Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon and me

It has been almost 3 months when I completed the Half marathon. Yes, I did complete the run; 21.6 KMs in 2 hours 30 minutes on 20th January and then left running for good :). After all it was only a temporary hobby. I have to thank wonderful people of Mumbai who came out of their home on a Sunday morning just to cheer the runners all along the running route providing banana, buiscuits, water and different kind of juices. Around Haji Ali, I also saw one guy offering Samosas to the runners :). The whole environment was energetic, be it the motivation with which all the runners came to the venue early at 4.30 AM or be it the sheer number of people who actually turned out to run. I also have to mention the amazing arrangements done all along the marathon route. Kudos to the management. 

Last but not the least, I have to thank that stranger who helped me in clocking this time. Well this stranger, a pretty girl in her mid twenties, nudged me around 4th kilometer  when I was slowing down at the end of the Bandra-Worli sea-link. This also came with an advice to keep on running and not to stop. I was not surprised as that kind of support from fellow runners was visible all along the marathon route. It amazes me that, this was a crowd of which every individual wanted to clock his/her best timing and yet managed to find time to motivate others and cherish the fact the fellow runners are also at their best. Now continuing the story of stranger, when I slowed down again at the end of 5th kilometer after coming out of the sea-link; surprisingly the same stranger met me again with the same smiling face and same advise not to stop. Well how did I respond, I told her that now onward I will run with her till the end of the race and asked her if that is ok :).

Pretty and benevolent she was; she smiled, then I smiled and I ran along with her till the 19th

14 Kilometers

Well, there was a cause and there was lethargy. Cause was to run for half-marathon on 20th Jan. It took me 3 months in starting the preparation for the same after publicly announcing that on the blog in October. All is not lost and I ran close  to 29 kilometers in December. Not a big milestone, but at least a start. My best so far is 14 kilometers in 2 hours. This was achieved through walking interspersed with occasional running. 

Few mobile applications have made these activities very easy to track and I must say that seeing the stats in a nice form motivates you to do better. I hope to finish the half-marathon under 3 hours, even if I need to walk for all 180 minutes. Next week will be crucial for practice as I want to complete full 21 KM on coming Saturday before the big day.

Here goes my route for morning runs and a snapshot of my outings in December.

I too want to run for a cause..

This is what I wrote for applying for a place in Mumbai Marathon and now I have been confirmed a slot for Half-marathon. All the energy shown at the time of writing the email vanished in a minute after seeing the acceptance :) . The event is scheduled on 20th January  almost 125 days away. But the idea of running 21 point something kilometers in less than three hour is itself too scary, to say the least. I dread the idea of just standing somewhere still for one hour.

Normally I go to gym thrice in a quarter and run for like 2.5 kilometers on treadmill in 25 odd minutes.  That roughly translates in 12 kilometers of aggregate physical running I do in a year. Besides this, I never indulge myself in any physical activity for the sake of fitness. No surprise, I weigh 82 kg now. BMI index falls just outside the upper range suggesting slightly overweight body. Last jeans I bought was 36″ in size which is a clear 4″ more than what I