Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Done & Dusted.. And Super Happy!

On 10th March, I completed by first ever 10K Run in the Pune Womens Half Marathon. Yeaaaaaaa!! :-D As you can see, I feel super happy. 

In my earlier post, I had outlined a somewhat practical plan that I had put in place to prepare for it. Though to be honest, I could not stick to it to the T. The plan to increase my running sprints could not be achieved; in fact it reduced as I caught cough and even making 1-2 rounds made me have fits of cough.  But my walks were regular and I used to walk 4-5 kms at a stretch for at least 5 days a week. 

As the D day approached, I had my reservations but then my aim was just to complete it and hopefully have a decent time. I wanted to avoid being the last one to cross the finish line :-) The reporting time was 5.45 am and flag off was at 6.45 am. We put 2 alarms - 1 for 4.45 am and 1 for 5.15 am to wake up and start from home respectively. Though we woke up as soon as the alarm rang - we realized it was 6 am. Both I & M had somehow missed the earlier 2 alarms and woke up later to another one set by M (for God only knows what!). We scrambled to get ready and reached the venue just on time. I reached the start line at 6.43 am.. phew!!! :-D

Since there were 3 different categories of event - 4K fun walk/run, 10K Run and 21K Half marathon, there were so many enthusiastic participants for the event. The energy level at the venue was amazing. Women and girls of all age groups, shapes and sizes had participated. There were a few mother (late 20s-early 30s) - daughter(6-8 yo) duo as well as few old ladies (in there 60s-70s). It was quite motivating to see a new mom participate and she completed her Run pushing her baby in a pram along with her. 

As soon as the run started at 6.45 am, I started with full josh as well. Started with a Run and then slowly once I tired, I started brisk walking. After a couple of minutes, I again started running. I did this intermittently till the Finish line. The venue as well as the stretch where we had to run was a beautiful road lined with lush green trees; the weather had a nice little early morning chill; at regular intervals, there were people cheering us on; and coupled with the spirit of the participants, it was a great experience!

M was so excited as I finished the run; he was waiting for me at the finish line.. ready with his phone camera :-D. I took 1hr 29 min to finish & feel quite ecstatic as my goal was to complete in 2 hrs. The sense of accomplishment I feel is frankly a little too high. :-p Can't wait to participate in more such events..... have too many changes going around right now and life's hectic but am so looking forward to taking it up again once everything settles down. Fingers crossed!