Running Experience 5: Running my first Full Marathon!

Hi Friends,

Greetings!

As I keep reiterating, It has been my privilege to write and share my experiences related to long distance running. The last article "Running Experience 4: Preparing for my first Full Marathon" has received 325+ views at the time of writing this article. This is the most I have received for my personal blogs till now. I would like to analyze this response in two ways - one, as a growing awareness about long distance running nowadays among educated people, and second, humble self being able to contribute towards that growing awareness. 

Continuing from where I left in the previous article "Running Experience 4: Preparing for my first Full Marathon"...

Bib collection

Kaveri Trail Marathon 2015 edition was scheduled on two days - September 19 and 20! On the first day i.e. Sep 19, the category of 10K run was organized. That was the Bib collection day as well for Half Marathon (HM) and Full Marathon (FM) participants. That was Saturday as well; after completing my morning chores I left to collect my Bib. The venue of bib collection was the race venue as well. Since it was near the famous Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary I didn't have any issue finding the route. But the road was being repaired hence I took more time than usual to reach the venue. 

I reached the venue, I could see it was a makeshift but a systematic facility comprising a podium/stage, a small medical aid center with a bed, a counter to store the belongings of participants and of course a bib distribution counter. I collected the bib and inquired about the timings. The start time of FM was 6 AM followed by HM at 6:30 AM. The cut-off time was 1 PM. I then proceeded to have a look at the trail where the race was being held.

First look of the trail

As I mentioned earlier, that day 10K run had already happened, hence the start point could be easily made out. The route was a 10.5 km trail stretch, every FM participant had to run two loops back and forth. I rode my bike on the trail for couple of kilometers. It was a non asphalted muddy track with the Cauvery river canal flowing sideways. I stopped at a point and sat on a bank of canal to feel the flowing water. The water was cool, pure and refreshing. In a way it raised my enthusiasm levels for the next day's run. 

As I mentioned earlier, the road I traversed from Mysore was under repair, hence I had to try another route on Bangalore-Mysore highway. I found it as a faster option though a bit longer. I kept the timing of my return journey so that I could plan for the next day's travel. 

Anxiety before the race

After returning, I kept myself hydrated throughout the day. That evening, as I do every Saturday, visited a temple complex in Yadavagiri/Vontikoppal. The main deity is Lord Hanuman, the strongest God as per Hindu mythology. I prayed for physical as well mental strength for the next day's run. 

I had my dinner earlier than my daily schedule. As I do the previous night before every run, I picked my race day T-Shirt, pinned the bib on to it, kept all the running attire ready in an organized manner. I went to bed at around 10 PM setting my mobile alarm at 3:50 AM. On a normal day, I go to sleep soon after closing my eyes on the bed. But that night I was not able to catch a sleep at all. Though I resisted a lot, the thoughts of next morning kept on coming. That night I came to know clearly about one thing - what is the feeling of losing the sleep over something! After trying hard for an hour or so I got up and had a sip of water, then took the name of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba and tried again to catch sleep. I believe Baba blessed me with sleep and I saw a dream as well with myself at the start point conversing with one of my relatives who in reality was far away in my hometown :D. 

Reaching the venue early morning

At 3:50 AM the alarm rang, I woke up, prayed the Almighty for strength and went to brush my teeth. Then I helped myself with a hot cup of tea after which my senses were awakened fully. I did my other morning chores, got dressed up with the running wear chosen previous night and filled a 600 ml bottle with water and electrolytes (For longer runs I run holding a hydration bottle to avoid the stoppage at aid stations). 

I started from my home at 5 AM and reached the venue by 5:25 AM. I parked my bike and went to the place where announcements were already happening. Soon the FM participants were asked to move towards start point which was around 500 meters from the announcement point. I dropped my bag at the baggage counter, took the filled water bottle and started towards the start point. 

As I walked, I rang home and spoke to my parents to get their wishes and blessings. (Normally I keep my parents informed about every run. But I didn't have enough courage to inform my Mom about my FM venture thinking she might get over-concerned, though I did inform my Dad and Sis about the same. Previous day itself I had informed about this event to them, but had told my Mom I would be running HM). They wished me luck and I blabbered something like the mobile networks were not strong at the race venue and told them not to expect a call soon after the run. I can say it was my futile attempt to hide about my venture.  

Flag-off

As I reached the start point, it was still dark! The sound of flowing Cauvery river water was giving a nice backdrop music! But the start point was well lit hence I could see around 60-70 participants for the FM, but not a single familiar face. The group had a good mix of people from all ages and genders though women count was appeared to be in a single digit. Among women there was one girl may be in her early or mid twenties who appeared youngest among all the participants. 

