Dehli-cious run

 The Apollo Tyres New Delhi Marathon was held on Feb 23, 2025. It was my 34th marathon and special in more than one way. This was the race where I had prepared meticulously with a structured training program for close to 20 weeks. Additionally, I was aspiring to finish the race within the BQ (Boston Qualification) cut off time of 3:20 for my age category. So, there was a lot to look up to on this 'run-derful' weekend!

I had the good fortune of having my good friend Chandra help me with the BQ preparation. He not only worked with me on the training plan but also enlisted other runners from our group to join me in this journey. The team rallied behind us and joined for all the different training sessions that I hardly did any workout alone. Chandra was so involved himself in this BQ effort that our running group heard nothing but BQ plans, options and possibilities in the days and weeks leading to the weekend. There were 10 of us who were travelling and staying together, 5 (me, Subba, Subbu, Murthy and Seshu) attempting FM and 5 (Chandra, Deb, Vijay, Yash and Ankur) HM. Most of them registered for Delhi because they wanted to support me in this BQ journey.

The trip started on Saturday morning 430AM when Subbu and Yash came to pick us up to the airport. The spirits were high and almost all of us were in the pink of our health. Truth be told, no runner is ever free of injuries. If they say they are fine, it just means that they do not have a cartilage tear or a fracture. They just are not in a cast. Niggles are part and parcel of a runner’s life, race day or otherwise.

The scene in Bangalore airport on the Saturday before the Mumbai marathon is a sight to behold. You will see runners everywhere, conspicuous by the worn-out running shoes that have now been demoted to things other than running and the Garmin watch. And water bottles. Flights appear to be chartered flights for runners. However, the day before NDM was totally dissimilar. It was a 'plane vanilla' day at the airport! There were very few runners that we could sight, if at all any. NDM, for all its reputation as a fast course, has a long way to catch up with TMM, when it comes to runners’ preferences.

When we got down from the flight in Delhi, the first feeling that we got was that it was cold. This was close to 10AM in the morning, the sun was shining brightly, but the air felt icy. It sent the already vulnerable pre-marathon mind into a spiralling sequence of thoughts. I guess you could say that we were ‘chilling’ before the race! Luckily, the thoughts died down once we got into the Uber and discussed more important subjects like Maha Kumbh, Delhi elections, Trump and similar subjects. We then went to have breakfast at A2B, which was at a walkable distance. Since we did not want to take many chances with the food, we just stuck to ordering dosas. The dosas clearly exceeded expectations from their counterparts in Bangalore, just that it was in price and not in taste.

For lunch, our friend Mayank came from Gurugram to join us. This was the first FM for Mayank and he clearly had a few questions on the do's and dont's. These are the pre-race-day conversations where both the participants know that nothing useful comes out but still engage in because it gives them a lot of pleasure. So, I told him the usual cliched stuff - "It is not about time, it is about finishing strong. Take it easy in the first half". He also vehemently nodded in agreement as if he is hearing them for the first time. I guess he was ‘running’ on autopilot, during that conversation.

Afternoon nap before the race day is one of those NP hard problems. Do you take them or just place the leap of faith and avoid it with the hope of hitting the bed ridiculously early in the night. It is a ‘nap-tastic’ dilemma! The nights before the runs are almost always jittery and you end up with very low chances of quality sleep. So, you might as well try and get some sleep in the afternoon. This is like banking some buffer time between the 20-30K of marathon knowing that you are likely to crawl after 35. But it is possible that the pace between 20-30K might only trigger the crawling. Nevertheless, we decided to take a nap.

In the evening, we walked to the Deer Park (or Dear Park as Chandra likes to call it, as it appears to be a favourite haunt for young couples). Given that it was dusk, I suppose we could say that we had a deer-lightful stroll for an hour. We rounded it up with a super early dinner at A2B (again!).

Once we reached the hotel, we watched the England-Australia Champions Trophy cricket match for some time and then headed to the room. As luck would have it, the TV in our room did not work. The housekeeping person tried everything possible – replacing tv, set-top box, cables and with different combinations, but to no avail. Subba then decided that the best way to relax is to belt out some Ghantasala songs from his mobile. We switched off the lights at 930 and to our surprise did manage to get some good sleep in that short duration.

Getting up is never the problem on a race day and so we were up early and bright. To ensure that we get to the right mind space, we listened to the queen of devotional music, MS sing the Venkateshwara Suprabatham. Listening to Suprabatham by MS is one of those experiences that is quite indescribable in words. The perfect divine start to the day.

