My First Half Marathon January 21, 2009
Posted by Vikas Tandon in Life.Tags: Half Marathon, Marathon, Mumbai Marathon, running
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18th Jan 2009. I completed my first half marathon (21.097km). Wow! And to think that about 15 months back, I was struggling to run 2km without stopping for breath. The max I had ever run before that was with my close friend Dr Mihir Munshi when we were in college – that was around 3km I think!
The Mumbai Marathon is a phenomenal event. In a country not known for its sporting and adventure culture, the Mumbai Marathon puts India on the international sporting map quite admirably.
Anyway, back to my run, it wasn’t easy to be sure. I was going quite well till around the 15-16km mark, and was hoping to clock between 2:20 to 2:25. However, my calves started cramping really bad and no amount of hydration, salts or stretching would help. So i pretty much had to walk-jog the remaining 5-odd km and limp across the finish line in what I believe was a timing of 2:28 (official timing TBA).
Note: Just to put things in perspective, the winners do the distance in around 1:08 or something, so even 2:20 is no where near a “good” time. But not trying to push my timing was important for me to be able to do the distance.
So I’m a bit disappointed with my timing, I know I can do better. But am glad I managed to finish and definitely need to work on those cramps. Perhaps my running technique needs work.
But anyone reading this thinking “wow, 21km sounds way more than I can run”, let me tell you, I used to be in awe of my friends who ran the half marathon. But it is MUCH easier than you think. You just have to go easy, not try and cover too much too fast. I started with the treadmill, doing 2, 3 then around 4km before I hit the road. From 4, I went to 6km over a month or so, and the I was doing 8-9. The real breakthrough happened when I jumped from 12 to 15km one day and I felt absolutely fine. That was the day I really started feeling confident I could do 21. My journey from 4km to 15km took a good 6 months or so. Because I was clear I was only racing against myself.
Running in a fantastic group helped too. It allows you to explore your limits and push your boundaries. One is unlikely to push oneself if running on one’s own.
So make sure you don’t miss the next one. Registrations start around June/July every year and fill up pretty fast, so keep checking http://scmm.indiatimes.com
Injoy!
What an amazing way to put it! Nice read, Vikas.
Yes, I completely agree with you. Did the half in 2007 and I hadn’t imagined that I would be able to either hadn’t I started practicing and more importantly decided to in the first place!
Sport has no shortcuts, and that goes with running too. You need to be persistent, dedicated and NEVER GIVE UP! I’m sure you’re piece is going to inspire many a couch potatoes to give up the sedentary life! KEEP RUNNING….