Pushing through…

Come the third Sunday of January and you once again find yourself anxiously waiting on that familiar ground. You’ve done this 12 times before but you still feel that nervousness and that anxiety building in you.

So you get your warm up done with your fellow RBs, and of course with Coach and you slowly make you way to the start line, joining the crowds of runners as they are herded to their respective starting line up. You try and get some last minute advice from coach before you get into your line up.

You calmly walk while those around you run, knowing that in this walk you can actually find a way to settle the nervous anxiety that’s been bubbling under the surface. So you walk to the start line as the spotlights and fireworks light up your way, marvelling how gorgeous VT looks in its lit glory.

As you reach the start line you pause a moment to start all yours apps and watch. You sign yourself as your cross over the start line, knowing that your race has begun. 

You mutter a quiet “you’ve got this” to yourself as you run steadily at a comfortable and steady pace as you had planned, letting those around you go ahead, knowing somehow you will meet them again, if not on the route, then at the finish line.

You note the weather is humid, as expected, and you already broken into a sweat. As expected the weather changed and gotten a bit hot and humid. But despite this you have a quiet confidence. You know you’ve trained well and you already executed your plan with a good FM in November. So all you had to continue with the plan but stay safe and extra hydrated than you did at Ahemdabad.

As you reach Marine Line you feel this beautiful light breeze on your face, quite a welcoming sensation from the humidity that you felt at the holding area.

You make your way around the Air India building and loop and join your friend Jay, who along with some of his friend is a guiding a runner who’s running completely blind. 

You cheer them and wish them the best and continue on your run making your way around NCPA.

You get a huge shoutout from your friends at Asic/stride with GB cheer zone. You give your buddy Rupal a sweaty hug and you continue on your way down Marine Lines, running past the Navy Band who are regaling the runners as the pass by as well the Punjabi Dhol.

You take this all in, all part of the experience, all part of the joy of running the TMM.

So you make your way past Girgaum Chowpattty, past Wilson’s College, taking a turn onto Babulnath and on your way up Peddar Road. You decide to put on your earbuds and listen to some music as you continue on your way. 

You fumble and drop them but somehow manage to get them. You know you’ve spent some time in trying to do so but you don’t let it get to you. You just keep running.

From here it’s on to Haji Ali sea face. You cannot help but marvel at the fact how much things have changed here over the years you’ve run the Mumbai Marathon. You no longer can see the sea face. Instead you see the bridges of the coastal road, twisting and turning across the sea.

With this thought you smile and continue on your way happy knowing that you are holding a steady face.

By now you have the HM runners on the other side of the road. You give a shoutout to friends you see.

Finally you hit the sea link and it’s time to dodge runners who suddenly stop in the middle of the road so that they can capture themselves on the sea link. Not to forget the ones trying to run in front of photographers, giving some silly pose. 

You consciously run to one side, trying your best to avoid these morons. You realise that there are lesser water stations this time around on the sea link, especially when you need one.

You let out a sigh of relief as you finally complete the sea link. You’re happy that there’s no signs of cramps that you faced in the past when coming off the sea link.

You complete looping Reclamation and on to Mahim Causeway, reaching the starting point for the HM. You are well aware that soon you’ll be hitting the 25k mark, which as per your plan and coach’s direction, is when you start to push your pace.

As you make your way down Mahim Causeway you have these children cheering you with their outstretched arms waiting for a high five from the runners going by. You make way to the side and return every high five, return every smile with a smile of your own. The simple but precious joys and pleasures of running the Mumbai Marathon.

From here you reach the start line of the Half Marathon and you know it’s turn to shift to the next gear.

You steadily pick up pace but at the same time not going all out. You know you are running strong and everything seems to be going as planned. You try not to think about the weather and cramps and try to take it one step at a time, making up ground and time.

Just when you thought you would have a good race you start to feel the tightness in your calves. As you turn on to Worli Seaface cramps begin to set in forcing you to walk as you can no longer keep your pace. You desperately look out for salt or oranges and water, which was not there at the water station, instead you had Relaod, something that you didn’t want at the time.

