The World’s First Midnight Marathon took place right here in Bangalore on Saturday midnight. It was held in the area surrounding the iGate office near ITPL.

Niara and myself had decided to run the half-marathon. We didn’t even think about the full marathon because we have had no preparation at all, and we were about to run the half marathon just like that. Just the previous week, we both were facing leg pains/injuries but that didn’t matter on the D-day.

The place had a festive atmosphere – with “dollu kunitha”, clowns on stilts and even fire-eaters. There were bands playing in the main area keeping people entertained when the run was going to start, they were playing pretty good music although I wish they had better presentation skills.

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I chanced upon this wonderful song by Eliane Elias:

I’m not afraid
All is forgiven
Coz after all
What’s done is done
Move on with grace
Slippin’ to space
And when I’m ready, I’ll sing my song
Follow the silence far from the sadness
Leave all the madness behind
I’ll keep on living
I’ll keep on running
Passing through heart who I’ve become
I’ll keep on driving eternal darkness
I’m scared of falling
Turn my lights on
Coz when I’m frightened, we carry on
And keep on living
And keep on running
Running towards what I’ve been running for
I will not hide
Fatal submission
You are so wrong
Because I’m still here
Drive through the night into the light of the horizon

It reminds me of yesterday. We ran 27 km. Just for fun. I was exhausted much more than usual, and I came home and crashed (and I mean crashed) on the bed. I had the most peaceful sleep for four hours and then woke up and realized that it was 1 pm, that I still had my shoes on, and that my stomach was grumbling because I hadn’t had breakfast.

I completed the full marathon i.e. 42 km on Sunday in the Bangalore International Marathon 2006.

Well, barely completed. After running the first 21 km in 2.5 hours, I was elated at my good timing, but then the worst thing (for a runner) happened – cramps. I just couldn’t run, it hurted. The irony was that in the past 6 months of heavy training, I never faced this issue, and it had to happen on the final D-day. I tried a little running and little walking for a while and managed to reach 28 km.

At the 28 km mark, I gave up. I grunted and cursed myself. Then, a fellow marathoner came along, cheered me up and pushed me to go on. Okay, I guess it was worth another try. So, I mustered all the energy left in me to get up and walk. A few more marathoners came along and encouraged me to simply walk if I can’t run. I winced and walked, but I was pleasantly surprised at the encouragement by the people around, and specially the traffic cops.

If there was ever a test of my will power, I guess this was it. I took 4 hours to walk the rest of the way back to the Kanteerava stadium.

In the end, I was disappointed that I couldn’t run the 42 km as I wanted to, and my goal of finishing in 5.5 hours went down the drain. But at least I completed.

A huge shout of thanks to Ajay, Niara, Vikram – my running partners and closest friends, without whom I would’ve never run the marathon, let alone work towards my dream of running the full marathon.

Is it a coincidence that the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42?

Today, I achieved 34 km.

Yeah, my stamina has improved.

Here’s some of the “running gyaan” I’ve collected over the past few months:

• Learn to listen to your body
  • Learn to distinguish between feeling tired or just feeling fatigue, feeling the need for water and the need to take rest.
  • I attribute a part of my development to doing things my way. I didn’t push myself to compete with the others, but I competed with myself.
• It takes patience to develop stamina. A year ago, I used to run one round in the track field and stop dead-tired. The track was just 400 metres long.
• Some people find company important for running. I need my iPod and the company.
• Running in the early morning is better – lesser pollution, lesser noise, lesser people, empty roads, etc.
• Breathe naturally.
• Do varying distances of running (The distances should look like a bell curve on a graph)
• Run 9 min. Walk 1 min. And the cycle continues.
• Gear is important
  • Nike Dri-Fit was very useful for me because it absorbed the sweat and helped me to stay warm.
  • I also carry the water-bottle-with-a-belt.
  • Good shoes are important
• Drink lots of water. 2 litres per day.
• Water + Electral = Yummy. And it restores the salts that your body loses.
• Nothing teaches you determination like running. Because the temptation to stop is immense and you can easily stop.
• I still have a lot to learn.

The Bangalore Marathon has been postponed from May 14 to September, 2006.

This is so disappointing.

I had not participated in last year’s marathon because I wasn’t fit for it, but I had made up my mind to participate this year. So, I’ve been training with a couple of friends. Our plan was to prepare for the half marathon.

Today morning, I ran 21 km in 2.5 hours, the second time in the past month, and it felt great. Too bad, I have to wait till September to run in the actual marathon.