We had arranged a cab to drop us at the stadium at 3AM for FM and 5AM for the HM runners. This was another case of trade-off between paying premium amount to not adding more stress with cancelled Uber trips. The driver came on time. Chandra, who was running only the HM and had to leave only by 5, did come down to the lobby to wish us. That was again a demonstration of how much he had put into this race for us. We reached the stadium well before 330 and had another 45 minutes of cold, chill air to survive. JLN stadium had sufficient space for a comfortable warmup, and we did our regular routines before checking in our bags at the baggage counter. Then, suddenly the crowd started moving towards one side and then we realized that we had to walk a full lap around the stadium to get to the starting point. In this melee, I could not locate Arun, another runner with whom I was planning to run most of the race with.

At 4:15, the women elite was flagged off and about a minute or so later, the open event was flagged off. The initial few hundred meters was narrow and crowded and I wanted to ensure that I did not lose too much time in the traffic. I was relieved that the split for the first Km was 4:50, slower but not by a lot. Then, I settled down into a rhythm for the next few Kms. The roads were wide and well illuminated for most part, but there was one stretch along the Golf course that was pitch dark with no lights. Here, one just runs with a leap of faith, small potholes or perturbances could easily cause sprains. Luckily, the road was super smooth and soon we were done navigating that stretch. As we approached the India Gate and Kartavya path, the roads were so wide and huge that it felt so nice to run in them. The only regret was that it was pitch dark still and we could barely make out anything. As I finished the Kartavya path stretch, I saw Navin zooming past me. It was a nice surprise, and I yelled out a couple of words of encouragement. He was in a total zone and vanished from eyesight soon enough. By the time, I reached the JLN stadium completing the first lap, the clock read 1:39:06.  Since I felt comfortable at that time and my HR was in check, I thought of trying to push the pace a bit more. So, over the next 10Km or so, I went about 5s/K faster. Around the 32^nd K, I felt a small twinge in my left inner thigh. But it settled down in no time and I continued steadily. I had always felt that dawn was the best time to run, and we were past our 30K mark when the early light hit us. The wide roads were much more beautiful now. I was just trying to take in the experience. But by the 35^th Km or so, I started getting a bit of knotty feeling in my right calves. That weird feeling where a bubble is moving up and down my calves. I was a bit worried that this might completely throw my race into disarray and so consciously slowed down a bit. Luckily, it felt better when I slowed down and then when I wanted to try to speed up again, it started showing up. So, over the last 5-6Km, I was playing this carefully orchestrated game of pushing and slowing down to keep the cramps at bay. Thankfully, I managed to do that and by the time I crossed the finish line, the clock read 3:18:12. I had PR’ed by close to 20 minutes and most importantly, BQ’ed by more than a minute and a half. It was a super special feeling – elation clubbed with relief. One of those moments where your trust in life goes up – if you put in the hard work and persevere, things happen.

This was one of those races where almost everything went as per plan. The plan was to do a mild negative split (1:39 and 1:38), I ended up doing dead even split, to the second. (1:39:06 and 1:39:06). This was despite the slowdown in the 35-40K stretch. The gel strategy worked fine, I had gels before the race and at Kms 7,14,21,28,33 and 38. I suppose one can say that mixing up the gels helps the legs, after all they are anagrams - you mix gels and get legs. Jokes apart, the legs held up well and the early morning temperature was clearly manageable. Yet another example of the fact that if you plan and practice properly, you just increase the statistical chances of meeting your target. There is no guarantee, but you are more likely than not to meet the goal.

What made the day even more special was the fact that all my running friends had a fantastic outing. Even Chandra, who was battling a leg injury, managed to clock his PB (1:50). My training buddy Subba did 3:36 (PB by more than 20 minutes). Murthy clocked 3:16 for his n’th BQ. Subbu, who was still recovering from injury and illness, had a little more subdued run with 3:45. Deb (1:45), Vijay (1:53), Ankur(1:52) and Yash (1:56) all did their PBs. Delhi is the pace to go for PBs.

Post race, we cherished the memories with high-fives and pictures. A special moment was when Chandra gave me the BQ singlet, a one that he had custom ordered. He was so confident of my meeting BQ that he ordered beforehand. That was a "Singlet-ary" moment of joy!

This was also one of the examples that clearly demonstrates how you need a team (or a village) with you to help you meet your goals and aspirations, even for a supposedly individual sport like running. I am certainly blessed to have one of the most super supportive possible.