Earlier today, I completed Phase 1 of my attempt to complete a long outstanding item on my bucket list. Run the half marathon at the Mumbai Marathon.
To participate in the Mumbai Marathon requires you to have run either a 10K or a half marathon at an approved event and get a timing based on your age group and gender. Not having ever run at any event, I chose a 10K. My age group required me to have a timing of under 1 hour 20 minutes. And so I targeted 1 hour 15 minutes.
I was traveling from the US to India on the 4th and so had registered for this race on the 8th. I figured that I’d have 4 days to adapt to the India time zone and get over the jet lag. And on the 4th I realized that I had messed up in my math. I was taking off on the 4th, but landing only on the 6th, due to the long 24 hour flight and the time zone difference. Having flown a zillion times, I should have known and yet managed to get it wrong.
To make things worse, I was having a sore throat and mild fever. I had every reason to not do the run. My physician wife too advised me not to participate. Yet, I decided to go ahead. I knew that if I didn’t run and qualify this time around, I may never end up doing the Mumbai Marathon.
I woke up at 4 and was at the venue at 5.30, well before the starting time of 6.30. The runners were of all ages, genders and physical fitness. I was at the bottom of the pile on most counts. It was a rainy day. And was pouring. The ground was mushy. Luckily the run was mostly on roads and they were wet, but okay to run on, except in a few places where water had collected and you waddled through.
During the run, I realized how unfit I was and somehow managed to keep some kind of a pace. Running, Walking, Running. Walking... And as time went by, the period of Running kept getting progressively lesser and the Walking longer. At the end of what seemed like an eternity, I could hear the band playing and the crowds cheering and somehow managed to cross the finish line. It seemed to me that I may have made it and guessed my timing was around 1 hour 17 minutes. It turned out that my official timing was 1:15:19.
While this meets the minimum qualifying standard, whether I get an opportunity to run, will depend on how many runners apply and what their timings are. Hopefully I’ll get to run in Jan 2019. And be able to check 1 more item on my list.
To participate in the Mumbai Marathon requires you to have run either a 10K or a half marathon at an approved event and get a timing based on your age group and gender. Not having ever run at any event, I chose a 10K. My age group required me to have a timing of under 1 hour 20 minutes. And so I targeted 1 hour 15 minutes.
I was traveling from the US to India on the 4th and so had registered for this race on the 8th. I figured that I’d have 4 days to adapt to the India time zone and get over the jet lag. And on the 4th I realized that I had messed up in my math. I was taking off on the 4th, but landing only on the 6th, due to the long 24 hour flight and the time zone difference. Having flown a zillion times, I should have known and yet managed to get it wrong.
To make things worse, I was having a sore throat and mild fever. I had every reason to not do the run. My physician wife too advised me not to participate. Yet, I decided to go ahead. I knew that if I didn’t run and qualify this time around, I may never end up doing the Mumbai Marathon.
I woke up at 4 and was at the venue at 5.30, well before the starting time of 6.30. The runners were of all ages, genders and physical fitness. I was at the bottom of the pile on most counts. It was a rainy day. And was pouring. The ground was mushy. Luckily the run was mostly on roads and they were wet, but okay to run on, except in a few places where water had collected and you waddled through.
During the run, I realized how unfit I was and somehow managed to keep some kind of a pace. Running, Walking, Running. Walking... And as time went by, the period of Running kept getting progressively lesser and the Walking longer. At the end of what seemed like an eternity, I could hear the band playing and the crowds cheering and somehow managed to cross the finish line. It seemed to me that I may have made it and guessed my timing was around 1 hour 17 minutes. It turned out that my official timing was 1:15:19.
While this meets the minimum qualifying standard, whether I get an opportunity to run, will depend on how many runners apply and what their timings are. Hopefully I’ll get to run in Jan 2019. And be able to check 1 more item on my list.
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