Run 3 - IDBI Federal Half Marathon (10 Km) - 25th Aug 2019

As explained in my earlier blog, was waiting for this day, the 25th August, which also happens to be my parents' anniversary.  As they celebrated their 44th Anniversary, I was on my way for my 3rd run - the 10 Km in IDBI Federal Half Marathon.

Day began at 4.15 when I woke up - got ready by 4.45 and was off in a cab - reached the venue at 5.15 am.  The run was to begin at 6.10 am.  After warming up, got ready to run..  My colleagues who were to run with me joined and here, we start the race.

It was hot and humid in Mumbai - at the 3 Km mark, I was sweating profusely and was worse than the practice I used to have at Lake Homes Garden.  No breeze at all and was very humid.  At the 4 Km mark, there was a heavy downpour and it helped bigtime.  The rain lasted for about 7-8 minutes, but was a blessing in disguise as it cooled down the temperature.

There were too many runners.  As I could see from the results, there were 4700 runners and at times it was difficult to navigate with people who were walking.  As one could see from the timings, there is almost a 7 minute gap from the gun time and the chip time.  Due to heavy crowd, it took me 7 minutes to start the race from the first participant.  Sachin flagging off also slowed down the momentum a bit - after the start line, people lining up to catch a glimpse of SRT and a photo-op with him.  

I pushed myself in the last couple of kilometers - need to see if I could join any pacer (Pacers were clearly identifiable - they carried a flag with their timing) and keep myself going.  Finished at a time of 1:15:29 - my personal best from the last 3 runs..  However, was only 15 seconds off my earlier best run (my second one).  I feel the crowd and the humidity at the beginning were the reasons.

Have registered myself for various runs in the month of September.   Hope to keep myself fit and continue the momentum!!

Run 2 - Mumbai Monsoon Half Marathon (10 Km) - 4th Aug 2019

After the successful run in the previous week, the "running fever" caught me and wanted to participate in every run..

While browsing the runs available, came across Mumbai Monsoon Half Marathon which started from Bandra Fort.  Checked with my colleague, Pravin Kumar.  As he was also game for it, we decided to register.   After having registered ourselves, the biggest headache is to get the bibs.  We had to collect it from Bandra on Friday evening.   Pravin volunteered to collect it as a family friend was working very near to the collection point.   Had asked Pravin to bring the bib to the venue and decided to wear it there.

Got up at 4.30 in the morning and was ready to leave by 5 am.  It was pouring cats and dogs and was worried as to how the run would be.   Reached the venue by 5.30 am (run was to begin at 6 am).  Pravin came around 5.40 am and handed over the bib.  It was raining heavily.

Run started at 6 am and it was pouring heavily.   It was a run through Bandra - unlike the previous run which was in BKC, the traffic was not regulated and there were even BEST buses that was plying in the road where we were running.   As the name would have it, it was a pure monsoon run - it poured throughout the run - though I was bit circumspect as to how one would run in rains, it cooled the body temperature and I did not have any trouble running the distance of 10 Km.  The only problem was water getting into the shoes and socks becoming heavy !!

I had improved the timing - shaved off almost 2 minutes from my earlier run.  Would give credit to the rains.  Overall, had a good run and took some photos in the fort (with sealink in the background) and left for home.

The hunger for running has gone up and you always need a partner-in-crime.  Found Pravin, who had by then booked himself for another 5 runs including Kaveri Marathon in Mysore !!

With an outbound over the next week and nothing exciting the week after, the next run would be the IDBI Mumbai Half Marathon, which I hope would be flagged off by Sachin Tendulkar, who is the brand ambassador.