Airtel Hyderabad Half Marathon 2014

After the Chennai DRHM event, the event I signed up for was the Airtel Hyderabad Half Marathon. This run is a little special to me as I received my first-ever finisher T-shirt last year as proof of my improvement in running. Also, there is the big culinary charm of Dine-hill and Karachi biscuits as post-run celebration.

I booked myself a return flight as soon as the dates for AHM 2014 were out. A few of my fellow runners also opted for the same as soon as posted it in our Facebook group.

The initial count was around 40 people going from our group alone this year, but pre-race almost half of them dropped out due to various reasons. I myself was in the worst running form as I got a viral infection at the beginning of August, which kept me away from any physical activity for 2 weeks. Just before the race week, I restarted running and was not even in a position to complete an easy 20km before the race week.

The train journey on Garib-Rath was wonderful with all the fellow runners. This time I did not take any food for myself for my own dinner, but there was so much homemade food on the train from others. I did not get much sleep overnight, but it was okay.

We got down at Begumpet railway station, and another running group (BHUKMP) from Bangalore joined us. This time we were staying together in a super nice hotel called Marigold. It was a chatty walk from the railway station to the hotel. The hotel staff were super-efficient as they managed to check-in 60+ runners with ease, and then we had a big breakfast. I had lots of healthy stuff: lots of curd, fruits, and muesli.

We went to the expo from the hotel, thanks to Uber for a free ride 🚕 to promote their service in India. It was free if you were going to the HITEC city expo and coming out of there.

The expo was a mixed bag; most counters were well-organized, and we were handed our running BIB and goody bag promptly, but a few were not so lucky. I met lots of great runners with full ‘Josh’ (enthusiasm) who had come from across the country. I realized there would be no finisher t-shirt for the top runners from Nike. In a way, it took off lots of pressure from me as I was not really ready for a race yet.

After returning to the hotel, I declined to join the group lunch as everyone headed to Paradise for the famous biryani and ‘qubani ka meetha.’

After watching TV and taking a nap, I got up in the evening and joined the group again for an early dinner. I had a light dinner with lots of Dal (lentil) and curd.

Race-day

I woke up around 4 AM, had a quick shower, and had two bananas and a couple of dates. I dressed myself for a hot and sunny day. Again, thanks to Uber, I reached the starting point of Necklace road. By the time we finished warm-up, I could already feel it was going to be a very hot day.

I ensured to take a water break at 2KM and 6KM early on. Thanks to Metro work, there was some shade from those safety partitions. But soon they were also gone. I was running alone all along as I could not find anyone with a similar pace to run along. Most of the time I was passing someone, but there were a few who passed me along the whole path.

As I had run this race before, I was mentally strong and was able to map the course mentally and pushed myself for the best. I also made sure that I was enjoying the run. I ensured to thank many volunteers and give them high-fives as I crossed them. The volunteers, especially Waste Warriors, did a superb job of ensuring the streets remained clutter-free. I had my Glue-Gel around the 11KM mark; I did not try any pre-race gel.

Everything was going fine, and I knew the last fly-over would be a killer, and it really killed me. It was the worst as I almost lost the battle with it. 18 KM was my slowest when I reviewed my Garmin later. I tried my best to push myself as I was approaching G. M. C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium. But to my surprise, the entry to the stadium was changed from last year, and I was completely heartbroken as I did not have any energy in myself to push further. Somewhere I knew it was only 500m to complete the race, but I also was not sure if it was 700m, as I did not want to be a victim of heat, dehydration, and another DNF at the last meters.

I did the best I could and finished the race at 1:50:29. It was a huge improvement compared to last year; the result below is the testimony. The heat and sun were killers this year, and my face tells that.

In a way, I am very happy that I finished strong, but on the other hand, I wished I had a little extra energy and strategy to finish in around 01:48. I also wished to run alongside someone as it was a boring city roads and flyovers.

It was the last outstation race of the year 2014-15 for me.