Bengaluru Midnight Marathon – its good to be back!!

The last few months have not been the easiest – I had an IT Band issue and then to make matters worse, ever since KTM, I have been constantly unwell. Off course, there is no one else to blame but myself. The IT Band issue came up because I got so carried away and diversified into so many different things that my strength training and flexibility sessions had begun to suffer. Over an extended period, there really was not much else to expect. And I was constantly unwell because I never once allowed my body to completely recover. As soon as I would feel a little better, I would go out there and give my immune system a hit and be back in bed for the next two weeks – It really is a vicious cycle, I tell you!!

So when Gul reached out to me in late November and asked me to sign up for Midnight Marathon – I was unsure if I would be in a place to actually run a good race. But, I signed up for it anyway. The entire Proton crew also jumped on board and we all decided it would be fun to do a shorter distance speed run. And so there we were, all signed up and ready to go and have another super fun-filled evening on the night of the Midnight Marathon. I had thought that I would use the Midnight Marathon as the hard stop to kick start my SCMM training. Now, I am aware that most of the marathoners are already done with their training, but this is where I am at. I was not in a condition to have been training previously so I will do the best that I can with the amount of time I have on my hands and as always run with heart.

The weeks to the build up of the Midnight also saw me down with the flu and barely enough training. I was actually quite nervous going into the run on the 14th Dec but at the end of the day the only thing that played on in my head was – “strip down to the basics, take the pressure away and run for the original reason you had started running – Fun!!! And so, the plan was laid, stress was thrown out the window and the countdown had begun. With less than a week to go, I gave up on trying to get any training runs into the picture and focused on complete recovery instead.

Before you know it, it was D-Day. As per regular routine, I woke up early and lounged around the house. In the afternoon, I got a couple hours rest and then come 5pm, the race fever had started to come on. Narayani, who has only recently completed the Mumbai Oxfam 100k Trailwalk had decided to be part of the crew and volunteered to drive us to the venue since she is still recovering and not in a condition to race just yet. She was home around 6pm. The next hour and a half saw Ankush, Henna and Dad trickle back home from wherever they were. We all got dressed and ready and decided to leave for the venue around 7:30pm – this car would have our cheerleaders and crew – Mum, Dad and Narayani, Henna, Ankush and me. With Bangalore traffic at an all time high, it being a saturday night and the plan to meet the rest of the Protons at the venue – it was way safer to be early instead of being rushed. As we all piled into the car and made our way to the venue, there was the usual banter amongst all of us coupled with incessant phone calls wishing us luck.

One particular call had me in splits. One of our friends was down in town for the weekend so she says, ” What are you guys doing? Let’s catch up” . Response, ” going to run the 10k at Midnight Marathon” Her response, ” what the f***? All the night life  closes at 11:30pm and you all start running at 12am? No wonder you have gone all health and fitness enthusiast on me!!!”

By 8:45pm, we were at the venue. As we all walked in, the familiar electric buzz could be felt. There was a sudden surge in energy levels. The familiar nervousness in the build up to the race set in. ” This is going to be good”. Soon, the rest of the crew started trickling in – First up was birthday baby Aditya Kaul and Ajjay. Dharmendra followed soon after. Varoon was next in line followed by Gajju and Sudhir Sir, Naagu, Geeta and Sriram. Before you know it,it was a full house abuzz with excitement. We met the Army contingent and exchanged a few words with them. Got our bibs on, timing chips in place and general catching up. Uma and Vinita, a couple of my friends and Zumba students had completed their first ever 5k distance. I was stoked and superproud so quickly bounded over to say hello and get their race experience on board. As I was walking around I met a lot of the regular runners and had a quick word with them all. Before we knew it, it was 9:30pm and time to get warmed up for the 10pm race.

The entire crew did a few laps of warm up, some mobility exercises and then we all rushed over to the start line with 5 minutes to go – or so we thought. Due to some timing technology issues and route clearance, the start time was pushed out by another 25 minutes. So much for the warm up!!! But the 25 minutes were quite fun in itself. Now athletes at a start line are like racehorses raring to go – their endorphin levels are high and they get impatient, so just like horses would rear up and play around, so do the athletes and this excess energy comes out in the form of smartass comments which pretty much had all of us in splits those 25 minutes. Some of the classic comments were: ” Ab to jaane de tau”,  ” Hum to khade ho ho ke thak gaye, ab kya 10k bhaagenge” , ” please just decide and tell us how many steps to move back by once and for all, do not play with our emotions” etc. And then, there was the 10 second countdown that all of us were waiting for 10,9, 8…..

The next 43.56 minutes were possibly the most entertaining ones I have had so far. This race experience is going to be dominated with comments passed in hindi so here is hoping that you are well versed and do understand the language. As the race started, all the energy was let loose. And off went the athletes!!!! Around the 300m mark, one enthu cutlet decided he needed to double knot his laces, and so right there, in midst of the stampede and the centre of the route he decided to bend over and fix those laces. That was right in front of me –a part of me was tempted to literally kick his ass but I swerved past and continued on my way. As I continued my way, I could hear a whole range of expletives directioned at our man. Call me crass but it definitely put a smile on my face. At the 500m mark, my first pacer found me. He was cruising along with his cell phone in hand playing loud bollywood tunes. With the build of a sprinter, I realised it would only be a few seconds before he passes by and continues on his way. However, he saw me run and decided to cheer me on – ” Chalo, speed badhao ” The other option was that I could increase my pace and outrun him – I glanced at my Garmin – it was a 3:30 pace – nope I was not going to increase my pace – it would lead to a burnout. Meanwhile, we started our introductions. So this was a champion 400m sprinter from the Military police – His name Sep. Abhishek Gujar. As we ran he told me that he had made up his mind to pace me until the end. Said that he was not going to win this event anyway and would rather just pace me till the end. Fair enough!! So we continued running together.

