I am writing this blog with a calm mind, with a feeling of accomplishment and with my legs in the hot tub to soothe the pain developed from my participation in the Juniper Run 2015. To confess, I have never before run in any marathon/half marathon/quarter marathon etc. So this 5k run was my debut and I am really feeling good for finishing it with flying colors. Nobody in my family or friends circle had ever imagined that I could finish the 5km run in less than 40min. But I never had any doubt in my abilities and always believed I could do it. The only doubt in my mind earlier was if I could actually wake up before 6AM on a Sunday morning. My wife had ensured I woke up on time, and we headed to the Prestige Tech Park early in the morning yawning all the way. Thanks to the excellent security arrangement, and with a guard on every 50m showing clear signs to head to the parking area, it was easy for the half asleep mind to find a nice parking place.
When we reached the venue most of the crowd was already there full of enthusiasm with their family members absolutely geared up for the run. We pinned the BIB and were ready for the Zumba warmup dance. While my wife was having fun dancing I could hardly follow the steps shown by the instructors on the ramp. But that in no way was going to discourage me. I was ready for the kill. I had full faith in my training the previous week, 1.5km Treadmill walk on Thursday and complete rest on saturday. Taking rest is very much necessary before the race day, I had read it clearly somewhere. We started running overtaking many people in the crowd, nothing would stop me. My wife gave a signal that I can go ahead and need not wait for her. I was glad she let me go faster. The weather was right and so was the atmosphere around, I started my first run with full swing.
Within a few minutes I could hear the cheers from the crowd and the anchor announcing the first person who had finished the 5k run. I was sure i was close to the finish line and was going to reach it anytime now and ran breathing heavily. Don't know why but the people running ahead of me were getting slightly blurry. That is when i saw the first milestone banner reading something like “2km completed 3km more”. How could that be possible? I have been running for so long now. I wondered what technique they had used to measure the distance. Somehow reading this last banner had brought my energy levels down significantly. With lot of difficulty I could see the kids running ahead of me. It was time to slow down a bit and have some water, I could always cover it up by running faster later.
I don’t exactly remember what happened after that. My heart was beating like some Yo Yo Honey Singh Numbers. I was wondering if I was dreaming or was running for real. The cameras on the way had kept me running till now. I was about to faint when I saw a blurry banner which read “4km, 1km more to go”. Just 1 more km to go! My brain started responding again and my body had found some new energy again. I could do it. I ran with my full strength and could see the anchor waiting for me with a raised hand for a high five. This was it, this was the moment I was waiting for.. I wished my wife would be there in the crowd and would take a picture of that legendary high five. But I could hear some announcements and I could figure out that most of the 10k runners also had already finished before me. But this was my first run after all. And whatever time I maintained, I at least finished what I started. I was happy like never before. Now I was a marathoner too.. It was time for some crazy selfies.
I found my wife after some time near the breakfast counter finishing a food marathon. She had already played some games organized for non runners and had also won some chocolates. Breakfast was very tasty and the menu was extensive. It was time for some great music by the “Beat Gurus” and the much awaited award ceremony. My wife asked me if I had any chance of winning the trophy placed on the stage. I said I had a chance to win only if half of the crowd gets detected positive for some banned substance and are disqualified from the race and it was remotely not possible. Maybe I should train myself even more for the next run.
But it was an amazing experience participating in this event. And hearing our VP announcing that we are going to donate close to 45 Lakh towards education and development of villages, it felt even more worth spending the weekend on this Run for a cause. Thanks to the amazing J-Funatics team, as ever they had done great planning and executed it as well. I can still feel some pain in my legs. Time for some “Zandu Balm” massage.. bye for now..
