2006 Mumbai Marathon

After talking about running the Mumbai Marathon for the past 5 months, it finally happened on January 15, 2006. In the 3rd edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, the city did a great job of promoting the race and making sure it when off with no hitches. In 2004 and 2005, they had around 25,000 participants. This year they expected over 28,000. Most of the people were running the 7.5km Dream run. The breakdown was:
– Full marathon – 3,000
– Half marathon – 5,000
– Dream run – 18,000
– Senior citizens – 2,000

I was planning to run the full marathon @ 42km, however my lack of training made me opt for the half marathon a couple months back. Even that was in jeopardy, the day before the race I was feeling sick and had only trained for 10 days prior to the race. The night before the race, I got only 4-5 hours of sleep. In the end I ran 21km in 2 hours and 16 minutes, which ranked me 360 out of 5,000 runners for the half-marathon. Unbelievable. Race Map We started from the VT station at 7:00a and ran towards Marine Drive. Then from Nariman Point to Chowpatty. This was one of the best parts of the run – people cheering, no horns and no sun. Then we headed to Peddar Road and the first big incline at the Kemp’s Corner flyover and ran towards to Haji Ali. From there we continued to Worli and did a turn around somewhere in Worli. Coming back via the same route was okay except the sun had started to shine and was getting hot as we headed towards Haji Ali. The Boston Marathon has their “Heartbreak Hill” and the Mumbai Marathon has “Heartbreak Haji Ali.” After running 13km, the incline of Peddar Road near Haji Ali started to wear on me, but I continued my pace and honestly it wasn’t that bad. Anyways, you know the rest of the story I finished in 2 hours and 16 minutes. Saw a guy from about 15 yards away that I thought I recognized, as he came closer it was none other Anil Ambani of Reliance, his number 9999. And he was running the half marathon. Pics from the race