Report: The Airtel Hyderabad Full Marathon 2013

A photo of the author during an early phase of the run

It was back to Nagaraj, me and the road. We kept chipping away at it – one flyover, then the next and so on at an easy comfortable pace which I would be able to sustain over the entire distance. Then around the 20 km mark, as we were climbing yet another uphill part, I heard a pack of runners inching close. I looked over my shoulder and there it was, the Army team of speed demons, trudging along at a thundering pace – they were the Half-marathoners and how elegant they looked as they ran in a pack, all in sync. I think I saw where I want to be at in a years time at that moment.

And then came the coveted, 21.1 km mark. Nagaraj and me glanced at our Garmins – we had both achieved our 21.1 km personal best (PB) at 1 hour and 43 minutes – we gave each other a high-five and flashed a smile. This achievement gave us a boost to keep going. As we ran, I heard a clap. It was Bangalore boy, namma gazelle, Nanjudappa – it was so awesome to hear the normally shy runner clapping and cheering us on as he ran his own half marathon. We screamed out – ” Go Nanjundappa”. And then we continued.

As we reached the 25 km mark and looked ahead, we could see the elite runner no. 3 running not more than 200 metres ahead. This is doable we thought, simultaneously, as we both turned and looked at each other. It was a rolling downhill and there was a long way to go – lots of time, so no hurry to overtake. Lets just keep the sustainable pace and keep her in view we thought.

Around the 30 km mark, we caught upto Sid again, and we ran together for a few kilometres again. By this time, there was hardly any talk, smiles or anything other than a visual acknowledgement of each other’s presence. We then upped our pace and continued on forward keeping the elite in view. Around the 35 km mark, we saw another elite with her pacer struggling to keep up her pace. And just like that, in a few steps, I had overtaken my first ever elite. There was a sense of satisfaction that I felt.

So, as per our calculations, I was now running in third position and actually in the run for the podium. The lady ahead was not very far away – maybe 50 metres. But there were still 7 km to go and my energy reserves were running low. We decided to keep up the final push for the last 2 km. This is when the lady in front of me looked back for the first time. I could see surprise in her eyes; she had not expected me to catch up.

Over the next 7 km, she looked back and gave me a dirty look ever so often – it felt good. An elite was feeling threatened by me. And one by one the kilometres flew by. We were at the 39 km mark – I couldn’t push the 40 km mark, still couldn’t push the 41 km mark. Forget pushing, I wanted to walk, but Nagaraj wouldn’t have any of it. He slowed himself down and fell back and screamed from out back, ” she is gaining on you – looks like you won’t be beating an elite afterall.”

With 750 m left, there was no way I was going to let her beat me. I do not know where the energy came from but it did; I picked up the pace. Then on the sidelines, I heard Abhishek’s voice screaming ” Go TIM” – that gave me some life. Nagaraj was continuously pushing me forward with his comments. And then came the turn into the stadium.