Of the joys of running and of the joys of minting money

I guess I am qualified to call myself a runner now having run at 4:00 AM,just to show off. Now that we have established me as expert in this area, let the rant begin.

I always make it a point to run the KTM and Bangalore Ultra (atleast one). It is always a good practice run an build up for the Mumbai Marathon. Both these races can be undoubtedly classified under the tough races category. 

People run for fun. Very few run to prove a point to others while mostly prove a point to themselves. I do not know where to begin with on the topic of joys of running. 

Making money is also fun. If you are the best at that job you sure can demand a premium. But when the same job is done by others in a equally good (if not better) way for less,you would look for the cheaper one. Now comes my point. I feel running is getting expensive. Already with the costly shoes, GPS', family time lost etc etc, you shouldn't be charging too much for facilitating a run. I am not taking away anything from the organisers here. I love them, I love their races, I loveir punctuality, organisation, shirts and what not. I always knew their races were expensive. But this time they have crossed a line.

Yours truly,
a runner paying through his nose

Among other things..

This 20th I reached one of my long time dreams of crossing the finish line at the Mumbai Marathon. Crossing the finish line meant so much to me for many reasons. One of them being scary.  This race has a deadline of six hours. What it means is you need to complete the run by 11:40AM. All support is taken off and traffic starts on these roads. I was scared that I would have to run between the vehicles and also not knowing the roads in Mumbai did not help ease the fear.

Luckily for me, this did not happen. I finished with an healthy hour to spare. I started off the run at 5:40 AM. I had aimed to finish in 5:30Hrs considering I took 6:15Hrs at KTM. My plan was to run 8 Kms every one hour. I clocked about 9.8 Km in the first hour. Every extra kilometer I cover now would come in handy at the end when I would not be able to walk. So I did not slow down and continued at the same pace. By the end of 2 hours I had 18.3km. I did the half marathon in 2:17. a bit slower than my last half marathon, but i was not dis heartened as I knew that I run the last KM faster. At the end of 3Hrs I had 27.1km and 34.6 at the end on 4Hrs. This is when I secretly started hoping to finish in 5Hrs.

Still at a pace of 8.75 to 9 KM per hour I had the luxury to watch around south Bombay where we were running. More than any thing else it was the spirit of the supporters who poured onto the streets of Mumbai which was heart warming. Kids had taken over the water booths from the appointed volunteers. Some residents had bought 5-stars and Cadbury bars for the runners. I was well nourished all through the runs. I distinctly remember a lady handing out almonds, cashew nuts among other things. An old lady was offering bananas. Some people were also handing out GU Gels. These gels are very expensive in India and very scarcely available. All these things reminded me what makes a great city. Having run some city marathons earlier, Mumbai marathon easily tops the list.

Every thing was well organised. Water and energy drink booths at regular intervals, well stocked aid stations, young girls and boys enthusiastically applying ice bags to bruised muscles of runners, those huge fans and air coolers in those 'cool zones' made the run enjoyable. Every thing was in place and I cannot think of any thing that was amiss. Crowd control was at its best. Kudos to the Mumbai Police and Traffic police. There was security to runners as well.

Coming to the show offs. I was awestruck by a lot of things all along the way. The show rooms of Rolls-Royce, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Ducati among others stood out. Houses along Peddar road, the elder Ambani's house, a couple of houses of bussiness families, the sealink, running along Nariman point, race course and Worli sea-face were also high points.

Having said all this, I could not have finished the race on 5:00:41 if not for the people cheering above their voices, volunteers and organizers. All in all a run  you should do atleast once.

Stats pasted below: Photos coming up shortly.

Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2013 - Marathon 5:40 Start            Back
Bib Number	2518
Name	MANJUNATH BHAT
Gender	MALE
Category	OPEN
Overall Rank	1091
Category Rank	773
Gender Rank	1013
Split@3 Km	00:18:24 at an Avg Speed of 9.78 Kmph
Split@15 Km	01:36:35 at an Avg Speed of 9.32 Kmph
Split@20 Km	02:13:39 at an Avg Speed of 8.98 Kmph
Split@27 Km	03:01:56 at an Avg Speed of 8.9 Kmph
Split@28 Km	03:10:45 at an Avg Speed of 8.81 Kmph
Split@29.25 Km	03:20:10 at an Avg Speed of 8.77 Kmph
Net Time	05:00:41 at an Avg Speed of 8.42 Kmph
Gross Time	05:06:33

Average performance of the race
10 8 5 3 @3 @15 @20 @27 @28 @29.25 @21K  Speed   9.78     9.32     8.98     8.9     8.81     8.77     8.42

Overall Runners Statistics
1,000 750 500 250 3 3 - 4 4 - 5 5 - 6 >6 Total  Runners   6     216     858     928     108     2,116

Overall MALE Runners Statistics
1,000 750 500 250 <3 3 - 4 4 - 5 5 - 6 >6 Total  Runners   6     207     791     857     99     1,960

Overall OPEN Runners Statistics
800 600 400 200 <3 3 - 4 4 - 5 5 - 6 >6 Total  Runners   5     164     648     699     86     1,602