Given a choice to do something fun with friends or to continue your journey, would you opt for fun, or pursue the fitness? Or would you do both?
The golf weekend was supposed to be last weekend. Now it is Sunday. What else is Sunday? The New Delhi marathon. Well, I guess you know where this is going. I would love to say my running has revitalized after Jaipur, but alas, recovery from that one led into an illness and I didn't run for 10 days. So I rolled into this weekend with 11.87 miles per week for the last month. Yikes.
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| Can't tell what worries me more: undertraining, the 430am sign, or the grammar in this sign |
My biggest issue in negotiating my spot on the golf classic was I didn't know the marathon start time. They didn't have it on the website and when I contacted them about it, they said it would be posted "closer to the start date." This was 12 days prior. It posted about 5 days before. When I showed up at the expo, I found a lovely handwritten sign informing me that the race had been moved to 4:30am; an ungodly hour but better for my day's plans.
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| Real official |
Rocking up at 4am, I found a toilet. It was a squatty potty, so I deposited the brown notes, but there was no toilet paper. That was an itch that would stick with me for 5 hours or so. I noticed the barefoot runners standing in pee. Not as interesting to me as the guy with fuzzy bathrobe slippers doing the same. I watched the usual Zumba warm-up and then connected with Michael, my acquaintance. He wanted a sub-3:20 so I said I would run him to that, at least for a while. He was joined by Evan and Raj, two of his friends from a running group. We hit the line but were delayed getting out by Sachin Tandulkar, the world-famous cricketer, who was speaking. Finally, we were out, and within 1K Michael was going away - his friends confident he was in shape and would be fine. I ran with Raj and Evan for many K, chatting and hitting the pace. Unfortunately, I did no prep for this run, and when they told me it was 4:45/k for 3:20, I said it was 7:40/mile. I mixed these in my head and started hitting 7:42, 7:41; 7:44 etc. over and over again. We hit halfway in just 1 min over pace for 3:20 and I couldn't figure out why when I had split everything spot on. Then I saw my error: 7:40 mile vs 4:45 kilometers. Ahh. No problem. I can claw back a minute. Michael was 3 min 45 sec ahead of us.
Evan and I tried not to go too hard, too early, but we got the time back pretty quickly. That happens when you start chatting Boston and Comrades. Evan was flagging around 18 miles, his steps getting clunky and his talking less. I knew he would struggle to finish at this pace. I guided him to 32k (20 miles) and did some math - I needed 7:30s per mile to break 3:20. Well, that was the pace for the day so I had better go do what I said I would do. With a nod to Evan, who would easily get his personal best today, I moved on, eager to shift gears. I glanced across the street and saw Michael on his way back in. He was 2 min and 40 seconds ahead of me. I had yet to speed up so that means we had gained a min on him; something was wrong. I took it down, running 7:08 and 7:14 for the next few. I didn't feel great, as 11 miles per week will do to you in a marathon, but I was in control. Then I saw Michael, and I caught him with 1.5 miles to go, which means I took 2:40 out of him in just about 4 miles. I made him hand over his camelbak for me to carry and stepped in front to lead the way, shouting encouragement for him to stick with the pace. We pushed on, turned the final corners, and crossed the line in 3:19:23, good for 58th overall. I was in 118 at 12K so I figured that was a great negative split and I could have done more if I hadn't slowed to run in with Michael. Later I found out he only needed 3:25 for Boston (no wonder he didn't panic) but he still pushed for the sub-3:20.
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| #74 done and dusted |
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| Justin and Michael knocking out the Boston qualifier |
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| Surprisingly good since I lost one of my Gu's on the course. |
Unfortunately, the journey did not end here. After eating the food (first time I have eaten post-race Indian food), I started off. The roads were all closed around the stadium, so I had to walk two miles to the golf course. I was accosted by security and caddys when I walked into the country club looking sweaty and dressed in running clothes but they let me stay and do my push-ups (50 a day, every day) until everyone else came. I showered and hammered an omelet, toast, and bacon and we hit the links. I walked 18 holes of golf, probably another 5 miles, and drank beer the whole way. We had a great time, avoiding peacocks and making numerous inappropriate jokes (golf lends itself to so many, "That's what she said" comments). My group still finished 3rd on the day.
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| Hole #1 with a peacock on it |
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| Trouble brewing on the 7th tee box |
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| Our team, missing one, but we still finished 3rd |
Finished the day off at the bar.
I was pretty toasted. Maybe it's because I am 37, woke up at 3am, ran a marathon on no training, walked two miles to a golf course, walked another 5 miles playing golf, and drank beer all day, only to end up at a bar. Or maybe I am looking at this wrong. Maybe I am 37, woke up at 3am, ran a marathon on no training, walked two miles to a golf course, walked another 5 miles playing golf, and drank beer all day, and ended up at a bar. Awesome day. Yeah, that feels better to say it like that.
It doesn't matter what you do with your Sunday, and you don't have to play softball or golf after a marathon. But you need to do something. So get out there and make it happen. Let the incondite adventure continue.
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