As we passed the first water point, he bounded away and grabbed a bottle of water – ” aap chalte chalo, main aapke liye lata hoon paani”. I followed his instructions. Around the 1.7K mark as I was getting tired continuing that same blistering pace, Gujar looks at me and says, ” haath pakdo, hum aapko kheenchte hain” I slipped my hand into his and he increased pace. I couldn’t continue at that pace so asked him to let go. Meanwhile, Sep Purshotam from ASC Centre & College bounded towards us with comments of, ” yeh ho kya raha hai”. Gujar and Purshotam then started talking and from now till the 10k mark, there was full fledged conversation between the three of us. It included introductions, and then they wanted to know all about me while I was going at that mad pace.I gave them a gist of my background. So off course there were comments of, ” aap ghoda chalaati thi? isliye aajj ghode jaise bhaag rahin hain” and “ arre, aaj to taara zammen par aakar yahaan timtima rahaa hai”. As we fell into a rhythm, it was pretty damn awesome, I was in a convoy. Aditya was running right ahead of me, Abhishek and Purshotam on either side and Dharma right behind. There were cheers of “GO TIM” every few seconds and whenever I would see Ankush at the U-turns, I would get a surge of energy to keep going.These two big guys on either side were taking their role as pacers very seriously and had me in splits at the same time. Any guy who would pass me would be immediately made my “bhaiya” and the whole concept was ki ” bhaiya ko aage mat jaane do”. And just like that, we finished the first loop, all of us in tow, smiling and laughing but still pushing out of the comfort zone.

And then began the next loop, this would be a strong push again. The boys continued their banter and jokes. There were a lot of walkers in the 10K run who were blocking the path. My two escorts jumped into action, whether it was bringing me water or getting people out of the way. Some of the comments passed were, ” Mataji, zara side main ho jao, hamaara khilaadi aa raha hai” or a ” Aap daud to rahain nahin ho, thoda clap hi kar do”. Whenever my pace would start dropping, these guys would blackmail me by saying, ” Ab to hamaare coach ne bhi dekh liya hai, ab hamaari izzat bacha lo, medal le aao – speed badhao”. Soon, Nagaraj whizzed past. As he flew by, he slowed down to check if I needed any assistance. He saw that I was well looked after and so he continued on to achieve his PB. Each U-turn would see Henna flying by oblivious to anything happening around him and only interested in keeping the route ahead clear. With 1K left, my escorts told me that they had run slower than usual for me and now it would only be fair for me to return the favour and increase the pace for them since they are short distance runners and this is their forte. At this point, I really was in no position to argue and so thats what we did, we increased the pace and together we ran right across the finish line all within a second of each other.

It was a PB! Who says chivalry is dead? I had found two knights by my side protecting and entertaining me all along the way. They came, they pushed me out of my comfort zone – I trusted them, they delivered and then after congratulating me, they completely disappeared – selfless!!! And there we stood at the finish line, all of us congratulating each other for a fantastic end to the year with each one getting their Personal Best timings. As we were waiting around for the prize distribution, we kept ourselves busy with cheering the Half marathoners and Full Marathoners on, socializing with the Ethiopian and Kenyan team and generally spreading good cheer and energy as we always strive to. We also finally got around to wishing and cutting the cake for Aditya. Welcome to the world of the quarter centurions Adit!!! Mad love going out to Vijaya ( another Zumba baby who also got a PB this 10K and will be attempting her first 21K distance in 2014).A good way to end the year and a great point to begin the new year with.

I know that there were a lot of issues that were faced which made this a fairly mismanaged race. However, as always, I choose to look at the brighter side and see what is the value add here. Firstly, I really appreciate that all the proceeds from the registration go to charity and there is clarity in the use of this money for the cause. The causes include empowerment of the girl child, education and upliftment of the underpriveleged children. Secondly, I also noticed the introduction of prize money for the Indian category. This is great because it will attract more serious athletes to this race, increasing the competition and also encourage more people to get into sports as a profession. Thirdly, looking at the turnout, a  large chunk of this percantile being first time runners, it gives running a huge exposure to a mob of 10,000 plus people. So yes, there were issues that were faced and they have been bought to the attention of the organizers. These have been noted and we must trust that they will be looked into, but credit must also be given where it is deserved.

On a brighter note, the Protons – they rocked the place. As always, we have strong performances and a great time because of the combination of the motivation, dedication and love that we all share with each other. Naagu, Geeta, Sudhir, Gajju, Aditya, Dharma, Henna, Rahul, Shuveshek,Sriram – we have shared a fair number of experiences together and I think I would be fair in saying that we are watching each other grow as people and as athletes – I am really loving the monster each one is turning into. Ankush, you are my brother but more than that you are my rock and easily my best friend. This journey would not be half as enjoyable as it is with you in it. Narayani, thank you for being part of this experience we shared together. You always bring that hot & sweet combination that is you and it is indeed great energy (also, a happy birthday to lovely salasha from us all – big hugg). Mum and Dad – words cannot express the gratitude I feel for you so I will not try – lets just suffice to say, you have equipped me with the ability to take decisions for myself and mould myself into me.

Onto the new year, preparations must be made, we HAVE to conquer it afterall 🙂