I run to write and I write to run

Ok that time of the year when all lace up for a race ... in Vasco, the GOa River Marathon
This time around it was the 10th edition... as good as their reputation goes in organising such a large scale event in a small town, is their sheer love for running. Their attention to details about the requirements of so many kinds of runners is so unique. Let me illustrate this with an example
Running is an easy sport but a lot of variables can alter our finish times. And naturally as humans we have unrealistic expectations too. ( Else why would anyone sign up a second time to run a full marathon) So we curse the route, seasons, humidity, work stresses, shoes,socks,morning blues, dogs barking at a distance etc for the poor show on the race day .But all runners without an exception will exhalt about the well organised race. Like the loving mother who fusses over all her children we were given the best
Ok now my running story .... my 42.2 kms... the whole story
Reference to this for a quick recall. .http://triviadivya.blogspot.com/2018/12/i-lived-to-tell-tale.html .. I wanted to do the same thing again... why
Like the lady in labor pains who vows never to have another child but returns back promptly for the next edition.... like the student who promises to study better the next time if the exams are cleared this time.....
The  first 42.2 kms hurt just as much and I somehow forgot how I barely got out alive to tell the tale
I was just as unprepared ... the mind body mismatch was just as much .... in my mind a marathon is easy peasy for me but my legs screamed something else the whole time
My 2 cents worth ....
The tough thing about running a marathon is waking up at an unearthly hour in the name of practice....
Tougher than that is trying to move ones bowels before the race.... the lighter one is, the faster one is on the feet , right
Toughest part is wearing the correct shoes  .... I walked out with both right leg shoes in the wee hours of the morning ... I managed such an impossible thing how difficult a second full marathon could be

17 November 2019
2:00 am - I am going to have the best race of my live
4:30 am - I will finish this race in 5 hours
4:45 am - As the 5 hours pacer ran past me , Mind says the 5:30 guys are still way behind
5:08 am - 5:30 bus is closing in rapidly,  Mind says Cmon I can keep up
6:20 am - I am struggling to keep up with 5:30 bus..but like the reassuring sounds of a cardiac monitor about the patient being alive ; the flapping 5:30 bus flag kept me hoping n running
n Amit has the repute of being on time, always.. Indigo must have picked up their tag line from him..
7:00 am- I need to get out of this alive... I have a family, dogs , menagerie to care for after all
From this point onwards I went into a running coma... mind gives up.... legs keep moving because they have done so from the first year of life
Seriously what was I thinking
If I have run a marathon before I am prepared for another one
Like the exam paper where the questions are out but I still don’t know the answers
I did not blame the route or the weather.... just myself .... as if that helps
No one said it was easy.... except my Mind of course

When all is bleak God sends angels , seriously I saw the wings and the works in the running delirium
A fellow runner , Chandra who talked me to the turn around point

A fellow cyclist, Sunil, egged me to the finish line ... the last 7.5 kms I was the ICU patient and S was the ventilatior that breathed life into me, breath after breath, unfailingly

I ran and ran real hard on the finish line timing mat.....joined by a fellow doctor Siddhesh  who didn’t let me stop running in the last 100 metres also
I FINISHED @ 5hour 52minutes ....way off what I set out for...but 4 minutes shaved off my previous timing .....so I am proud of that.....way tougher than I expected ... but I have forgotten that

The joy of stepping on the mat.. to loud cheers from friends .... to a warm embrace of Amol (who supports this madness inspite of not subscribing to it)... to wobbly knees that is going to hurt for the next few days ... I am reborn.... and that is why we run marathons.   .... Year after year..
( A veteran once told me he had run 5 full marathons and each one was differently difficult)
one wants to feel life breathed in to you again , after it has been sucked out..... fills a runner up to the brim.... overflowing with the joys  unexplainable
   Thanks people..... all who have made me see another sunset....