Capital Punishment.

I hate Cricket.

At the risk of being lynched by a mob consisting of almost the entire male population of India, let me repeat those three little words...

I hate Cricket.

I don't play it. I don't watch it. I don't read about it. To me, being confined to a room with cricket on the telly is equivalent to, if not crueler than, capital punishment.

It's not so much the game itself, actually.

What I hate is that how the mindless devotion of the Cricket fanatic is single-handedly responsible for the demise of sporting culture as a whole in the country.

How, nowadays, we don't give a shit about our athletes in Incheon, but every barbershop where I live is full of Champions League T20 chairwarriors going on and on and on...

How the money inflating this one game leaves no breathing room for any other to grow.

In particular, I lament how it effects my sport of choice... distance running.

This sunday, a quarter of the way around the world, forty thousand people will run the 41st BMW Berlin Marathon. I will run the 2nd Dwarka Half Marathon & Charity Run along with maybe a few hundred people. It will seriously be as much fun, if not more, as any more opulent race would have been. We will have great  volunteers and ardent runners, all decidedly friendly people. No frills but adequate support. 

It's cool that there is no shortage of such small, happy events in India, and I try to run as many of them as I can.

But it's strange that we are really far behind in world -class, certified races.

It's especially meh that Delhi, the national capital, doesn't have a big ticket full marathon. We have an exceptional running community, beautiful running spaces, great weather (okay, that was reaching, but the few short weeks we do have great weather, it's really great weather)...and we already have a pretty decent annual half marathon.

Today, we have just three active AIMS ratified races in India besides the Delhi Half... the Mumbai and Pune Marathons and the Bangalore 10k. The Kochi Half is touted as one on the Procam website, but doesn't feature on the AIMS website. The Vadodara Marathon website is a mess. It's not even a full marathon anymore, apparently.

Not a single race anywhere is IAAF Gold/Silver/Bronze labeled. (I believe Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore were all Gold label in 2009-10 according to this article. But not anymore.)

For some reason, the Pune Marathon creates very little buzz. So for marathoners, Mumbai remains the 'go-to' event. Obvious question- what does Mumbai have that Delhi doesn't?

Any one who has run both Delhi and Mumbai will immediately hit upon the answer.

Mumbai has good people.

They throng the roadsides, cheering the fast and the slow alike. They hand out biscuits and chocolates and bananas and water and juices and hi-fives (I bet I could do the whole race without touching an official aid station) They beat drums and clap and dance and wave.

They smile.

In Delhi, the only crowds we runners see are those sullenly waiting at crossings for the traffic cops to re-open the roads. They sneer. They curse. They shout snide, sarcastic remarks. If you're a woman, some of them get creatively obnoxious.

And these are those people who care enough to show up. Most of the city is sleeping in, not giving half a hoot. Away from the crossings, the roads are empty, with a few friends and relatives bravely hugging themselves against the cold.

I'm pretty sure these are the same crowds who would snap awake at 3 AM for getting in line at ticket windows, before going on to display unabashed orgasmic frenzy at Ferozshah Kotla.

I know I'm generalizing here, and that's never fair, but that doesn't mean it's not justified.

The people who actually run Delhi will testify that it isn't a bad race by any standards. The large number of people who are running are mostly awesome. The stadium is pretty festive. The volunteers are effective, if not enthusiastic. It's a flat, fast course. Despite all the ranting above, it is still a race I am looking forward to.

I guess I should be thankful we even have a big half-marathon here, shut up and enjoy the smaller, mellower  races, and stop fantasizing that one day, we'll have a Delhi Marathon in the Majors...

...though we are sure to continue to have those pesky Cricket matches.

Week two of eighteen. That mid-week run was speedwork... intense and satisfying, with me running a couple of sub-6:50 miles... my fastest yet. Also, I'm switching my long run tomorrow for the race in Dwarka on Sunday.