A Half Marathon Today! Cost: Rs.100/-

Hey,
The title's a bit misleading, yet true.
Intrigued? Read On!

[Note/Disclaimer- Experienced endurance runners, you'll laugh at this, but for me...].


Left from my house at 6.15am with Kaizer.. we drove to the EGL (Embassy Golf Links, just off the Inner Ring Road, B'lore) starting point and started at 6.30am, intending to run 10km.

Kaizer's been running for about 2-3 months now and is really dedicated and has lost significant weight! And, check it out, this was his maiden 10k run! Congrats Kaiz, well done!

The run went smoothly; we took a couple of 30-sec-or-so walking breaks...
At about the 9k mark, I was running along the side of the road keeping on the mud portion, when i saw what looked like a large grey rock. I ran onto it... turns out it's wet cement! Sheesh. My shoes are now clogged in cement. Kaiz laughed. Washed most it off with some (dirty) water... I can still smell the cement on my hands; yuck.

Continued on down completing 10.3 km and reached the card. Took about 1hr 20min. Yeah, we're not exactly world record breakers. Wiped my shoes off with a cloth best as I could and told Kaiz I'll run another 3-4 km..

Ran, and feeling good and strong at about the 13.5k mark, I 'phoned Kaizer & told him to carry on as I'd attempt doing a half. Uneventful run .. reached the 16k mark (tiring now) and turned around, heading back.

Man. This leg is the hardest I've done ever, in my limited running.
Also, I didn't plan on trying this much, so wasn't carrying any water or energy bars. (Of course I had a little water back at the car). But now was feeling pretty depleted of energy and thirsty.

At the 17.7 k mark, was feeling tired and in fact a bit light-headed. As luck would have it, I spotted a Naryal-Pani Vala (coconut-water man). The guy saved my life! Bought one (a "water" one) with the 100-buck note I carry in the silicon sleeve of my ipod. Costed 10 bucks. Best coconut water I've ever had!!! Drank the whole blooming thing.. mistake? Well, not really. I felt better and started off again down the road.

For another 0.9k the coconut water fuelled me; then I started to bonk... really really tired. The body's saying- "STOP you idiot Stop right NOW". Hm. Not a bad idea I thought. But somehow trudged on.
I mean that. I literally trudged down the road on that 19th kilometre. Man. I'm tired beyond belief, smelly with sweat, grime and cement. Yes. Pretty.
The mind is required to push the body at this point; at least for me. It somehow did.

Telling myself C'mon, it's only about 2k more from here to a half! Go man go! Yes, but I didn't Go! I slowly read slowly inched along. But running now...
Reached the 19.5k mark, gave wide berth to the cement "rock", and continued, moving a little quicker now, anticipation looming large.

At 20.5 k, I'm still running, even speeding up a bit, to the (completely imaginery) cheers of the "crowd". (In reality, there are a few security guards lounging around, hardly giving me a second glance; well, except when and if they see the cement on my shoes, pant, hand). I run. I run. I run until I just know I've passed that magic number - 21.097 km. I look at my phone (Android phone running the Google MyTracks app)- it says I've run 21.3 km. Yes!!! I throw my hands into the air, slow down, walk, trudge to the "finish".

Exhausted, dirty, happy, I throw my cap off, put my phone in it, slump down (actually lie down) in a kind of concrete parking lot. Put my legs up on the wall. Dilsh (the wife) calls me- "Where are you Kaiwan???". "Say Congrats". "Oh. Congrats. Why? Did you do too much?". "Yes, I ran a half marathon" I croak out. "Congrats!!! Well Done". I needed to hear that then... with my sore body, and yes, you guessed it, ITB injury acting up slightly. Fingers Crossed. Stretch stretch stretch. Yoga's awesome. It really helps.

Ok, Enough. I buy a 1 litre bottle of water at the small restaurant near the lot there. No one's in there. Pay Rs. 20/-. Walk a little, catch an auto-rickshaw, head home. Very happy. Reach. Cost: Rs. 67/-. The auto-wallah says "Sar 100 pay maadi sar". "Illa Sar namage only 70 Rupees" ille in my broken Kannada. So he grudgingly takes the 70 bucks. I say "I ran 21 km you know". He doesn't seem to even register it. Hm.

Now I don't want to run. Feeling will probably last a few days.

So no money left. Cost: Rs. 100/-. Told you so.