Circa December '07 , when my dear friend Varun gave me the big idea of registering for the Marathon and I did.
With much gusto I resolved that I would start training for it, start running for atleast 20 mins a day. Well well, start I did, but like many of the ambitious ventures, this venture soon lost steam :P . For various reasons, ranging from common cold to reduced inclination to get out of the blanket in the chilly winter mornings, left me almost no practice for it.
Finally the D day arrived... Day of the Mumbai marathon 2008 , 20th Jan. I decided that whatever happens its just 6kms... I definitely can walk that distance :P.
The day started early, with reporting starting at 0815 hrs, I got up at 630. Having done my daily chores, I had a mug of BOOST (it is the secret of my energy :P) and made my way towards the railway station ready to take on the road. I just hoped that waking up at 630 on a sunday wouldnt make it a Dreamy run ;)
I didnt have much idea about the magnitude of the event. It just struck me when I was standing on the platform waiting for the train to CST. I saw around 10 ppl in a 5 meter radius, with marathon bibs, bags etc raring to go. The compartment itself was filled, 1/3 by the marathoners.
Hmmm... so it is big huh?!
The rendezvous point at CST station was near the exit where we united with our fellow marathoners, Ram, Dg and Sneha. Then the walk started, from CST to Azad maidan gate 3. This too was a decent walk around 500 meters. We finally reached the holding area, where like us thousands of marathoners were waiting for the run to start.
The wait was agonizing and complaints like, "Maine aaj college bunk kiya yahan aake khade rehne ke liye!!! " , "Royally screwing up a sunday morning" the run up to the starting point started.
We had John Abraham and Bips at the starting point to cheer us up (that was one of the high points ..bips i mean :P ). Fully enthused we looked for the crowd to start running ... but very few people seemed to share our excitement :( We started carving our way through the crowd just like water, poured in a jar of pebbles. But unfortunately the jar seemed to be a bit to big for us :P
From start till the finish, it was more of a find your way, rather than a run.
The run was more of a corporate promotion, every company from TCS to Barclays was there. And they contributed the most to the slow speed of the run. It was a more civilised or a commercialised Morcha. Nothing more than that. Agreed that such things are essential for raising funds, but the experience was not pleasing. May be next time they should consider having a separate shorter run and a Dream Run or maybe I will consider running the half marathon next time :P So next time the preparation would be important ;)
All in all it was a decent bit of fun. There were all kinds of people, uncle-aunties, munna-munnies, and the peer group all in great numbers. Nice to see so many people coming together with a single aim in mind - cover 6kms :) . Hopefully even for more important matters and tasks at hand we will have such participation, thats what such events should be aimed at.