After walking for a while you feel your calves loosen up and once again you begin a slow run. You know your pace has dropped but that’s something you would cope with. For now all you could think and hope that the cramps would not affect you more. You had to take it one step at a time.

As you make your way to Haji Ali sea face you desperately looking for water as you have to take your gels with it, but to your disappointment the water stations are stocked up with Fast and Up Relaod, which you didn’t need.

Finally, at Peddar Road, you find some good Samaritans distributing water. You take a bottle and thank them profusely and make your way up Peddar Road. This is one of the reason I’ve always felt that Peddar Road is one of the best part of the race and not the dreaded part cause the support here is amazing.

You decide to walk up Peddar Road rather than run it. So you slowly make your up. Despite the cramps and the frustration you make it a point to smile cause you have chose to not give up and continue and battle the elements and complete what you set out to do.

Reaching the top of Peddar Road you start to run once again, using the downhill to carry you on.

You finally make your way past Babulnath and on to Giragaum Chowpatty telling yourself there just few kms to cover.

By now your run is reduced to a walk-jog strategy as every time you try to run cramps set in. You try not be too disappointed and just continue on.

Finally at Wilson’s College you meet Charu, your savour, who’s got oranges and coke for you.

After a quick chat and some pics, you thank Charu for always being the rock star she is and continue on your way, eating the oranges and the sipping the coke.

You hobble most of the way trying to keep the cramps at bay but sadly they seem to love you and want to keep you company. So all you can do run-walk-jog and do the best you can.

Slowly and steadily you reach the water station manned by your friends from Stride with GB/Asics run club. Sadly, they don’t have the water you are looking for, what they do have is their warm cheer and smile and motivation. So after getting your legs sprayed  and clicking pics and you are once again off on your away, albeit you more hobbling instead of running.

With every step your muscles get cramped even more. You just close your eyes and try to push through it all, after all you didn’t come this far just to throw in towel. So you continue to push. And somehow you find that adrenaline rush that carries you through to the finish line.

As you near the finish line you see your friend Suni who cheers you on and tells you that you can still make it below 5 hours. So with that one final push you make it across that finish line as you raise your hands in triumph.

As you soon as you cross the finish line your legs feel like they would almost give way from under you but still cramped. You hobble about trying to make your way to the grounds. Each step you take shoot this agonising  pain, but you just close your eyes and continue walking, greeting and congratulating friends who have completed their run. You collect your towel and head to collect your medal and join your friends.

Though you smile, you have this feeling of disappointment, and hearing the timings of others doesn’t make it any easier. You try not to let it affect you but somehow it gets to you.

You needed this race to go well, with all the shit you’ve been through in the past couple of months, and when it didn’t go as planned and you didn’t get the outcome you trained for you are left feeling low, you feel you’ve let yourself down.

You needed this race to be shot in the arm, the boast you needed, the spark that would reignite the fire in you. You needed it to find that hope. But sadly it wasn’t meant to be.

You wonder what did you do wrong? Did you go too fast after running nice and steady for the first 25 km? Was it the finickiness of the Mumbai weather or was it lack of sufficient water station with water or even salt and orange that lead to the cramp?

In all these thoughts that keep plaguing your head you realised that there are positives which you can take from the race. You’ve been focusing so much on what you did wrong, the negatives, you’ve overlooked the positives of the run.

You proved to yourself that you have it in you to complete what you have started. And when the chips are down you can find it in you to push through. You didn’t give up when cramps plagued and threatened another DNF. You just closed your eyes and pushed through the agony and successfully completed your 10th Full Marathon, and that in itself was a great victory. 

You didn’t give up, you didn’t give in, you completed what you set out to do. This resilience in itself was the hope that you needed, the spark to light the flame, the proof that no matter how bad things may seem you had the strength and resilience to see things through.

So no matter the outcome you can hold your head up high and be filled with this sense of pride for what you have managed.

So with that you know it’s back to the drawing board and keep growing and improving and come back stronger in 2026.