I had to stay within myself and stick to a pace that I could manage through the marathon.
The Bombay fiasco had to be fixed.
It was perfect weather, a bright night with a full moon, Lutyens Delhi was asleep as we weaved past Jorbagh, Golf Links, Mathura Road onward to India Gate. Even as it was all quiet and empty, there was a palpable positive energy in the air. I didn’t look at the watch much and had turned off the lap notifications. It felt liberating.
A crackling of this is my city went through my mind several times. The beautiful Rajpath, Janpath. The cheerleaders. The volunteers. Coach Ravinder cheering for hours. Ditto Coach Nakul.
In the second loop, around the twenty fifth kilometre, the sky started to change colour and as I approached India Gate for the second time, the shading of pinks in the sky was magnificent.
Stay within yourself, I told myself repeatedly. Run and maintain, I kept repeating and nodded to myself.
I must have looked like a lunatic nodding while running, sometimes swaying my hands to the beat of music, acknowledging Coach Ravinder again and high-fiving Coach Nakul just as I approached the final mile.
It finally happened, crossing the finish line, feeling strong, satisfied and ever so grateful for the opportunity to run.
Writing about Running 