I was finally able to run for the longest distance I have ever run, 21.097 Kms, but at a slow jogger's pace of 8 Kms/hr. Delhi had come out in its best spirits. For a change I saw smiling cops, cheering the runners while they were manning the route. The arrangement was making the runners feel like special people with all the non runners being diligently kept away from the roads :) There was also the television crew sitting on the edge of a chopper, all excited, so much so that at times they used to raise a dust storm by flying too low over the ground. There were people from all walks of life, representing all age groups right from a 3 year old kid to a few octogenarians.
Inspite of being a late riser, I reached the venue, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at 7:00 AM. The fresh early morning air was full of excitement with people stretching and warming up in the assembly area. Amongst the group there were world class athletes, corporates, teams from the defense services and not to miss running enthusiasts like me, all geared up to run for Delhi. I tried to soak in the atmosphere but there was too much action all around and all I could manage was a few glimpses of people who had turned up in their best of spirits and costumes. There were those occasional glimpses of I Pods, MP3 players and cell phones attached to the hands free earplugs. Quite interesting to note how running can be such a fun thing to do.
Our race was flagged off at 7:45 AM by celebrities and renowned sports personalities who were also there to cheer for Delhi. The crowd scattered into groups of 2s and 3s by the time we took the first turn after about 200 meters from the starting point. I spotted the first Kingfisher water station (Thanks Kingfisher for providing all the runners with water and electral) after about 500 meters and then there was one after every 2 Kms or so. There were parked ambulances, courtesy Escorts group of hospitals, with waiting doctors although I hope they didn't get too much work on a Sunday morning.
The Half Marathon started at Nehru stadium and went via Sai Baba Mandir, Lodi Road, The Oberois, Mathura Road, Purana Qila, Pragati Maidan, WHO office on Outer Ring Road, Vikas Minar, Raj Ghat, Firozeshah Kotla Stadium, ITO, Tilak Marg, Mandi House, Le Meridien Hotel, Rail Bhawan, North Block/Raisina Hill, Vijay Path, India Gate, Zakir Hussain Marg, Khan Market, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya and back to JLN stadium.
On a busy traffic day I would have taken the same amount of time traveling to all these places in a public transport as I took jogging past them. While I was returning back, the Great Delhi run was already in progress and there was a huge crowd of more than 15,000 people walking and running the 7 Kms race. I was pleasantly surprised to read in the newspaper today that some proposals for friendship were also exchanged and accepted in that group of young and pretty looking people ;)
I noticed an interesting thing around the midway point of the marathon. An elderly man from "Surat" wearing a dress colored in the Indian tricolor was offering "Relispray" to lady runners but was politely telling the male runners " Sorry, Khatam ho gaya, thoda sa hi bacha hai" :). It was interesting how he was still cajoled to spray the tiring knees. There were lots of people who were running sprints interspersed with long walks. Good strategy for people who were new to the world of long distance running.
I finished 438th out of an approximate running population of about 5000 enthusiasts. I hope that next time around I would improve my speed and timing to finish amongst the top 100, atleast. Wish me luck for that ! I am going to continue to practice and run for fun :)
Some of the T-shirts said “Are you running?” as though cajoling the walkers to pick up speed. Let me say now, “Did you run?”.
