on the day, the clouds decided not to let go of the water drops but instead descended down to the ground. water in pursuit of its freedom from the clouds would slowly come off the clouds, not as drops but water took the shapes of mist and fine droplets, sashaying off from the clouds and gliding down to ground. A day when laws of physics and nature seemed to be bending. a day earlier it was bright, sunny and warm unlike any other day in Helsinki this summer.
the Helsinki city marathon, 42 kilometers around the city of Helsinki with the finish line inside the Olympic stadium.I had decided to take part, registered and started my preparations only 2 weeks before the start date of the marathon. This sudden decision making was thanks to my friend Sriram’s participation in the New York half marathon - Thanks Sriram - but unlike him i was not doing it for a cause or may be i was doing it for my own cause. the first few days i was more than apprehensive about having to pay and join the marathon, i was hoping that may be they will allow free participation. that was not the case and i nearly decided to not take part, then Arun was wondering why i was backing out and after some talking we both got registered.
there started everything. i had never covered huge distances with a time goal. i was not sure if i would be able to make it to the 21km line, as that was the only aim first up. while my preparations started 2 weeks before, marathoners start practice 4 months in advance and 2 weeks before a marathon they cool off to get ready for the marathon - our case was obviously the opposite.
BANG, the marathon started and the crowd in front of me began their steady jog and i for my part started with s brisk walking pace. within the first 100 meters i had a doubt that i should also start to jog rather than walk, but then the better sense prevailed for the next 1 km. close to the 2 km mark, i started to jog.just as some random music was playing out from the mp3 player, i was moving forward totally unware of the effort being put in and more bothered by the people around me. all i know i am moving ahead, without letting some runners back hold my interest for too long ;).
slowly i slip into a state were all my concentration is on everything around me with least amount of thought going into the my physical state or position with respect to the crowd. i am in auto-pilot and my legs did not need the attention i had given previous when training, more like its become my second nature.
as the distance i have covered increases, any thoughts in my mind vanish creating a empty vacuum. filling me with a feeling of being liberated, but from what i have no idea. i had imagined that during the marathon, i would be concentrating on what is happening to me, but it was the opposite. i was enjoying each and every moment of it, paying more and more attention to every thing around me.
each of the fine droplets slowly graced my face passing on that tingling feel along with the fresh chill, that you might expect from a freshly picked fruit after having shaken off the dew droplets on it. for whatever i felt, i still was quite empty headed and clueless as to what was going on. i was just obeying my previous decision to take part in the marathon and contrary to my expectation i was not uncomfortable as i thought i would have.
i crossed the 21km without much of a fuss being caused by myself. and then slowed down my pace, from then on the distance i was covering was bonus. with every kilometer i passed, my shoulder was caught up and i had a sprain, by 30km i felt like my feet had bulged up and they were trying to the bust up the shoe, pushing hard from within. the jogging became more intermittent and brisk walking more regular, i started to feel the distance. with close to 5 km remaining, me and arun decided to take it slow and finish the marathon in our pace rather than try and push against time.
inside the olympic stadium, in presence of many we crossed the line. it was done. a 42km marathon.
pushing forward to understand myself physically, i feel need to keep pushing to find the point or may be the breaking point. How do i know my limits ? yes fear does create imaginary limits, but what about the physical limits? Hopefully more challenges will lead to more understanding. may be the realm might change from the physical to mental. but that for what lies ahead.
like a moment taken from the Forrest gump movie, why did i decide to take part in the marathon ? - for no particular reason, i just felt like i had to take up some challenge and the marathon seemed to me that it was the challenge i was looking out for.
