I did it..!!!

I believe many of us maintain this ‘wish’ list or ‘To-Do’ list. A list that will have items from the entire spectra of our lives…Whether we do anything about it or not, we keep this list updated…Anyway atleast I do have one and one of the items in it was to run a marathon and here I am at the brink of ticking one major item from that list..:)

Yes, today I was able to achieve what I missed the last time…I ran/jogged/walked/crawled more than 21 kms.

I followed the same route as last time but instead of turning back at Yeshwanthpur I continued towards IISC and then to Mekhri Circle. That’s about 11 kms from my place (Couple of days back my friend had come down from US and I had taken this route to go to the airport. So this time I was sure about the distance!!) The return journey was the same. So I covered more than 21 kms in 2 Hours and 25 minutes flat. I was a tad disappointed for the extra minutes taken since I wanted to achieve this feat within 2 hours.

I could easily cut down the time by 10 minutes because today I had to wade through a lot of traffic and also there was this problem of a flyover under construction between Yeshwanthpur and IISC. Having said that cutting down on the entire 25 minutes to make it under 2 hours is a different matter altogether…Anyway I am still extremely happy with my timing, considering that I am not a regular marathon runner..:) Further having done this, I have realized that this was quite a ask as the ‘task’ involved enduring both physical and mental pain/pressures…Sustaining the ambition of completing this for the entire 21kms was definitely the most difficult part!!!

Especially the last 40 minutes was extremely hard. My legs started to disobey my mind and it was as if I was carrying a huge boulder on each of my leg. There was several occasions when I wanted to sit and take rest, but I knew better…There was no way I would have got up again if I had taken rest…So the last couple of kilometers took almost half an hour!!!

But the fact of the matter is I made it through and the feeling was equivalent to crossing the finish line…It gave immense pleasure that I could do this. Now I want to take part in the Times Of India Midnight Marathon and successfully end this crazy idea of running marathons..:) This event was scheduled to be held on 13^th Dec at Bangalore, but due to security reasons it got postponed by a few days. I want to take part in the half-marathon which is 21.1 kms and it’s at midnight!!! Can you imagine the atmosphere there and that too at the middle of the night!!! I am sure I will thoroughly enjoy the experience…Though, equally important is the fact that I will have this item ticked off from my “list”..:)