The most awaited day of the year finally arrived. During this last week before the marathon, I deliberately avoided thinking about the race. I ran 3 times with short distances of 3, 4 and 2 miles which I believe, helped me during the race. A rusty body isn't an ideal thing to enter a race with. So, I followed the advice of my racing guru Mo Farah that keep your body well-conditioned, drink lots of water to stay well hydrated, eat good amount of carbs. Few days prior to a run isn't a time to think too much about weight gain. So, I made sure that I am drinking 12-14 glass of water, eating carbs i.e. Bananas with Greek yogurt and Blueberries, good fat i.e. avocados with olive oil, drank soups almost every day. I believe, this diet plan along with a consistent training really helped me during the race.
On the evening before race, I went out for a heavy Indian dinner. I was worried about an upset stomach but nothing of that sorts happened. When I came back home, I quickly checked all my gear in pace, my Race shoes, socks, headphones, my favorite shorts and T, my phone armband and cap. To be on safer side, I even packed my gym bag with a hoodie, a rain jacket,a spare pair of T and track pants.
On Race Day:
I slept moderately well with around 7 hours of sleep and woke up early at around 6 am. I took a cold shower just as this routine has helped me in the past. I devoured my carb loaded breakfast of Banana, Greek your with berries and a whole wheat bagel with generous amount of butter.
I arrived at the race start point almost 1.5 hours earlier which actually helped to settle down, I walked few paces up and down, stretched a bit. Put my music and fitness tracker on, used restrooms couple of times to ensure there wouldn't be any restroom breaks during the race.
The race started at 10:02 AM with a loud horn and I and my friends started at the bottom of the pack to avoid the crowd. Initially there was no room to run and all I could manage was a brisk jog but soon the sprinters started to lead and joggers left behind, I was in the mid of the pack and started to run at my usual pace of around 9-10 minutes per mile. I had a vague target of 2 hours 25 minutes in my mind but I was more focused on finishing the race rather than chasing a target.
I was really happy that I could sustain the ordeal of training and participate in the run. I was soaking in the atmosphere where crowd was cheering, people coming out of their houses to waive at the runners. First two miles were easy and I was pacing it well, much better than I was doing during my training. Still, I decided to conserve the energy when I could have gone for less than 9 minutes per mile as I wanted that energy in the later stage of the run. I kept running at good pace of around 9 minutes and 35 seconds for initial 5 miles. However, after 4 miles, I felt a bit of pain in my chest which was kind of annoying. I knew it wasn't serious but mostly due to extra carbs I ate during morning breakfast and I was sure, it will go away and it really did go away in few minutes.
I was happily running till 5 miles marker but with a bit of niggle in my left knee and ligaments surrounding it and I was praying to go that such thing shouldn't cut short my run. As the pain started to grow, I decided to focus on the music and started shuffling songs to find better tracks. At the same time, I started murmuring to my body that you have done so wonderfully till now and you will do even better this time around. Such motivational talks always helps, however this is much easier said than done.
When I was grappling with all these self-doubts, I saw a boy holding a placard which read, "Have a Runderful Day". I smiled at him, he waived to me and I have him a thumbs up. My attention diverted from pain to that little boy for a few minutes and it helped. I forgot about the pain and ran probably the fastest mile of 9 minutes and 30 seconds.
I reached 6 miles and was still going strong. As I was running towards 7 miles, I picked water and Gatorade from a stall and it helped me to go further but soon after 7 miles, shoulders started to drop and pace fell too. However, a few cops started clapping as I ran through the intersection and a group of spectators started shouting, you have got this and nothing is going to stop you now. All these loud cheers and clapping and whistling helped me to pick my game again and I started running in a much better rhythm though still at little slower pace but much better than my training runs. I kept going from strength to strength till 10th mile and then I started to visualize the finish line which I felt dangerous as I started to feel weak.
I hit 10 mile marker in a secluded patch of the course with only a couple of runners ahead of me and sun was too bright, my cap was all soaked up in sweat and heat was really pulling me down. A lady voluntarily giving chilled water bottles as she stood outside her house. I believe her help pulled me from that abysmal state and as I picked bottle from her and gulped some of that water down and poured rest of it over my head,
I felt my legs charged up and confident to take on the rest of the race. I attempted a charged sprint for around 300 meters and by the end of it, I felt it was a terrible mistake as I felt my legs drained out and I was still far from 11 mile marker. So, I again shut down all my though process and kept running with my head steady and focused. I reached 11 mile marker and started to feel thirsty again due to severe heat but there was no water in sight here.
I somehow made my way to 12 mile marker and the last 1.1 miles were the hardest thing I have ever faced in my life. I saw many fit runners who were ahead of me, walking more and sprinting less but as I firmly believe walking and then running isn't simply my style, I kept my slow and steady pace.
As I was somehow keeping my ready-to-fall-apart limbs together, I saw a sign, only 0.5 miles left and you are almost there. I should have been happy reading that sign but I sighed as I was really dragging myself now and then as I crossed the last traffic intersection, a cop shouted GO GO GO, you are amazing, keep going and I got another much needed boost and I increased my speed which had dropped abysmally low by now and I finished that last half mile in much better fashion and as I crossed the finish line, people clapped, cheered and the timer read my timing as 2 hours 20 minutes and 59 seconds, 4 minutes better than my target of 2 hours 25minutes.
As I grabbed my water bottle from one of the volunteers, I kept going for a few more steps then drank entire bottle and sat down on the pavement and the rolled on it to lie on my back. As I caught my breath in few seconds, the feeling of the achievement has started to sink in and all I could do was smile like a child and kept smiling for a long time. One item off from the bucket list.
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