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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

FM at Mumbai SCMM 20 Jan 2013



Hi folks,

A brief race report!
As pics say it a lot better than (especially my) words, I'll use the photos I took as we ran along...

I'll start at the race start.
Hooked up with my Runner's High buddies Chandra, Rahul & Praba. The atmosphere was electric!

At the holding area before the start.
The early morning weather was just superb. So much so that I had to take a leak  :-p  at a public loo at Chowpatty! Then had to catch up with my mates; that took some effort, esp on the Pedder road flyover.

RH Lovebirds #1 Neha and Ajay at the Sealink start    :-)
I like to think that we're all on a lovely running/walking tour of this awesome city. Best way to see it. Yeah.
Soon enough we reached the beginning of the Sea-link; it looked really beautiful in the early morning. And who do we find there? The lovebirds of course, Neha and Ajay! (engaged).

Needless to say, we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to them for their selfless aid.
Of course, they enjoyed each other's company and were perhaps oblivious of all else ;-)

Running the Sea-link was fun! With Chandra, Rahul and Praba, conquerors all!

The Elites! We let them go   :-P

Rahul and I had trained for and adopted a run:walk of 23:3 min (23 min run, 3 min walk); it worked very well for us and we pretty much kept to our target pace (almost) throughout.
As an aside: I find that many folks consider walking during a run to be "wrong"; please don't: a run-walk regimen can really help. Of course, YMMV (your mileage may vary): but do give it a shot, especially when you're new to running or the distance. We did all our water/food/salt tabs breaks during the "walk" part. You can do a suitable ratio: 7:1, 8:2, etc etc.

Sherry met us with some fantastic cold coconut water at the end of the Sea-link. Thanks Sherry!
Then, at around the 20k mark at the end of the Sea-link, the elite runners passed us. 
Rahul and I debated whether or not to let them and go; "okay chalo, this time let 'em go, we won't embarrass them". So we didn't. :-)    :-P

Rahul Warrier on Pedder Road. Yeah!

At the halfway point, Chandra and Praba asked Rahul and I to go ahead... we wanted to try and hit our goal (basically at 8kmph, do the FM in about 5:15). (Well, I ended up getting a PB at 5h20m, Rahul just 3 min behind. Happy).

The going got harder now. In fact I actually felt worse at this point (between 21-32k) than i did at the long run at Decathon, Bangalore. Still, I had great company with Rahul Warrier there!
Knew that it's just one of those things: there'll be ups and downs in runs like this; I just had to stick it out...

Of course, the Mumbai crowds and spirit is tremendous; it would regularly lift us and keep us buoyed up!
We meet RH #1 Lovebirds (A/N) again! Man, Ajay/Neha are amazing: they generously gives bananas, etc to other runners and then instruct them to raise funds for Asha! I think it's just great.

Back on Pedder Road, around 35k down, and we have mixed emotions- we know we're a lot closer but.... But. But. There's still a ways to go and 7k is not the same when you're running it afresh as opposed to at the tail end of a marathon! :-)


Okay this guy, Rahul Warrior. Yes, I deliberately spell his surname wrong as he's a Warrior !!!
This is Rahul's first FM and he's just amazing! I'm so impressed. Way to go buddy!!

We catch up, overtake and then jump off, a 5.30 "bus" heading to VT. (What's at VT today? Everyone seems to be heading there. Anything special?  :-)  )
We do this quite a few times leading up to the 38k mark on Marine Drive.
Now what? Now it's mostly a battle of the mind; body feels like an automaton, we run, walk, walk, run, walk, run, .. you get the idea :)

The heli just above the sea. Wow.




Dilshad calls me on my phone..I don't think i make much sense, But, it helps a great deal. 
Darius has finished his 21k in no time and is now apparently helping others, along with SIndhu. 
Just like so many of our amazing community. Good job!

The bands playing there really pep us up for a bit; I charge hearing "Rock On"! yeah baby.
A helicopter blazes at a really low altitude along the coastline. We're dead tired. It's loud. It's a party at which we're kind of fatigued. Still. It's awesome!



Rahul and I convince each other that we can make it to the left turn at about the 40.5k mark. We eventually do; Rahul tells me to go ahead, he'll follow along in a moment.
So I try, running faster than i thought i could (well, for a few seconds anyway). Ah. 1000m. I say "I'll just run!" but No, the body has some issue and does not agree. Okay. So i walk in a patch of shade just before 500m and then I do run! All the way to the finish. 
Even though I've done this a few times (6th FM), it always feels like Wow, am reeeeaaaally done now. Thank you very much FM but i've bloody had it with you. Full stop.
Until the next one :)
After! A PB of 5:20

Rahul, Chandra, Srini P, the coaches, all the RH folks in fact, thanks!!! Could not have done it without everyone (i am a coach too but believe me, am learning new stuff all the time).
Santhosh, am indebted to. Heartfelt Thanks.

Had a lot of fun!
Unfortunately, am not there at the Auroville event this year. 
Will of course miss all the fun there, especially my awesome "Shut Up and Run!" buddy group!!!
Am certain you'll do just great though.















1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great job Kaiwan. Am soooooooooo proud of you! Silloo