So Near …..Yet so Far….. A story of my Good and Strong
Run…..
At around 4hrs 54 mins , I glued
to my watch it read 41 kms , so I had 1200 mtrs and 6 mins
for a Sub 5 FM for which I had
trained for so hard last 6 odd month .
I gave it a attempt , ran in pain
till almost 3 mins and any other day I
could have ran this in sub 6 mins . But funnily , my ITB pain was getting more
worse and at a point around 800 mtrs to go I gave away…. Had I rushed probably
I may not have walked for the rest of the day….. as I was to cross the line the
event timing clock read 4.59.19 giving some hope but nevertheless the moment
kept me in joy for almost a couple of hours till the time official SMS came and
which I was sure since my GPS also read 5.02 .
So my personal best at 5.04.24 .
A journey from 5.59 totally wasted
effort in SCMM 2016 to a much trained SCMM 2017 in 5.13 and a stronger Delhi in
PB time .
Note : I am not at all obsessed with timings , but had trained
for a goal oriented 6 months to achieve my personal Best timing in all format .
And I achieved it in 2017.
A big thanks to the brand I
represent , when adidas put up a post about who would like to run Delhi amongst
the Adidas Runners , I expressed my desire to run a FM though within a span of
one month . Kept my training to myself and very close set of friends and
mentors.
Time read 0130 when me and Ajit
Raner landed at Delhi Airport , we took
the cab and was sooner or later in the Adidas Guest house in Gurgaon .
Next 02 days (Friday and Saturday
) was one of the most memorable days of my life having heard Dr Rajat Chauhan
and having met the great legend Haile Gebresailaisse, thanks to Abhinav Sharma
and Arjun Saraswat and Team Adidas .
(will blog about this experience separately) .
Was fortunate to share the guest
house with all champion runners Sanjeev Ramki, Vipul Kumar , Arjun Raner , RK
Murthy and a awesome coach Ajit Kulkarni
. Lot got of tips and heard there story . Coach Ajit helped in all the taping
before the race day .
Thanks to Ayesha , Anupriya and
Nivie too as part of team AR.
Race day :-
Woke up at 0200 and got ready . At the start line weather was
like too cold for us mumbaiwaalas . Met many friends from Mumbai , Chennai, Delhi
, Hyderabad, surat , Kochi . As the great
Sachin Tendulkar flagged off the event we all started our run . The nip in the
air could make me feel , this is my day , the day I waited for last 8 FMs . I
started with a gud 1st Km along with Dr Kumar Sir and the momentum
continued , before I realized it was 9.1 kms for 1st Hr this was
bang on as per the plan given to me by sunil shetty . I felt my lungs opened up
and the next hr it was again a 9.2kms . Still feeling fresh I was thanking God
for this beautiful and strong day …..before I realized it was 21kms in 2.16 . I
was glad that I did the first half in a much much better time . In the return
leg waived to many of my friends who were doing there 21kms , damn strong and
3hr read 27kms .
GOD was not happy (maine bahut
mannat maangi aur uske badle chadava nahi chadaya abhi takh, isliye bhagwaan ne
le li ) :-
At 27.2 kms , I felt a small
niggle on my left knee , i did stretching and moved on , next 100mtrs , the
reality set in …..shit the dreaded ITB pain and it was the beginning of my
Dandi March . I could see a dream going away. Trust me , I was not at all tired
and here I was laughing at GOD “Bhai
galat time pe le li ……”
I had ITB seven years back and by
running for few years had learnt so much of ITB . One fact I also learned was
if it happens during the run …..then your race is over .
Lot of runners who came from
behind expressed their sympathy and moved on giving chocolates and salt pills
etc .
At 4th Hr I was 35 kms
…..still managed a 8kms in 4th hr . It was 7kms and a hr left …..by
this time pain was almost unbearable and I thought to DNF even waived a Biker
to offer lift till start since I was to call off my race .
Saala biker ….”he said nahi lift
doonga , daudo” .
I continued my walk , drag ,
zombie drag ….at 4hrs 30 mins it was 38.30 kms and had to take a 2 mins break
too ….continued to run when a friend Hema Menon from Kochi pushed me to run and
decided to give it a last shot . Ran all lout but could run 200 mtrs and on
…..and then run and then walk ….
I glued to my watch it read 41 kms , so I had
1200 mtrs and 6 mins for a Sub 5….. and I gave away the attempt
….. my watch read 5.02 …..
I ran strong , very strong
……however timing can wait , perhaps GOD knew if I get this , I may not train
and go back to BIRA land …..
BIRA (is a brand of Water …..)
So the hunger continues …..my
season ends . Rest , recuperation and retraining starts in a months time .
Meanwhile I am going to Shirdi,
Sabarimala, Mahim Church , Haji Ali Dargah………….Bhagwaan thodi si lift kara de
……
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