42.2K: A pilgrimage

With mild anxious mind we boarded the train on 16th jan for the first full marathon SCMM'2015. Momin brought us moong dal halwa, ashish came with pasta, amresh bhaai with laddu but surprisingly janesh didnt come with his sketchers. Meb is still feeling cheated for this ;) The whole journey was exciting and full with enjoyment because we have a friend named sunil khanna... Arre wahi jiska apna dhandha hai, 800 yard ka plot hai aur jo 15 saal par train mein travel karne aa gaya tha doston ke liye.. Yaar hai bhaai yaar... pyaar se log use admin, momin, jumin kuchh bhi bulaate hain.. but it must end with in.

Finally we reached mumbai central next morning with so many fellow runners. Hey you are in full or half? My first full.. Ohh great buddy.. Do well.. These were the conversations we had as soon as we reached mumbai. Collected the bib from phoenix mall, kurla west and everybody followed their predecided destination to take rest for the D-day.

Early next morning we all assembled in Azad maidan near CST for the first unforgettable ride of life. Every SRCian was worried in thought but at the same time every SRCian had the same word in mouth- kar denge yaar.. Sub 4 maarenge sub 4.. Positivity prevailed in mumbai air because of you guys. Thanks to Kundan sir and Subrat sir as well for your initial support.

Anyways countdown stopped and race started. Everybody had strong enough mind to hit the mumbai road so hard that it should be repaved. I was feeling very strong till 24K, no fatigue, nothing. Was crossing some slum area where small children were trying to come on road to give hi5 to runners but were prevented by the local police because of security reasons. I started running on the edge of road to give them hi5. One small kid came running to me at 22K and waved her small hands to shake with mine. I was really touched and felt like ab toh SCMM ki aisi ki taisi.. This emotional imbalance pushed me to pick up the pace further. I was like flying with not much effort. I never thought this could be disastrous. Very soon at 24, i started feeling thigh strain and had no choice but to slow down. Soon after, at 27 i was forced to stop. I did some stretching but the rhythm was completely lost. Somehow i managed to complete 33K in 3 hours. Now the question in mind was would i be able to complete remaining 9K in 1 hour? My body said no way but i dont know some sound from somewhere was keep on coming .. Clapping clapping.. I went to the top of peddar road and sped up downhill to catch up the time i lost while going uphill. At 38, my garmin said only 25 min left to make it a sub 4 run and i started running but every stride was like a burning pain for thigh muscle. At 41, i was left with 6 minutes and no power in body. I felt a tremendous subconscious force at 41.5 when some african runners were crossing me to finish the race. Chhotu get these kenyans or leave the hope of sub 4. I started picking the pace of those kenyans.. I was not able to believe at my stride, my leg turnover.. It was so smooth that i dont believe even now how it happened. I finished the race at 3:58:44 and everything went black after the finish line. I was lying on road for half an hour then started vomiting. Some gentleman came to help me out. Many thanks to him.  

Almost every SRCian struggled in the last few miles. Different weather conditions of delhi and mumbai could be one reason or our less mileage per week could be the other but we all will try our best to make it better next time.

To me, Marathon was a war. War between your body and your mind, war between your strength and your weakness, war between the sun and the shadow, war between the shine of glory and the sign to give-up.... Overall, a war between you and someone in you... He, who keeps calm crosses the finishing line.

In the end, I would like to thank people of mumbai most for this event organization. Spirit of the city is just awesome. It seems they do shopping for us with great details of what runners need in last miles well before we reach mumbai. Hats off to you guys. Your enthusiasm and support will certainly pull us to SCMM'16. Would like to thank SRCians for the great preparation in the chilly delhi winter, you guys simply rock. My wife and guggu singh for garmin and all the running gears. I really appreciate my wife for whatever i think to buy for running- she buys it already in advance. Thanks for understanding one of my passion. Thanks to my family, my friends who supported me in all the way. Thanks to that invisible guy who ran with me in the last lap to pick-up the unbelievable pace.Last but not the least i will thank Amresh bhaai because of whom i reached delhi with swollen ankle :)