While I completed several running and riding events at Hyderabad from 2014-16, I refrained from traveling to other cities to participate. That changed when I registered for Chennai Marathon 2016 that was originally scheduled for 4th Dec ’16. I had to travel to Chennai for a personal engagement during that week and wanted to leverage that opportunity to run along the beaches I enjoyed frequenting during my school days. With a string of local events at Chennai starting late Nov ’16, the marathon was postponed. This actually helped me to complete 400 Km and 600 Km brevets to become a Super Randonneur.
I came to know of the revised date (8th Jan ’17) for Chennai marathon around Christmas time and promptly booked my flight tickets for the event weekend. However, I caught flu after that and was down for almost a week before the marathon. I thought i will recover in time for the event but it became worse with a stomach bug and conjunctivitis during the week leading to the marathon. I was not sure if I will be able to make it to the event but given I had already registered and also booked my flight tickets, I decided to give it a try. It was going to be a test of my WILL POWER more than anything else.
I had my marathon mentor, Raman Mishra along with me. I arrived at Chennai early morning on Saturday, Jan 7th, went straight to the expo to collect the bib, memorized the route and slept the entire afternoon to gear-up for the demanding run on Sunday.
The primary inspiration for me to register for Chennai marathon was the running route. It was along my favorite lanes and roads from childhood days – Besant Nagar, Elliots Beach, Theosophical Society and Marina Beach. I arrived at Madhya Kailash at 3:30AM along with Raman well on time for the start. I was way off my usual fitness and my only objective was to complete the full marathon without any time target.
The start was delayed by 10 minutes that made me anxious as any delay will result in spending additional time under hot Chennai sun. The marathon was finally flagged off around 4:10AM. The first 15 minutes were lethargic as I tried to shrug off my tiredness. I settled into a rhythm after a while and was able to maintain it for the first 15 Km that I covered in a little over 1.5 hours. This was primarily running in Besant Nagar that I was eagerly looking forward to.
Once I was out of Besant Nagar, the route merged with half marathon folks resulting in a congested road. As we ran through Foreshore Estate and San Thome, I had to jostle with a lot of fellow runners as there were hundreds of us running at different speeds with very little space to maneuver. It was tough and after about 18 Km, I was no longer able to run continuously. I had an energy gel and dragged myself to 25 Km point to take a 10 min break and relax my aching legs.
I still had 18 Km left and it was already well over 3 hours. I was hoping to finish in less than 6 hours but was now quite sure it will take longer. It felt like I could not run any more and that is when I spoke to another suffering marathoner. He said we can use run / walk combination to cover the remaining distance in under 3hours. I followed this strategy and was able to cover the next 8 km in about an hour.
As I got close to Besant Nagar for the last 9 km, it was past 8:30AM and the sun was now out in its glory. I checked with the volunteers if the venue will close down in 6 hours. To my relief they said the roads will be thrown open for traffic after 6 hours but I will have another 30 mins or so to finish after that. After 36 Km, I was not longer able to run and decided to just walk the remaining distance.
I had covered about 40 Km in 6 hours and the last 2 Km was horrible as I had to walk through congested roads. All that ends well is good – I managed to reach the finish line in 6 hours 22 minutes – not a great time given the flat terrain but given the condition I was in, finishing itself was a great achievement. It was sheer will power that saw me through. I told myself – Great job, Santh!!!
