Surprised Myself! That’s how I can sum up
my half marathon on the Earth Day apparently running for the Earth. I have been
running my weekly runs but nothing suggested that my half marathon would be a
breeze. Things didn’t help when I woke up at 4am on the race day. Still groggy
from my sleep I pushed myself with much effort to the venue but at the same
time equally excited to know how I would finish the race. After what felt like
eons the race finally started.
The start was good. No laziness; tick, no spasms;
tick, endorphins; tick. Everyone seemed to be rushing. I was covering good
distance in good time. I should say I was running at a constant speed. Not
strictly constant but clocking 5.5 min for every kilometer. That should do to
finish my race in 2 Hours, my target time. As usual I am weary of my calf
muscle and after so many races I learnt how to handle it. I reached 10K in 55
min sharp. So far so good. No sign of muscle contraction. Yet I didn’t want to
wait until my calf muscle starts giving trouble in which case I can not finish
in 2 hours. So I started stretching my calf muscle much in advance, every Km
after 12Km. Energy levels are still high and by the 16th Km mark I
have been maintaining my speed. The target is still within the reach. When I
reached the 20Km I knew target is just within few minutes.
With a wide grin on my face I crossed the
finished line in 01.57.40 knowing how easy it was compared to my previous half marathons. It may the climate, may be route or may be I have just become
good. I don’t know but it was a breeze running this half marathon. Off to another
challenge. Midnight full marathon. Double excited. Target 4 and half hours. Let’s
see how it turns out.