I loosened up with a small jog, did some warm-up stretches and got myself ready for the run. I kept my Runkeeper App ready as well. At about ten minutes to 6 AM, another round of announcements were made about the history of the event, the route, aid stations, do's and don'ts during the run. I remember the announcer mentioning it was one of the toughest marathons especially for the first timers. I could just smile after listening to that. As 6 AM approached, the announcer did the countdown and at the stroke of zero, event was flagged-off. 

Starting the race after flag-off (second runner from left)

Start of the journey

I took the name of Almighty again and started my race journey switching on my Runkeeper app. I was among the last to go past the starting point. I started steadily, there were couple of fellow runners going ahead of me and were talking among themselves. I could hear their race strategy; they were planning for 7 km per hour pace and finish the race in 6 hours. I told myself it was a good strategy. But I had my own plan, running the first HM in a comfortable pace without stopping and then continuing for as long as I can. 

First Stretch (0 - 10.5 km)

As a great fan of Mathematics and numbers, with every passing km my mind used to calculate the percentage of finish :) - after 1 km ~ 2.5%, after 2 km ~ 5% so on...Since the start was early I got warmed up only after running 6-7 km. By that time a kind of segregation of runners based on pace had happened with faster runners going well ahead and runners with medium pace were running just ahead or behind me. 

Since the route was completely new for me, I was just watching and enjoying the stretch. When I was about to reach 8 km mark, I saw the race leader running back in my direction after completing his first stretch. As he went past I cheered him and I told myself "Wow!". Soon I met the next best and cheered him also. As I approached the end of the stretch the runners ahead of me were going past in opposite direction.

Second Stretch (10.5 km - 21.1 km)

I completed the stretch of 10.5 km with ease in about 70 minutes, took U-turn and started going back for second half of the first loop. Since I was running holding a water bottle I didn't take breaks at any of the aid stations. The return stretch was towards eastwards, and by that time the Sun had risen with clear skies around him. But the weather was still relatively cool and good for running. 

Meanwhile the HM runners (whose start time was 6:30 AM) were coming in opposite direction. I did Hi-five with friendly looking faces. At about 14 km mark, a bit of monotony and tiredness started to creep in, but I didn't allow it to get into my mind. I kept the spirit up and continued running. I completed the first loop i.e. 21.1 km in about 2 hour 21 minutes and started for the next loop among cheers of volunteers at the finish point. 

Third Stretch (21.1 km - 31.5 km)

My water bottle was empty by that time and at the next water point I had to stop! I had couple of small cups of water along with a small banana piece. Since I had stopped after 2 and half hours I felt my legs were not ready to start running immediately after the break. But I started walking in brisk pace and found a company of a co-runner. We spoke as we walked, he told it was his second FM. After walking for about 200 meters he told he would like to get back to business and started running. After a minute I too resumed my running. 

I ran in slow pace for another 30 minutes and when my Runkeeper app alerted 3 hours, I checked the distance and it was 26 km which was same as my previous week's practice run. I was relieved at that moment because I thought I had done minimum justice to the practice I did. 

By that time, I started meeting the HM runners in opposite direction who were running back towards finish point to complete their race. I exchanged Hi-five with many friendly looking faces and with every clap the enthusiasm level used to go up. But physically, the tiredness had started creeping by then. I thought it was time to switch to the strategy of run-walk sequences which I had chalked out a week before the run. 

At the beginning, I started with 2 min walk and 5 min run. After moving ahead with this sequence for couple of kilometers, I observed I had to keep looking at my watch frequently to maintain this sequence. I thought it might disturb my concentration. I thought of keeping my sequences in sync with the Runkeeper app which was giving status every 5 min. I made it 2 min walk and 3 min run which worked this way - at the stroke of status update from the app, I used to switch from running to walking and after 2 min I used to come back to running till the next status update. With this I had to look at the watch only once in five minutes. Also I was doing small adjustments in between so that I can accommodate aid station breaks during the 2 min walk time. 

The strategy worked well for me and I continued that till the completion of the third stretch of 10.5 km. With that stretch I had completed 31.5 km in 3 hours 44 minutes. When I took U-turn for the final stretch I told myself the mission was almost accomplished, it was just a matter of time. 

Final Stretch (31.5 km - 42.2 km)

During the last stretch, the legs started aching, hence I had to do further tweaking of my walk-run sequence. I changed it to 3 min walk and 2 min run. At a point mid way I saw the canal was very close to the trail. I stopped, went close to the canal, washed my face and head in the flowing water. The clean, cold flowing water had a magical effect on me. Suddenly I felt fresh again. With that refreshed spirit, I resumed my journey towards the finish point.

During this stretch I met many co-runners who were running their third stretch. After knowing each other by that time, at least by face and race we were running, we (FM participants) had started to greet and cheer each other whenever we came across. I met the girl (whom I had found to be the youngest among the lot as mentioned earlier) as well and noticed an injury on her right knee as the mark of clotted blood was clearly visible. As I had observed at the earlier stages of race, she had gone well ahead of me in the first two stretches. I thought maybe the injury might have slowed her down. Nevertheless I offered a Hi-five to her as well, she gleefully accepted and we went ahead in our ways. 

