I am a finisher of 42.195 KM in 4 hours 48 minutes. Yikes. My month long preparation culminates into an amazing run. It was not perfect per se. Nevertheless, I feel I did really well for the training I went through.
As I reported here I continued my training till Nov 30th. Unlike my training in 2009 this training was shorter and less painful. There were no swollen shins and blackened toe nails, probably because of the shorter duration. If it were for a 3 month duration I am sure I would have cracked the 4.30 mark.
The marathon started at 5am. Never before had I run at that time of the day and it was refreshing and pulsating to run with a sea of fellow marathoners. I finished the first 10km by 57 min and the next 10km by 1 hr 57 min. Impressed by my performance I continued with much more determination and reached the 30K mark by 3 hours 10min. Realizing that the sun is not yet out I smiled for myself. Suddenly 42 K in 4 hr 30 min seems very much possible. Then as I continued to take strides my very old problem resurfaced ( This and this ). I am still not sure why exactly this problem is happening. The only trouble I face during a long distance run is the calf muscle cramp: my right calf muscle. The only answer can be lack of training. For this and this my calf muscle gave up at about 18km. Fortunately, for the full marathon it gave up after 30 probably because of the better training. And having my lessons learnt during those two runs I immediately stopped and stretched whenever I felt the cramp in my calf muscle. But eventually with some muscle rub I crossed the finish line with a big grin on my face. I can’t wait for my next marathon in May.
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