This story is about my first full marathon. It was not meant to start like this but it did :-). This was also my first timed event. The story is as exciting as it can be.
During my stay at IIT Kgp i used to take inspiration from my friend Aditya Chauhan. During those days after logging on to FB i used to get mesmerized seeing him run insane distances. And it was my dream to be like him. Luck favored me and immediately after my Masters I reached Hyderabad.
Hyderabad is my favorite city and in my opinion the people there are amazing and make the place what it is. On reaching Hyderabad I joined Hyderabad Runners (HR). The feel from very first day was too good to believe. Amazing runners, great friends and very welcoming and encouraging to all new comers. I had my first run at People’s Plaza (link will come here). Next was my first long run with the HR gang at CBIT (details will come here). I didn’t know the route so i tagged alongwith Vikram ( https://tinyurl.com/y5ab479b). Details of that run will come here(CBIT first long run). Thus started my journey from a struggling runner to a person who started waiting for the next run.
Two runs were enough to get me addicted to madness and Monday onwards I used to wait for the Sunday long run. As days passed I came to know that Hyderabad Heritage Marathon was to be conducted very soon. By now I had done a practice Half Marathon (HM) and thought of giving it a shot.
I clearly remember filling up the form for the marathon late at night. I took time to register because it was difficult for me to think that I would be paying to end up in pain. Notheless I finally gave a go ahead and registered. It was more like checking the bucket list.
I wanted my experience to be good so did homework by checking the route elevation profile, route map, hydration points for the complete 21 km. I decided my shoes, clothing, Ipod etc and was raring to go on the race day morning. On race day the event organizer used to provide buses at selected pick-up points for transporting the runners to the start.
At the scheduled time I reached the pick up point, was surprised to see that everyone else was wearing a different color bib. Mine was the only blue among red ones, which the others were wearing. I thought maybe because this was my first event I was allotted blue bib. Everyone I contacted had some reason or the other but no one was sure. Then someone told me that red bib meant Half marathon and blue was for Full Marathon. But then i thought that due to human error the organizers would have mixed it up. I decided to contact the organisers and would request them to change the bib. On reaching the venue i contacted the organisers to change the bib but my request was denied. They suggested I run the HM and then stop;-). I was perplexed as at that time i had two choices either not to participate or do Half marathon. But wait there was another option of doing the Full. By that time i found few of my runner friends (HR gang). They gave me few tips on running and then i decided i would go for HM and then decide based on my condition. This meant after HM it would be blank 🙂
The run started and so did I. This being the first event as expected I got carried away and even though i had planned to start slow, didn’t. Sight of a foreigner running ahead of me challenged my spirits and like a fool i started competing with him. It can’t get worse then this. Well HM happened in 1:58 h and things were manageable. Kept on pushing and soon the fatigue started setting in this was followed by Sun also showing its colors.
Finally dragged my body to finish line after tagging alongwith few other runners running with short walk breaks. The finish was a pain with last 3km climb to Golconda fort. As i crossed the finish line the timing chip beeped at 4:22 h. This was my journey which ended up in a Full Marathon (42.2km) instead of 21.1k
Was glad that the marathon finished before me.
IIT-kgp to Everest 