Being completely Gung Ho abt the whole half marathon thing and before even running my second half marathon (the delhi half) I registered for the Mumbai half ! Which I ran today. And finished.
The run was quite good. Some key things which immediately stood out
- since the start point and end point were 21.097 kms apart, the organisers had implemented a marvellous idea for bagge storage for the runners. They had trucks being used as storage. Each with a number on it to identify. and after the race started, the truckes moved to the finish line and wre available for people to take their stuff back! Awesome simple idea.
- the people were a bit more well behaved then the Delhi crowd. no was peeing on the walls in the holding area as they did in Delhi. But then the auth. were stupid not to provide any port-a-potty or a water station. At least in Delhi they had organised port-a-pottys.
- the humidity, it was easy to start sweating within 15 mins of starting the runa at a leisurely pace. It acually becae a bit easier once the sunn came up and the drenching stopped
- the smell, Mumbai stinks, literally. Through out the run there were stinks that lasted a couple of kms making it diffficult
- the no. of water stations were so low and poorly organised. people had to climb over each other to get to that precious bottle of water. They were also not as frequent or large or well equipped as in delhi
- Delhi provided entertainment on rout in the way of live bands, cheerleaders, dancers, good music to give that extra push. Not in Mumbai. The only thing was a small 200 mtr stretch with "Rose Sound' the old style bhompu kind of speakers who had torn to shred the whole body n soul of the sound coming out. What were they thinking ?
Luckily there was a nice girl running ahead of me with her mp3 player who was singing aloud the sings she was listening too. Entertainment !
- ofcourse neither Delhi nor mumbai believe in providing dustbins to throw away the empty bottles / peels. This inspite of the Clean mumbai posters through out the route. maybe they were just posters, no meaning.
- Mumbai also has some hot ladies. Here I mean physically. Both running and on road sides cheering us on. Another factor which added the smile to my face. btw I think this was one marathon where I was smiling throughout inspite of some nagging things.
- The best part of Mumbai - the people ! They were awesome. They were out on the road with water, oranges, bananas, biscuits, candys and the most important motivating cheers. More than once they put the pep in my step and a smile on my face to keep on running and reach the finish line.
- Finish line - no markers for exit, where to go, information desk - nothing. so either walk in a wrong direction or ask people around. took me 1.5 hrs of loitering, 5 kms of walking to get the to the car.
btw I finished in 2hrs 48 mins and reached the final in good shape no aches, no pains. The trach was difficult with some 2-3 kms of upward incline, 1 flyover and the bandra worli sea link. a couple of pics i took.
Speed Limit 50kmph
No overtaking
The sea link !
after the half.
ADDENDUM :
The story at the airport.
My 2.45 PM Kingfisher flight got delayed and was finally scheduled at 4.00 pm. They were nice enuf to keep informing abt same. I arrived at 3.00 pm, checked in, went to the Kf lounge, had a beer and some snacks and 3.30 went for the security. Standing in the serpentine queue with just 4-5 people ahead of me I was on schedule. Then when i started emptying my pockets into my bag, I realised I did not have my boarding pass. In retrospect, I would have loved to see the shock on my face. In any case, i backtracked to outside the queue to look for my boarding pass. There was a kingfisher fellow and as I was approaching him another guy was also walking towards him with a boarding pass he had found :) Awesome.
Time 3. 35
Well then came the security. Both my jacket & handbag went in for the X-ray. My hand bag was packed the same was as was on my trip from Delhi, no addition / subtractions except adding vada pao for Sue. After the X-ray the guy kept my bag aside saying I had a lighter in there. I opened up my bad with all contents outside but no lighter. There was a a wafting smell of the Vada paos though. Well they went through the bag with a fine toothe comb and still no lighter. Then the constable went into one of the side pockets and came up with the lighter ! It was a complimentary to be given away therefore forgotten. Surprising was the secirity in Delhi had cleared the bag without batting an eyelid. So Security ??
Time 3.48 - after the security I ran down the corridor to get to the staircase, flew done the staircase and reached the sirity gate where the ground staff stood fuming seeing how short I had cut the time. Then came the second shock. In the hassle of the security check I had clean forgotten my jacket. I kept my bag with security chap, flew up the stairs , ran dow the corridor on to the X ray belt and true to goodness my jacket was there, squashed by the oncoming baggages.
Time 3.53
With the jacket onto my shoulders and then for the third time i ran down the corridors, flew down the stairs and on to the gate. Then with poise i handed them the boarding card and quitely walked in, knowing they cannot leave without me.
Time 4.00
On the flight, my seat was the second before last 29 D so i walked again to the end of the plane and took my seat next to a nice beautiful Kingfisher air-hostess. Yippee, i thought. After unpacking my book n music i settled in my seat. Food came pretty quick. i had 10 molecules - 5 each of the chat & the seek kebab and the terrible taste was disgusting me but i didnt make any faces as the pretty Kf girl was eating it all up ! What a turn off ! SO i slept only to wake up in Delhi.
