Running for the Women and Men in White

There’s always that marathon that’s close to your heart, that’s special to you, that no matter where it’s held or when it’s held you will always make it a point to run it. The WNC Navy Half Marathon is one such race. Let’s face it, for a seasoned runner (or any runner for that matter), BKC is the most boring place to run, it’s the most saturated place for race with so many races being held there, and to have more than 10k runners run on those narrow roads can be quite the task. That coupled with a route that has more twist and turns than a murder mystery, along with a Mumbai weather that can’t seem to make its mind, one time cool and then going a few notches up (and that’s nots because of the runners or the men in white, or maybe it could be).

Inspite of all this what keeps us coming back to do the Navy Half Marathon? Well for starters where else would you get the opportunity to run with and for the men in white? It’s your way of saying thank you for their service and sacrifice and how much you respect them and are grateful to them for keeping us safe. There’s a feeling of prestige, a sense of pride, an honour of running for the men and women in white, and that’s what keep us coming back for more, at least that’s applicable to me. Where else would you have the chance to enjoy the sweet tunes of the naval band. It is also a way of saying thank you to the navy for the gems you’ve gotten the opportunity to know and be inspired from, like the late Raviji, Bijay, Rajat, Nadar Sir and many more dear runner friends, not to forget your best friends of the merchant navy, Ryan, Croydon and Praveen.

Standing at the start line you get the chills when you seem the beams of the tricolour. All through the route you have cadets and officers part of managing the route and manning the water stations along with the volunteers. And then you receive your medals from the men and women in their uniform. You have people clamouring to have a picture taken with them, making them the most sort after people in the race. And that chills you get up your spine when the naval band plays the national anthem, it fills you with pride.

Because of these you are willing to look past the shortcomings of running quite a boring route that’s so twisty and turny, and in a way not too well managed, or the poor volunteers tried to their best ( but then who starts a 10k before the 21k when knowing the back end of the 10k is filled with non serious runners, if we can even call them that, and the front end of the 21 has to tackle them). 

So inspite of all this the navy is one of the run I have always done, though not always  enjoyed, but all the time filling me with a feeling of prestige and honour, brining me back for more.