Most of us know that even though Marathon is run in a day, the preparation takes months.
Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon or SCMM as it was popularly known is the premium running event of India. The event being a Boston qualifier is an enough proof for that.
We had heard a lot about this event. So just after our SPBM-16 we(myself, Babu sir and Navneeth) started to discuss about participating in the SCMM-17 which was scheduled on 15th Jan 2017.
A week after SPBM-16, I left for Goechala expedition and was supposed to return only after 2 weeks.
I had a pretty good expedition, was among only 5 of us who attempted summit and did it quite comfortably. But I had a nasty fall(which injured my left foot) on the last day of our return to the base camp at Yuksom.
With just about 2 months of training remaining for SCMM-17 I was worried about loosing crucial training runs because of leg injury.
But fortunately by the time I returned to Bengaluru on 6th Nov, my pain had subdued considerably.
I started training for SCMM on 16th November with a easy 10K run. From then on we started training 3 days a week. Motivating each other was a very important thing because we had to wake up on cold mornings and start our training runs. It was an amazing team effort and everyone did a great job in motivating each other. We hardly missed any training runs in this period(Navneeth missed one because of sickness and I missed one for the trip).
Our November plan was basically limited to 10k & 15k runs.
We did 4 long runs in December, out of which I missed one on 24th Dec 2017 because of a trip to Chikkamagalur with my TCS friends.
Just like SPBM-16 the last long run, which we ran on 31st Dec was the confidence booster for me. I did 35k in 3hrs 15mins which made me dream of a sub 4 hour marathon.
I was just telling my roommates that I will be happy if I can replicate the 31st Dec effort at SCMM.
The week that followed was taper week and we did a half marathon @ the same pace.
As we traveled to Mumbai on 14th Jan, I was feeling relaxed and confident. The last long run had worked wonders I guess. Also the self-doubt which I had during SPBM-16 was somehow missing, probably the confidence of completing a marathon was playing on my mind.
We collected the bibs and went to hotel. We slept early since we knew we had a big day tomorrow.
We took the first local from Chembur to CST. We met a lot of seasoned runners and were already in awe seeing runners who were running for 10+ years.(Yes Mumbai Marathon bibs do display the number of consecutive years you ran the Mumbai Marathon). I also met Inderpal Khalsa, a very inspirational Ultra runner in the train.
As we reached Azad Maidan, the holding area for Marathon, Navneeth and Babu sir wanted to go to rest room and so I went to deposit the bag @ baggage counter. Babu sir asked me to wait near the "Jabong Flag" which was visible. After depositing the bag when I came near the Jabong flag, I could see 6-8 such flags and I was confused. I waited there till 5.25AM and the started moving towards the starting line(Marathon start time was 5.40AM). As soon as I saw the crowd I was aware I underestimated the Mumbai crowd big time. Along with the crowd I started moving slowly towards the start line. The crowd was so much that I started almost 9mins after the race start time.
My plan was simple, keep running at 5:30 pace for as long as possible. Initial 4-5Kms were really difficult as the path was almost blocked by slow runners(not blaming them even a bit). The climate was too humid and I was already sweating at the 5th Km mark. After 5th Km, the road was wide and I was able to run on my own. Also I was just starting to feel the Mumbai crowd support(which we had heard form so many runners). People were cheering from the promenade and there were so many stalls playing music. I was so motivated that I almost reached 5:00 pace quite a few times and I had to see my Garmin and deliberately slow down.I was pretty much comfortable at the 9th Km elevation. Also the sight of Half-Marathon runners passing from the other side was helping I guess.
Knowing that one can run on Bandra-Worli sea link only during Mumbai Marathon, I felt it was an unique experience though there was no crowd to cheer you up. Just after crossing sea link, I crossed the 4 hour bus. With the pacer was the runner from Mumbai with whom we had run close to 15Km in SPBM. I greeted him and kept on running. I was maintaining the planned 5:30 pace quite comfortably.
By now the sun was almost up and with that a good number of Mumbai public was near the route to cheer the runners. The people were so enthusiastic and supportive that the sight itself was enough to motivate any runner. They were just showering biscuits, chocolates, salted oranges, energy drinks and what not. More appealing was the enthusiasm shown by the kids there. If you want something and if you miss to catch hold of it in the momentum of the run, the kids started running and made sure you have it. Since the climate was humid, I was graciously accepting energy drinks and wet sponges from the crowd. Running among those amazing folks had a favourable effect on me and I did not feel any tiredness till I reached 35th Km.
I crossed the 35K mark just after 3hours of running. This was the checkpoint I had mentally to decide if I can go for Sub4 or not. Since I had close to an hour for remaining 7.5Km I was very confident of a sub 4Hr finish.
I negotiated the big elevation of Peddar road quite easily but my pace dropped to 5:45 which was not at all a concern for me and I was steadily running at this pace. I walked a bit for the first time in the 40th Km for 100mtrs and again started running towards the finish line. I crossed the finish line in 3hrs 51mins 40secs which was way above my expectation.
After completing the race I had mixed emotions. Probably that happens when you exceed your expectations. I was desperate to speak to someone so was searching for Babu sir and Navneeth but couldn't find them. I went to the baggage counter took my phone and called my kid sis. I was feeling much better after that. Then I opened my WhatsApp to see 100's of messages in our Running group. It was such a warm feeling to know that few friends were tracking our runs through the SCMM app.
Finally I returned from Mumbai with a very satisfactory run and heart full of gratitude for the Mumbai crowd who treat this run as their own and support the runners by waking up early on a Sunday morning, hats-off to them.
The kind of consistent training we did for SCMM17 was something new for me. Big thanks to Babu Sir and Navneeth for everyting. I owe these 2 a lot. Cannot end the write-up without mentioning about the #RunMachines family, the support is just awesome.
