It’s been a month to the day, since the tragic event
that will now and forever in human history be known as the Great Mumbai Marathon Debacle of 2015.
To my credit, I have recovered patiently and picked
up the pieces of my shattered Boston dreams. It’s time to ‘stoop and build ‘em
up with worn out tools’ in the words of Kipling. (Yes, I am aware that I am quoting Kipling's If for the second time...:p)
What now?
Obviously, a lot of rethinking and redoing is
required, in context of specific lessons learnt over the past year.
Most of
these ‘lessons’ are runners’ clichés regarding negative splits, summer training
and recovery which I have, God knows, harped upon enough times before in this
blog, so I will spare you, dear reader, the agony of reading the same again
(For now. I really don’t have much material to work with.)
But one obvious lesson that I learnt last month is that
I should pick my battles.
Mumbai is a great race. Lots of fun and festivity.
But honestly, if one is serious about a PR/BQ, it’s less than ideal.
The problem is, we aren’t exactly spoilt for choice
here in India. Kochi (It’s a confirmed USATF approved course...) seems to be
the best option, clearly trumping the sarkari-organised, AIMS approved Pune,
from what I've read and heard about these races.
After a lot of agonizing, however, I've settled on
Dubai, on 24 January 2016, for my next Marathon. The course is flat, boring and
straight. The weather is cool, ranging between 15 to 20 degrees centigrade. And
I (probably) won’t need to sell my soul to the devil to be able to afford it. Unless I'm staying here...
So that’s almost an year to go before I take a crack
at a BQ again, and I intend to go into it with just one 20-week long training
cycle.
And mentally, that puts me in a very strange place.
I now have seven months, until September this year,
to run without a target race in mind. No paces to attain. No mileages to
achieve. No times to beat.
Just to run, for its own sake.
Now, as a theoretical concept, it really sounds very
good. No pressure, man... just run!
What it actually feels like...I suppose I’ll find
out as I go through it. If I don’t lose my sanity in a couple of weeks.
For now, I’m happy that the winter has lost its
teeth, just as I resume regular runs. It’s back to shorts and T-shirts... I
really despised running in layers, I tell you! I've also stopped taking my GPS
watch along for my runs, doing them completely by feel.
I’m planning to run my first ultra, a slow, easy 56
k on the Manger trail, four days from today. Should be fun.
I’m also registered for half-marathons all the way
through May, at the rate of one a month, which I intend to run at moderate
paces.
Now, here’s a funny story...
At the 2nd Annual Runner of the Year Awards,
the jury decided to give an award for a runner’s blog to the charismatic Anupriya
Kapur (you can find her much more balanced, sensible and better written blog at
www.momontherun.in).
Then they got drunk, or high, or probably got hit on
the head by something heavy, (or all three!) and decided to give it to me too.
Too late, guys. I’ve got the certificate now.
I’m not giving it back.
