They were dragging me in to the court of Yamraj. He coolly looked at me and noticed that I am in a tight drifit shorts and a lycra laced zhagmagata hua fluro orange tshirt . He laughed and thought only Gods and Govinda use to wear such colorful outfit….abh yeh log bhi .
He ordered , Chitragupt , bhai iska excel sheet khol …. Dus saal se bhaagta hai aur social media pe apni veer ghaata post karta hai …. Meri biwi mujse puchti hai aap kyu nahi daudte aur iske jaise pictures daalte oakley wala .
Maa kasam , agar isne so called sub 2 nahi kiya ho toh saale ko 50 hunter maaro yelled Yamraj.
I felt , the pain of whip as if the leather was piercing my skin, I woke up to a voice “Papa , yaar , mera handbag ke upar soye ho …. Leather is piercing your back and spoiling my bag “
I recollected , maa kasam it was a dream or a night mare . Social Media , toh doooor ki baat , even Gods are monitoring your run ka timing these days.
I always , believed in training strong and last two years , have been training good , in the quest of a being a stronger runner , have kissed many mile stones and yeah a accidental podium too this January in a 10k for a corporate category .
Three years back , someone remarked saying he is a social runner , serious running nahi aata isko . I let it go as a casual comment . But it did got me thinking , ok its time for some serious training . Fauji Hun Bey. I wanted to tell that guy , jab tum susu karte phirte tehe , tab hum Naval academy mein 10kms sub 55 aur 52 karte tehe . But haalat ne kuch aur bana diya abh.
I still believe speed is relative when you do a comparative analysis . For a sub 2 runner , a 2.15 is slow similarly for a 2.15 runner 3 hrs is slow and for a 3hrs runner he or she thinks we are much better than those people who are still on couch and yeah a 1.08 HMer thing 1.30 HMer is too slow …… so its relative..
In my previous blog , I had revealed , I am in one of the prime fitness year of my running and I will be attempting Comrades (Nazar Matt lagao rey….) . So last two years was a mental built up to the same . One of the disadvantage of being a thyroathlete is weight fluctutates , with the variations in TSH levels . But am glad to be a thyroathlete , because of this I picked up this beautiful sports .
I have graduated in last ten years from 100mtr walks to the Ultra . Having done 100 plus HMs, 14 FMs and couple of Ultras , but the golden thing which is considered a mile stone for a runner eluded me i.e a sub 2 in HM .
So comrades training commenced from 28th Jan and by the time I was on the start line of the Navi Mumbai HM I had put in a mileage of close to 125 kms already in 10 days prior to that , which included a 31kms 3 emirates run in Dubai 2 days before i.e on 16th Feb in a pretty strong training run with Pratik Desai and Dubai Runners . I Landed on 17th Feb late night from Dubai and was in a double mind to reach the start line .
However, prepared mentally and thanks to Kishore , Prabha and ever inspiring Satish sir , I was at the start line . Thanks to Krishnan and Tridhaatu for sending the bib home that too a invitee bib . Race started bang on time admist the great weather . It seems weather God was pubbing somewhere he forgot to switch off the AC he had laid on Mumbai region , but on 20th Jan during TMM , Gods land had a power cut and am sure all those who ran TMM know what happened .
So when the race started , I gauged myself , 1st km was a 5.45 Pace , I was feeling good . By this time crowd dispersed and met many folks who ran along till 10th km when I saw the Garmin it read 57 mins and I was good with avg HR in Zone 3 and Avg BPM at 147 , wow I was so glad to read this . Around 11th Km I took a walk break and gulped the Fast and UP Gel as per my race strategy . Trust me at this point , the urge happened , a inner voice said bhai first sub 2 possible hai and then God send an angel in the form of Umesh Churi . He is a very strong runner and mentioned me its possible for a sub 2 , just to keep steady and take his pace . He advised me not to look at the watch follow the sub conscious heart rate . But apne ko chul hai naa…. When I saw we crossed 16th km , I forcefully saw the watch it read 1.31 and my heart raced with excitement . Means a 5kms in 29mins , he said just focus , ho jaayega , don’t think about just sub 2 think about 1.57 or 1.58 .
I could see 2hr Pacer Rizwan ahead and the strategy was to keep him in Line of Sight. Met many runner friends known and unknown , everyone was cheering , imagine a 85kg guy pounding the roads , it would have been a sight to watch .
Around 19th Km I raced ahead and umesh mentioned me to go ahead , I could see coach Amit Kumar pepping up his trainees and cheered me for a sub 2 . And then I see a flyover , the first thing came out was some golden words @#$% ……… , thank fully it propelled the down wards run , now I gave a casual look at the Garmin and I knew i may kiss a sub 2 a well deserved one and a long wait was to get over , hopefully , I had around 7 mins and 1 kms .
Towards the end before the main finish line saw a gate some what like finish point and I eased my run , later when reached it was the start banner , finish was 200mtrs away after the turn , arey yaar bhaago phir se , now some silver words laced with some cheese and butter too came out . Yes , I could see the finish line and the clock . I teasingly looked towards my watch , looked where umesh was , he was just alongside , I looked up towards heaven , crossed the finish line with the time reading 1.58.58 ….. chitragupt excel sheet update karle bhai …..ekdum haardich hue laa hai , Yamraj bhai abh kya ghanta hunter maarega .
Note : it took me 10 years plus , 100 plus HM , 14 FMs and 02 Ultras , and a mileage of 10000kms and above in training runs over the years . But I loved the sports , I love the sports , timing though is a benchmarking tool , but its not a substitute towards the joy of running .
This is dedicated to the Running fraternity , who is like extended family . Thanks to my coach Viv and to all the friends who saw me as a runner rather than a time machine .
Recommendation : A Must do event . 3 Cheers to the organizers .