My passion for running continues and this time I am back in my home town- Chennai. After completing my masters degree I came back to my home town and have been enjoying my vacation here, anxiously awaiting a document from the British government after which I will proceed for my doctoral studies in the UK. In the mean while I registered for the Chennai half marathon, an event which I have run twice before, in 2008 and 2009 but this time the route was entirely different. Running a marathon or a half marathon in one's own city is quite an experience in itself for which I will give reasons shortly. Even though there was the full marathon category and running the full in Chennai would have been a great achievement I chose the half, the reasons being I had not trained for the full and I had already done two marathons in this year, hence my body was longing for some quality rest.
So there I was, promptly registered for the half marathon on the event website well in time. This time the event was wholly managed by Chennai Runners (a running group formed and developed in Chennai) unlike yesteryears where the event was conducted by the Tamil Nadu government in collaboration with some sponsors and Tamil Nadu athletics association. The major sponsor this time was WIPRO, the same firm had also sponsored the San Francisco marathon which I had run on 29 July 2012. Coming to the point of why running an event in one's own city is considered special. Firstly you are connected with the city through heart and soul hence as a runner you feel unjustified if you don't run in your own city. Secondly you have the support of your family and also other friends which gives an immense boost to the moral and the tempo leading up to the event. And finally the mental and physical satisfaction is second to nothing.
I was doing my training not in a completely holistic way but still managed to run 4 times a week. The weather in Chennai is too humid and hot and one gets drenched in sweat after just a few kilometers and exhausted very soon, hence running in Chennai is always a challenge. Getting up as early as 4:30 and doing the runs at 5:15 is an option to beat the heat, the traffic and the sun but after being in Netherlands for over 2 years I was not used to getting up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, hence I always go for my runs (solo) at 7 am or 7:30 am. The sun is already up and the heat is on but I don't mind that. The longest distance that I did was 16 kms during my training and I felt that was adequate because all that I had to do was add an additional 5k on the D day. The one thing that I noticed here is the running culture is slowly picking up but still when I go for my runs I get quizzical looks from onlookers and when I go for longer runs with the fuel belt ( a belt that can house upto 4 bottles of water 250 ml each) tucked around my waist I get even stranger looks. Probably people have not seen such a thing before.
The organizers did a wonderful job and all participants were getting frequent emails, updating or giving information about the event, the expo, the rules and regulations on the race day etc. I was assigned 2356 as my bib number which I had to collect from the marathon expo at Express Avenue mall the day before the event. I was half expecting a huge expo like in the marathons I have run before but was disappointed when I went to collect my number. There were stalls which were distributing the bibs and also a couple of other stalls but nothing on new and innovative sports products or sportswear etc. I can truly understand that the budget is quite a factor in organizing the expo and also unless the running culture increases manifold the attraction to such an expo will always be less nevertheless the expo was well organized. I also got a running T'shirt and a goodie bag but to be frank the running T'shirt was kind of crappy, the material according o me is not of good quality and the T'shirt did not fit me even though I had ordered 'large' size. I quickly collected my bib and came home, had a nice lunch, did not nap in the afternoon as I did not want to stay awake late in the night and had a nice dinner (pasta) and went to bed at 9:30 pm. I had told my mom that I will have a banana-apple smoothie in the morning before I leave and I don't know who told her that drinking a banana smoothie will result in loose motion. She tried her best to convince me to eat bread in the morning or to eat oats but I was adamant on having only the banana smoothie and informed her that I will take only that in the morning.
I got up promptly at 3:30, brushed my teeth and did my business ( a clean stomach is vital to do a good run) and left for the starting point at 4:10. I carried a bottle of mango juice and two bottles of water in my car. I was also carrying a few chocolate balls in my running shorts so that I can pop them during the course (chocolates give energy and thats one of the reasons that I prefer eating chocolates when doing a long run). Driving through the streets of Chennai was so comfortable in the morning- very little traffic and easy navigation, I reached the venue in a span on 20 minutes. I parked my car and did my warm up and was waiting at the starting point with scores of runners, behind the pack of about 350 full marathon runners. The whole scene at the start was amazing, seeing so many runners in Chennai was heartening. The start was inside the IIT Madras campus and went all the way till Napier bridge for the full marathon guys and a little distance from the Thiruvika bridge for the half marathon runners. Runners from both category had to come back the same way (in their respective routes) to complete the respective distance. The final 10 kms in both categories was a nice loop inside the IIT Madras campus.
I got a running partner 4 kms after the start. He was Manohar , working at TCS and he informed me that this was his first half marathon. We ran together until the 17 Km mark after which I decided to walk a little bit before finishing the course. I guess he went all the way to the finish point without a break. Hats off to him for a successful first half marathon. I completed my run in 2:02 hrs but felt that the entire course was about a kilometer short of the actual 21.1 official half marathon distance. There were other runners who too claimed that the course length was short. I informed the organizers about this but no one seemed to care. I can understand that nothing could be done at that moment but I was expecting at least a surprised & worried look from the organizers instead I got a nonchalant care free look from the organizers. They were not bothered that the distance was actually short. I was furious at this and no one was even discussing this on the Chennai Runners group, this infuriated me even more. The run was great, the organization was amazing but to make the Chennai marathon a truly national event mistakes such as this cannot be tolerated.
Kudos to Chennai Runners for this wonderful event and I hope I can run in my hope town year after year.
