not….hence the tardiness in registering…as a result of which I was left with no bib!

Eventually I ended up with two! - Anyway

So I decided that I will go for it within the last 12 hours of the event……..after much ado and dilly dallying!

And, I am glad I ran……….

To be able to battle all the reasons for NOT running….which were plenty………

And I found encouragement from really great sources………my running partner …said to me…how can you not run? of course you can!

Then sanjana-the fount of wisdom-who enlisted numerous reasons …which included happiness and self……..

And to motivate me….a host of other thoughts…on the lines of…imagine your tail on fire…. J

Anyway

All these thoughts and wishes of people who cared for …really made me run each step------and this half marathon I ran only on will power. Each step was a struggle and I had to push myself to keep going.

So the run on the whole was quite tedious in the beginning-as the sea –over which I thought I would fly….i found extremely hard---the surface—the number of people who stopped to pose for pictures as if they were tourists-it was ridiculous-it felt like I was a part of the dream run-anyway….so the endless sea finally turned on worli sea face and went on another long road through the worli slums……

As I plodded along…the arch of my right foot started to strain. I took off my shoe twice and stretched it- within a span of 10 minutes. But the pain persisted. Eventually I thought to myself I cant keep on stopping during the remaining 2 hours-so I decided to make the pain a part of my run…..as someone once told the magic mantra to running:

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”

I went along and soon found the full marathoners running in the opposite direction heading towards bandra…….

And my real run began from then on. I forgot myself-cheered them on….found some people on worli cheering me…..

And soon before I realized I was approaching atria-here I turned my ipod on full volume and headed straight for my favorite part of the race-peddar road…I smiled-laughed and enjoyed myself!

On this hill-most runners struggle…….i do too but I think the crowd is great here –and I have someone cheering me personally every few hundred metres—and then the news of my approach is informed passed onto my well wishers who wait for me year after year at woodlands-they are told by someone,”parul is at woodlands” ,and all my eagerly look out for me.

Support from friends and family was great and this year more so-as all the people who counted in my life were out there-cheering-! Was a moment to be proud for me-and I think they felt it too. this is my moment if glory-the 5 seconds of my life for which I go trough the grueling 2 hour 30 min run!

Anyway-so I reveled in my sunshine until I reach babulnath-and there I come crashing to reality as sunlight and fatigue catch up with me. And my run –which is anyway a slow jog-goes to a crawl-and oh god- how need to push myself-and invariabnly this is the point where I pick someone to help me to get me through till the finish……..

This year-I found this guy-in a red t shirt-he seemed ok-slightly overweight-but running at a pace slower than me-so each time I stopped he would egg me on-saying you cant stop now-so I carried on-this continued until we approached churchgate and he says to me-I don’t think i can keep up –you go ahead-right then I realized he needed me now-so I started making conversation-and he tells me-he’s from Gujarat and a year ago-weighed 100kg-it was his dream to run this half marathon-and there he was-pushing me along-I was stunned-what kind of personal goals people set-and work towards achieving them! it was quite inspiring-eventually I lost him-about 5 mins before the finish line but his story remains with me.

So I cruise along-and finish( in what I hope) just within 2 hours and 30 mins- my target-

Happy

Satisfied-that I ran

I learnt how difficult it is to fight one’s negativity-and how to do things which look difficult.

To run untrained-is immensely harder than running -with a confidence that I can do it-which comes with training.

Motivation in the form of support from loved ones is a great feeling….which I understood about!

Missed my half marathon partners-aparna and amish!

This is probably one of my longest posts-hats off to those of you who made is this far!

Thanks!

THANK YOU FOR EVRYTHING.