My first international half marathon!!

When I first moved to Mumbai, I signed up to run the half marathon because that is something I am familiar with and enjoy  I did not realize how hard it was going to be to train here - no open spaces to run in, hard concrete and tiles the only surfaces to run on.  And no TNT people to run with :)

I ran 6 miles once in sept and I ran/walked a few 5 milers this month.  That was the most I ran to train for a 13.1 mile race!!  ha!

The start of the race was down by the Bandra train station - about a 25 minute walk from my flat.  I set out at 5:10 am.  I got about 10 minutes into my walk when a man riding in a rickwhaw saw me with my bib and asked if I wanted to ride with him.  He was part of the Striders running club (which I want to join next year!!) and he invited me to warm up with his group.  We had to go through this very narrow walk way, go through a metal detector, and be patted down.  It was the first race I've run where everyone was smelly at the START of the race :)  Just like any race I found someone at the start line to chat with.  She was Indian, but lived in Geneva for 20 years.  It was her first half marathon.

I did the math and decided that I needed to run every kilometer in 8 minutes or under.  I took it one kilometer at a time and if I accomplished my goal, I rewarded myself with a one minute walk.  It worked.  I finished in about 2:50 and left the 3 hour pacer guy in my dust :) 

Many aspects of the race was just like any other.  Lots of people running in crowded spaces sometimes. There were crowds on the side and they cheered some, but not like in the States.  No one held any signs which was different.  There were some polical chants going on.  A runner would call out a cadence and people would reply with a cadence.  At first I thought it was a running group encouraging each other, but I noticed spectators were participating.  And chants were usually coming from someone carrying an Indian flag.  There was bottled water at the tables and lots of places where they were passing out crackers.  and in the last kilometer a little girl gave me a piece of hard candy which was perfect.  The weather was great - cool, but not cold and of course there is no chance of rain this time of year. 

The race was flat except for 2 hills around km 14-15.  and it was pretty boring most of the way.  Indians aren't all that demonstrative so lot of them were standing on the road and clapping some, but not really cheering.  around km 18 it got really fun!!!  Indian music was playing and people were dancing and it was super fun!  We finished right around the famous Victoria train station.

When we finished, they funneled us into a small cramped area to go through metal detectors again.  So they made us do the worst thing possible after running that long - they made us stand totally still for about a half hour! augh! 

I went in the holding area and got my medal and some food!  then made my way to the train station.  Jane (a friend at school)  gave me some train tickets and pointers on how to get home on one.  There were plenty of Indians willing to help me get on the right train.  It obviously looked like I didn't know what I was doing and all the maps were in Hindi.

I got on a ladies only car and got a very nice seat.  It was a really nice ride with cool breezes coming in through the door.  Four women got on and sat on the floor right by the door and had a picnic.  Made it pretty impossible for other people to get on and off the train.  weird.

Usually I barely feel anything after running a half marathon - it is a pretty perfect distance.  I feel pretty good today.  When I took my shoe off, I had a bloody sock.  oops!  I apparently underestimated the amount of vaseline I needed and one of my big toes suffered the consequences :)

Kingfisher had billboards all along the way advertising that they had flights to other major races - London, Berlin, Boston, Chicago etc.  hmmm.  what race should I do next? !  :)