For those of you that remember, I ran the Delhi Half Marathon last year and it was quite an adventure. I had only moved to India a few days before the race took place so the race was sold out and I had to buy some random guy’s number off of him right before the race started. Also, I was completely out of shape and jetlagged so I walked at least half of the 21km in excruciating pain. My blog post about this experience can be found at the beginning of my blog.
So fast forward a little over a year and it’s a completely different scenario. After my few week stay at Max Hospital back in July/August, I didn’t think that there was any chance for me to run the half marathon. Not only had I never fully run more than10 miles straight in my entire life, I was sickly, out of shape and about 12 pounds less than I should have been (not in a good way). Then I picked up the Times of India one morning in September, read that registration was open for the November 21st half marathon and decided to register right then and there.
It’s so true that the second your register for something in the future, your present is completely transformed. The next thing I did was print out a training schedule to create structure to my training, hire a personal yoga instructor to strengthen my body and make a commitment to myself that I would live a healthy lifestyle for at least the next 2.5 months. Then I trained and trained and trained and trained. At first I just wanted to finish but as the date got closer, I decided that I wanted to finish in less than 2 hours.
On the morning of the race, I was nervous. Last year I was also nervous but for different reasons. I was in a new country, didn’t have a number and didn’t know how I was going to get back to my company guesthouse after the race. The actual running part was the least of my worries. This time I felt very comfortable in India, had a number and knew exactly how I was going to get home. I was nervous because I told myself and all these people that I was going to beat 2 hours and now I needed to do so.
After doing some light stretching and breathing exercises, I started the race in the middle of the pack. I was focusing on the road ahead of me, listening to the music on my IPOD and visualizing me crossing the finish line in under 2 hours. Just when I reached full concentration mode, my focus fell out of whack as my music was drowned out by extremely loud Bhangra music and my ability to focus on the road ahead was interrupted by thousands of runners waving at the B-List Bollywood stars in the VIP area.
Once everything was sorted out, I shifted back into focus and made it through the 21kms in a constant mental battle with myself as I questioned my own ability to beat the personal goal I had set.
Well, I’m happy to say that I completed the 21km without stopping and, more importantly, I finished in 1 HOUR, 55 MINUTES!!!!
I cried when I crossed the finish line. We all have our stories and my story was that I was in the ICU 3 months ago and now I’m crossing the finish line after running longer than I ever have, faster than I ever expected. Life is beautiful.
Here are some pictures of me soaking in sweat and fulfillment…
