Whims published... It's not an expert's opinion, It's not an online diary, It's not a web journal... It is just my whims published

On 12th Feb is the 5th edition of Auroville Marathon, an annual event held in the Auroville campus. If everything goes as I expected, I would be running my first ever Full Marathon [42.195 Kms] there. Having bitten by this long distance running bug since 1.5 yrs, I have run many half marathons [which includes many practice sessions]. A Full Marathon is going to be a big challenge for me. For many novice runners, running a marathon is a dream, for some, it is one of the entrants in the wish list of their lives! Frankly speaking, I am not feeling any such thing about it. I am pretty anxious about finishing it that’s all. Neither Auroville Marathon is a timing event,  nor I have an earlier timing to improve in Full Marathon. Hence I have nothing to lose, as long as I manage to complete the distance.

I have been practicing hard for the event from last 1.5 months. Sad to say, I was never able to run a Full Marathon in my practice sessions. I can run a Half Marathon comfortably. I have pushed my limits to 33-35 Kms once. The thought of last to last weekend practice session demotivates me! I had run Half Marathon and then ran for some 20-25 mins more. I had reached the farthest end of GKVK campus. I stopped for a sip of water and just did not feel like running after that! I wasn’t really tired; I could have surely run for another hour or so. But I just got bored! There was no company of fellow runners that day. Usually I do not carry any music players while running, so though I was capable of running few more kilometers, but damn.. I just got bored running. It took me 30 minutes to reach the place where I had parked my bicycle. This very thought of boredom while running scares me. I think it is high time I accept running too needs a motivating partner like in gymming. I am sure this problem will never occur in an actual event. With so many fellow runners, with runners motivating each other, with some music and dhol played at frequent intervals, I am sure, the milieu will be as exciting as ever.

Rajendra, an interesting person and my new friend from my cab, suggested me this website by Hal Higdon, a marathon runner and a coach. It is a very useful site for Marathon enthusiasts with many training programs under different categories.  All the training programs Hal Higdon suggests are of 4.5 months duration. I do not have so much time left to take this training up. I better stick to my learn-from-mistakes-regime for rest of the days and perform well in the event.