Among other folks whom I had kept track of during the run were two guys who were running together in almost constant pace and were ahead of me by a km or so. There was one elderly runner as well with whom I was in virtual competition as we were taking lead alternately. At around 35-36 km mark I started getting close to those two parallel running guys. Surprisingly they stopped running and started walking because of which I could go past them. 

With each passing km though the fatigue level was increasing but it paled against the feeling of accomplishment which had started flowing into my mind. In between I got a call from home. It was my Mom who was worried why I hadn't called her even after close to 5 hours since the race  had began. Since I had misguided her before the race that I would be running HM, she was expecting my call after about 2.5-3 hours from the start time. I told her that I would be calling soon, and the call got cut as well. But I didn't call back. 

Just within a couple of km away from the finish point, I found my running friends Umang Kamra, Thanuj Kumar, Sakshum Jain, Shailesh Patel, Kanika Sharma and Ankan Paul waiting on a small canal bridge to cheer me. They were there after completing their 10K run in the event "Spirit of Wipro" which was held on the same day. I saw Umang getting ready to pace and as I approached the group he started running with me. 

I tried to explain him that I was doing a sequence of run and walk but he was not in a mood to listen. He just insisted me to complete the remaining distance very strong without stopping. Though I was very much tired but I thought, not everyday an elite runner like Umang would be pacing me. 

With the help of Umang's pacing and among the cheers of my other friends, I approached the finish line. Just before crossing the finish mark, I glanced towards the big digital clock kept there, which was showing 5 hours 13 minutes. As soon as I crossed the finish point, received a garland of finisher medal from a volunteer. 

Following table provides the statistics of my pace as recorded by the Runkeeper app.  

Statistics of my run

Sinking in the sense of accomplishment

Finally I had scaled it! Everything had gone well - right from planning, scheduling the incremental practice runs, completing those runs and the executing the strategies laid out for the race. Not a single negative thought came in my mind in those 314 minutes! There was not a single undesirable thought like why I should be running this OR what will I get with these runs blah blah! 

As I was about to sink in the glory, I saw my mobile battery was too low. Before it died down, I called up my home and informed my parents that I completed the Full Marathon. They became very ecstatic! There was no bounds to my Mom's joy as she was asking why I didn't inform before the race itself. I just laughed and told I wanted to give her a surprise. 

Posing with the medal

I then requested Kanika to take couple of my pictures at the finish line. I thanked my friends for coming that far to cheer me and sharing my joy. I remember Ankan asking me if I would like to try one more FM in the future. As I had mentioned in my previous article, I had planned only for one outing, but considering the great experience I had, running those 5 hours I couldn't say No though I remained non-committal. 

Winding-up

I washed my face, hands and legs in the flowing water of the canal and relaxed for few minutes. Then Shailesh took me on his bike to the main venue where the lunch was arranged. Barring Shailesh and Sakshum, other friends left for their respective houses. I had a light lunch, took my bag, posed for few snaps on the podium and then headed back to where I had kept my bike. Incidentally I had kept it very near to start point which I had not noticed in the early morning darkness. 

Posing on the podium

As I was about to start my bike, I saw the same girl (whom I noticed injured on her knees while running) heading towards main venue. I stopped by her side and inquired how was her run. She told she was a bit disappointed as she couldn't run as per her plan because of the injury she received after falling at the end of the first stretch. But she was brave enough to cover 3/4th of the marathon distance carrying injury and complete within the cut-off time. I consoled and patted her for her courage and passion. I dropped her at the venue, said bye to her and headed towards Mysore with Shailesh and Sakshum. 

After effects

Back home, I called my parents after getting my cell phone battery charged. As per my Mom's suggestion I applied coconut oil on my tired legs and took a peaceful nap. After getting up in evening, I took bath. I noticed my body was fine and stable barring the heaviness in legs. I was facing some difficulty taking the steps because of that heaviness in legs. It was there till next day and after that I was fine. 

I know the write-up was a long one. But I would like to tell you one thing, it is more about experiencing than writing or sharing. I take very much pride about that run, about those moments spent during the run. It was completely about being with myself - through body and mind. That marathon, those moments made me realize my dream of becoming a sportsperson and achieve something big in sports. I might not have won the race but Marathon is considered as a sport where participating and finishing strong are not anything less than a victory for a runner. I am writing this article more than 3 years after that run and still I can recollect the memories with pride. Though I have run two more FMs and have done better as well in terms of pace, but the first one has always remain special for me. 

Thanks a lot for reading and encouraging...

Regards,
Chetan