Finish time: 2:23
Overall Rank: 1054 (out of 1745 participants)
Category Rank: 795 (Male, Open)
Timing results at: Championchip UAE
Marathon Photos : Marathon-Photos.com (search “delhi” in the search box)
For the record, this was my run with the minimum training base. Here’s what I did before this run:
1. One intermediate run in Nehru Park with Running and Living group.
2. Five short runs (3 in Indirapuram, 2 in Sec 62, Noida).
3. One long run on my office treadmill.
Like last year, reached Bhikaji Cama and parked my car there and took the ADHM bus to the starting point opposite Nehru park in Chanakyapuri. Had a few of my friends from office as well. The entire thing at the venue looked a bit more organized compared to last year. Separate holding areas for chip holders made it a bit less chaotic. Put on my BIB and chip at the last moment since it was with my friend who got it for me finally after two failed missions.
The run started sharp at 7:30 am. knew that I would probably not be doing a fast run this time around. I started the run at an easy pace, tried to keep it between 6:30/km and 7:00/km. In my practice earlier, I found that it was not easy to run at 7:00/km from the start, as it feels unusually slow (though when you are exhausted, 7/km starts looking good again). The first half of the 21K was pretty good. I was even thinking of doing a sub 2:15 if all went well. But as you know, thats where all that training counts. By about 6 KM to go, I was already running low on fuel. And those questions I only face in the 42K started coming once again… to walk or run. Well, this time I was more determined, and even though the when the going was extremely tough at KM 19 and 20, I still continued to run at a pace at which people can probably walk.
My 4th Delhi Half Marathon, and the slowest one till date. The others were chronologically done in 2:12 (2005), 2:18 (2006), and 2:16 (2007). One thing which clearly stands out, and needs no rocket science to understand, is that practice makes you perfect. My first run of 2:12 in 2005 was done with the most consistent training I ever did, down to each word written by Hal Higdon. The 2006 run was done with training of just a day over the weekends. 2007 run was done preparing for the Singapore marathon, so I had good practice, but I got fever with just a couple of days to go, and that ruined it.
Overall, I look back and feel satisfied with what I was able to achieve. There were days before the run, when I was not sure if I would be here come the D-Day. Things were pretty smooth after the run. I was feeling hungry as hell. The few biscuits my friend offered felt like the best ones I ever had. The medal and certificate collection was smooth unlike last year when the timing certificate printing got stuck due to bad printer. The refreshments were good.
I had a very poor experience with my footpod Polar RS200SD. At the start of the run, my Polar watch was continuously showing higher distance than actually run (which means a higher pace in the display), it was about 1KM ahead of the actual distance around the halfway point (10% error). However, after my run, I found that the actual distance of the run measured by the device came out to be 19.80 KM (overall 5.7% error). So, the distance measurement slowed down in the second half of the run (I slowed down too). With these kinds of variations, I find it simply useless for any pacing. I am thinking of throwing this away and get a GPS based Garmin Forerunner 205 or 305.
Mumbai 42K is coming upon us very soon. I know thats another league, so time now to actually get serious with my running, and hope my health holds.