The YMCA Republic Day Half Marathon

Loved the run yesterday. Going into it, there was talk and then expectations set around a “fastish” run ranging from a sub-2 to 2:06 and the “worst” time being talked about was a 2:10. These are scary times.

Check this – Krishna had done a 2:03 a few months back and clearly wanted to go much faster. Preeti was his pacer and the half is her turf. Painter had a 1:45 assigned..

Anyway, I was going to give it all, and that is exactly what I did – really pushed hard as much as I could, enjoyed the whole run and totally surprised myself with a 1:56:change for the 20.4 km run. I guess, I would have finished at just over 2 hours or so if the 700-800 mts were added. Loving it!

—

Couple of things that I was thinking about after the run, back at home, while chilling out (with my beer )

The half marathon distance is a beautiful beast to tackle and is immensely satisfying. You are running somewhat fast – and – you are running long. You can’t go all out and you can’t hold back much either. It pushes you right to the edge, but you won’t die (like in a full). A sub-2 is massively challenging, almost tantalizingly within reach for a typical 6:00 pace runner and yet so elusive.

I am not going to accept yesterday’s race as a true sub-2. I could do the additions to time to compensate for the missing distance, but fact remains that 20.4 was what was done in 1:56. It is best that it remains that way, because I still have the sub-2 target to chase.

Then – the race atmosphere.. the whole event  in general – the friends, the sweaty high-fives, the medals, the group photos, the banter – it’s just so much fun!

Advertisement