Mumbai Marathon 2012 was a wonderful experience for me. I loved everything about it, running,
cheerful crowd, course, fellow runners and the whole scintillating atmosphere that
formed a perfect marathon. Organizers and authorities did a good job to
maintain the crowd and traffic. With these factors, I had no other thoughts
running in my mind when I registered again for Mumbai Marathon 2013.
Registration for Mumbai marathon starts as early in June
every year due to huge number of participation it usually starts early. This
year Mumbai marathon was celebrating its 10th year and it was my 2nd
year in succession.
I had already started my training for Hyderabad Marathon and
also had a thought of running Chennai Marathon this year. So, nothing much did I
thought initially about my run in Mumbai. With a good finish time at Chennai Marathon in December boosted my confidence to perform better. I was aiming at
finish time around 2 hrs with couple of minutes here and there.
This time in
Mumbai, it was Abhinav who helped me with the stay. Abhinav was a good friend of
mine and my previous company colleague. We were in touch even after he left job
to pursue MBA in Delhi. He got job in Mumbai and was staying there after his
degree. He stayed at Kandivali East.
I travelled to Mumbai on 19th morning by flight,
thanks to SpiceJet for cutting down their fare to 2013 Rs. On landing Mumbai, I
went to Abhinav’s room by taxi. It was after long time we were meeting, we had our chat having aloo paranthas prepared by cook. Abhinav told he will come with me for collecting the bib number and
other running stuff. After collecting the goodies, we roamed around the Marine
Drive, had our lunch and returned back to the room. I arranged things necessary
for the morning and fell asleep. I got up early, got ready and left by 4 am to
Kandivali Station to catch local to Bandra. Already there were bunch of people
travelling by that local. Friendly smile at 4 am in the morning local, feels
good. All knew we were on that local for a cause, to prove ourselves something
we had trained so hard.
Race began by 5.40 am. I started with normal pace and this
time I wanted to maintain single pace for first 10 kms. I took around 1
hour to complete the 10 kms mark, till this mark I had not taken any break.
I was feeling good and thought I could add few more kilometers. I continued in
the same pace for next 4-5 kilometers. I remember once the hill running began, bit of pain started in my right knee. I slowed my pace and
started slow run, now with another 4 kilometers to cover my watch timer showed
1 hour 45 mins. Now sensing sub 2 hour completion was bit unrealistic with the pain, I
thought to finish the race at comfortable pace without hurting myself. I felt
2.15 hours was achievable but knee pain was making me feel that too was far.
With my slowest pace, I completed my run in 2.22 hours as shown in my watch.
After the race I collected the medal and snacks and went back to the room.
 |
| Finisher Certificate |
I called up Keta, my good friend. We worked together in Pune. After her marriage she is now staying in Mumbai with her husband Aditya. We planned to meet around
4 pm after that I would catch my bus to Bangaluru.
As planned, I met Keta and Aditya at a CCD with Abhinav, I
was meeting her after around 2 years. We had chat almost for an hour. I thanked
Abhinav, it was nice meeting him. I said bye to Keta and Aditya and took bus
from Borivalli to Bangalore.
Mumbai and my friends again treated me very well. Hope to be
here again next year.
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