A bridge too far...

A friend, who's hoping to run regularly soon (its public now :-), asked me on the 10th of Jan if I would blog about my run in the Mumbai Marathon. I wasn't sure then, but once I ran, I decided I would. Mumbai always gives me something to think about, but there was a ton of work waiting at the office when I returned to Delhi, so I finally got around to it today...

Going in from foggy, cold Delhi, even as I got off the aircraft, it was like stepping into a lovely, warm toaster. When I lived in the Mumbai, I hated the muggy weather most days; visiting from Delhi this time, I was able to appreciate how nice it can be, especially for a change :-)

On the drive from the airport to our lodgings in Colaba, I was impressed by the orderly driving habits of Mumbaikars, especially the lane driving. In Delhi, cars waiting to turn right at a traffic light line up next to each other, never behind each other. So it was a curious sight for me. How could they resist all the open space on the left? It was like watching a group of 20 Japs line up one behind the other at a 5-star hotel once, each with exactly the same amount of Yen to change into rupees!

I ran the half marathon (21 kilometres). I know many who ran the full distance. Everyone had the same grouse: the addition of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link to the route. We half-marathoners did not find it too hard, since we started from Bandra and had to negotiate the bridge early in the run. The marathoners, on the other hand, began from uptown and came upon the Sea Link at Km 26, with the sun beating down, turning it into a cauldron of heat. The organisers, for some reason, had decided to test the runners further, by having no water for the five and a half km stretch. Many runners aiming for good finish times were done in by the Link this year. (The Africans of course, seem to be immune to everything, so we must consider having a separate sub-species race category for them :-)

Even on my drive into town on the day of my arrival, I could not see understand why Mumbaikars wax eloquent about the Sea Link (purely as a spectacle). Having seen the Howrah bridge growing up, the Bidyasagar Sethu later, and in the last five-odd years, the many freeway stretches and flyovers of the NCR (Delhi's suburbs), I was a little disappointed. Maybe there's something trickier about building a bridge on the sea that I don't get (ask Rama and his simians :-), but just qua looks, especially as you run on it, it's a bit of a let down.

It's been said before and I will take a couple of lines to say it again: the crowds that line up by the street sides to cheer runners in Mumbai are of a much better quality than what you get in Delhi. There is a genuine spirit of participation and most folks egg you on vociferously. In Delhi, if a group of pretty women stood by the side of the road and shouted encouragement, the rest of the crowd would be ogling them and giggling like idiots.

The number of people running in the half marathon this time touched a new record: 11,000 folks decided to give it a go. While this is obviously a good thing in principle, I get the feeling that most are under-prepared. Yes, 21 kms is obviously much easier than the marathon (more than half-easier:-), but it you don't want to walk most of the way, you may want to train a little. (It's called a 'race', for Ramssake!). It's annoying enough to have those who run in the "Dream Run" (6 kms) accost you months after the race to tell you they also "ran the Marathon". But when they decide to upgrade and run longer distances, you run into them in the middle of the road - literally - where they walk slowly, chatting with each other! If you must sign up and walk, please walk on one side. (I know marathoners look down at half-marathoners like me in a similar fashion. But despite being at the wrong end of that totem pole, I still feel race etiquette is important; most trained half-marathoners keep to the unwritten rules of the road and give faster runners wide berth)

I ran my 21 k with no stops. I did pause thrice, for 5-10 seconds each time, to tip electral into water at the water stations, but other than that, I find that the no-stops technique works best for me, at least over this distance. I don't finish fast enough to boast, but I enjoy running at my own pace and I love the non-stop rhythm. There are of course a myriad other walk-run-stop-sit combos that different runners use, each as vaild as the rest.

Last, and my most important learning over this race, comes in the from of a one-liner I'm going to stake claim to as my kitschy own: "Smile - it increases you race value."

My general distance running philosophy is borrowed from Japanese author Murakami's book, 'What I talk about when I talk about running'. It goes: "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." During my 21k in Mumbai this time, I realised that I need to add "Smiling is mandatory" to the saying. I don't know if it's bio-feedback or just a placebo effect, but smiling through the race helped me finish with no cramps or pains this year. It also made for nicer race photos :-)