This week will be my last week of running before the Mumbai marathon, 2006. The distances I plan to run in this week are 5, 6, and 3 KM before running the 42K. Over the weekend, I ran the final long run, a 13K take-it-easy session.
Guys, any ideas about the number of participants we are likely to see in the Full and Half marathon events this time in Mumbai? The last year, this figure was about 1000 and 3500.
Last week, I was out to Dehradun on vacations. My early years were spent in the Doon valley, a beautiful little town in northern part of India, though with its recent transformation as the capital city of Uttaranchal, it has lost some of its pristine charm. I got an opportunity to try out some road running here, and I did a total of 36 KM over the week. Here are some of the beautiful sights I captured during my running.
View of the Main Building |
Another view |
Bamboo collection 1 |
Bamboo collection 2 |
Naturally inclined tree |
Blooming cactus, 10mtr high |
Tunnel of trees |
Forestry and Family planning |
It was tiring, it was a big mental drain, it was for sure, physically very challenging. But at the end of the day, I made it though the 32K in about 3:57 (hr:min). I took small 2 min walking breaks every 20 mins or so, and ran conservatively. After this, I would dare to predict my marathon completion time as 4:40, plus or minus 10 mins. 13 more days, and we will find out how accurate I was.
BTW, I also got my acceptance letter from Mumbai marathon today, and they say that anyone completing the full marathon outside 5 hrs will not be getting the timing certificate. Actually they didnt say that, but mentioned that the marathon starts 08:00 and anyone finishing after 1:00 will not get that certificate.
Its friday evening now, and my mind is all preoccupied for tomorrow. Whats special about tomorrow, well lots, if you ask me. Tomorrow is the biggest run before I run the Mumbai Marathon. I will be running 32K tomorrow, and the next biggest run would be the 42K at Mumbai. I guess I’ll take all of about 3:45 hr to complete this 32K. And what do I do in between. Well, I will just be cutting down on my running gradually so that my body is all charged up when the big day comes! I have a little stiffness on my right leg, but I hope it will go away when I start running.
I knew it would be tough coming back to my full blown running schedule after keeping it light for such a long time. This weekend, I did my first 25K run. My running time was 3:03, much better that the 24K which I had earlier done in 3:06. However, I felt very tired towards the end of the run, the last 3K were extremely tough, which is unusual for me as I generally go through all my laps with similar level of exhaustion or tiredness. I am sure this is due to all those missed runs in the recent days.
I hope I can pick it up from here for my daily runs. I am planning to do 32K next week, and within no time, the Mumbai Marathon would be there for running, Jan 15th to be precise, and I know that if I do not maintain my running load, I am really going to suffer like anything. I have already finalized my travel and stay for the event, choosing a hotel conveniently located near Mumbai Central. And yes, close to Warden Road, where I had stayed for 3 years while I was in Mumbai, lots of fond memories from that place!