Taming the Tiger

After missing the first two editions of the race due to laziness and your commitment to your beloved Bandra-NCPA, I jumped at the opportunity of running it when it was to be held in the third week of December, instead of the first week. After all I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to run in a city that’s close to my heart. No matter how much I thought I had run that area when i was in school could prepare me for the challenge that awaited on that cold winter morn.

So as you start off the race, albeit a few minutes late (which was actually a blessing since your friend got late to pick his mum, your mum and you), you’re trying your best to keep warm. You stand greeting each of the runners you know as a cold breeze freezes the air, making you quip that you should break into Let it go, cause a few minutes more and you would be Frozen (get it!). 

Well you run amidst the sea of reds (or was it maroon), the colour of the official race tee, and cadets, whose enthusiasm seemed to have traveled to their feet, adding a spring to it. They joked and greeted their superiors, took shortcuts (at times making you want to scold them), threw bottles in the air and caught them, while they ran, calling each other names. It felt like they were set free without supervision, just for a few hours, something I could empathise with cause that was exactly how I felt when we had cross country race (as it was call then). But yeah at times they would be unruly and wild and come in your way, but harmless

Now the road ahead was not easy and had its constant ups and downs and highs and low, which is why it is called rolling hills, and the race is called a challenge, but trust me that what would challenge you had not yet come. So you ran through INS Shivaji (first time you’ve been here even though you schooled in Lonavla and students came from there), around Monsoon Lake, and past Bushy Dam (which was without its famous crowd and falls).

You hit the the 10k mark and that’s when your challenge begins. You climb up unrelenting slopes, with its twists and turns, making running up Kanheri seem like a cake walk. Suddenly you have your poor feet screaming at your brains, what the hell were your thinking when you signed up for a 21k, couldn’t you just have done the 10k and gotten it over? But hey you can’t help yourself and walk away from challenge, after all how much would you run in BKC which, let’s face it, has become the most saturated and boring place to run. So you undertake the arduous climb, with your feet cursing you at ever step, and you trying to block them out of your head, commanding them to shut up and move on. You even stop and take walk breaks when it necessitated, counting to 15, under your ragged breath. 

As you reach the top of the Airforce base you’re greeted with some stinging head winds, almost trying to push you off course (well not quite that strong) with your bib threatening to tear off your vest. You finally reach Lion Point, making you wonder where’s the Tiger. So you finally come to the conclusion that you ran up Tiger Hill to come to Lion Point, isn’t it ironic, don’t you think (as Alanis Morisette would have put it).

So by the time you reach the turn around point, which turned out to be a line to touch and go, almost bumping into a bunch of cadets posing for a photographer, you heart is glad it will all be downhill from here. But then you’ve got hold that thought just for a little while longer cause there’s still a couple of kilometres of rolling hills to run on.

So your legs grudgingly make that return journey, hoping to get done with it once and for all, but your soul (not to be confused with the ones beneath your feet) feels free as a bird wafting in the wind, taking in the sights, enjoying the weather, cheering those who are still making the journey up the slopes, who need the cheering the most. So after you run, jog, walk the rolling hills, it’s finally time to descend the slopes. So you speed up but at the same time you try to control your pace, you don’t want to injure yourself. You are urged on by friends and fellow runners who have completed their race. 

Finally you reach that final turn and to your relief, the race is done. You collect your medal and congratulate the winners and friends, as is custom, and wear a wide grin as you chat with the organisers and fellow runners, relieved that you have completed the challenge. As you make your way to the presentation area to meet your mum (whom for the first time has attended a running event) and your friends, you can hear the naval band play Besame Mucho, bringing a huge smile for a childhood memory. 

Now that the race is done it’s time to celebrate and pose for pictures, as well as devour the post run breakfast. For the first time you get to click a pic with your mum after the race. Though your timing may not have been too great, your chest swells with pride, not just for yourself but also for your friend, some of whom have podium (hardly to any surprise). Now you can proudly say that you took up the challenge and successfully completed taming the tiger (hill).