Flyover daudenge, Sharmaji daudenge...Dilli duadegi

Remember this ad prior to the first Hutch Delhi Marathon?

This time it was, I think the third run of Delhi Marathon; although the brands have changed hands. Hutch has been acquired by Sarin saab run Vodafone. So this time it was called VDHM- Vodafone Delhi Half Marathon.

I too put on my joggers on early morning of 28 October and ran with the thousands of junta. There were highlights of the (my) run, other than the fact that I did manage to complete my 21km in 3 hours 20 minutes ( I can look forward to breaking my record next year :)).

The other highlights should sound amusing.

First, I hadn't collected my bib. So I went to the Vodafone stall at the starting venue (a cricket ground at Vinay Marg) and requested these guys for one (The bibs could only be collected till penultimate day from Ansal Plaza). I didn't see any hope and the thought of running "numberless" was giving me depression :( Perhaps, this lady from Vodafone, took pity on my sad face and took me bit away from her office crowd and handed her bib. Huh! "Thanks madam" I told her and quickly proceeded towards the starting point. So, I ran as "Jayashree Sundar" with bib no. 31807! ;).

Anuj (colleague) and I then rushed towards the starting point at 8.15 am, only to realise that the run took off 30 mins back. shucks! Anyways, we began running..

Somewhere at 5 km, I stopped a bit, so Anuj and I decided to run at our own paces and he went ahead. Just slightly ahead of this milestone, I and some other joggers were stopped by a Dilli police constable Ram Singh..."re bhai theher ja, araam kar le...kidhar bhaaga ja raha hai...woh chore to wapas aan laag re sai!". On the opposite side, we could see the Keynians getting back heading towards the closing point. Anyways, thaanedar sa'ab to kind enough to let us late comers go ;)

The marathon route was amazing, through greenest and cleanest areas of NDMC - Chanakyapuri, Prithviraj Road, Aurangzeb Road, CP, India Gate...and yes weather was just about right to keep up the morale .. all in all, a pleasant experience..from 5km to 14km milestone, my stretch went on ...not any particular event to write on that part!

At around 14km, near Safdarjung Airport, I got this extreme pain in my feet, and I decided not to hurt myself more. I broke off from the marathon only to get lost somewhere in the service lanes around Safdarjung Flying Club. Somehow managed to ask people around, kept walking, so as to see some auto/bus. The funny part happened when, after getting directions from numerous passers-by in narrow bylanes, I finally managed to reach 'some main road'; only to realise that I had joined the marathon again. I think due to this detour I ended up travelling lil more than 21km in all. At this point, I still had extreme ache and a feeling of ulcers developing in my feet. But then, got a feeling to somehow drag myself to reach to the end.

As I touched the line, it was 11.40 pm. There were the dholwale and the naachne wale around - 'thim thim lak lak' in true saada Dilli ishtyle... that helped pep up the spirit a bit.

The ache in the feet was unbearable...but then it definitely gave each of us who finished, a good feeling of having tried out our stamina and touched the finishing line finally!

And btw, just checked for the fastest runner. This Kenyan took just 01:00:43 (hh:mm:ss) !!