Photo Gallery: Delhi Marathon 2010

Delhi Marathon was only 4 days away and

we had not had the time to get the T-Shirts ready

which we were to wear on Sunday...

This is what we thought our T-shirt should look like...

What do you think?

Was it worth 3 hours of running around town yesterday to find

3 T-shirts of same colour in required sizes to fit the 'three musCATeers'...

while nearly getting run over by a bus at Aroma lights...

and then 2hours with our legendary type setter...

followed by another hour at the printer.

I woke up at 5am to get ready for the trip ahead.. RUN Supreet RUN ;-)

Cab arrived dot at 7am.. infact just as I was to get into the cab at 7.02am,

I got a call from CAT Guneet, 'I hope you won't come before 7.15am!!'

What a FALSE start ;-)

However, with CAT Guneet in the car by 7.18am and CAT Rajpal by 7.35am,

we left Chandigarh behind at 7.45am... on the way to Delhi...

in time I would say with loads of goodluck calls, text messages and FB messages to keep us company.

First pit stop came at Karnal Haveli for breakfast.. CAT Guneet had decided

at Ambala itself that she wanted Dosa for Breakfast... Rajpal was quick to

decide upon mouth watering Chana Bhatoora.. Given I could not find milk around,

I opted for Idi Sambhar but not before declaring that I needed

a cappuchino at the very next CCD/Barista on the highway!

Fortunately Barista was not too far from Haveli and I had a JUG-ful of

intoxicating brown liquid to set me up for the day :P

Since CAT Monica was away to US and our stay had been organised at

her home in her absence, her friends took it upon themselves to ensure

every comfort was available to CATS during the stay.

As promised, I called up both Nilimesh and Anita as we left Karnal so that

they had a fair idea about our expected arrival time in Delhi.

We reached Delhi at 1.30pm, dreading to go through the expo since our experience

at Chandigarh Marathon had been quite harrowing!

However, all our fears were absolutely misplaced.

The expo was so well organised that we were worrying needlessly.

Since we had gone well prepared with the documents (original/copies) as

the organisers had requested off us, we were guided straight to

the counters according to our registration numbers.

It took all of 5mins at this counter to hand over the papers and get our official sheets,

thanks to the completely computerised efficient registration system.

The volunteers/staff were friendly and keen to help.

Then we collected our goody bags and then we were directed towards

this desk to get out timing chips activated.

It barely took 10mins to go through this process. In fact I remember almost

getting disappointed at not having to put a fight in the face of rowdy and inefficient staff ;-)

I had started wondering if we should have actually slept a little more in

the morning and left Chandigarh a little late if things were so easy at the Expo :D

Actually the longest it took was at the counter to get the parking ticket in advance for the car parking...

But even this took no more than 5mins!!!

With a Bib each for ourselves.. and a parking ticket for our cab...

we were all set for the run next morning.. MEOW :)

However, as we walked out of the expo, we noticed that CAT Rajpal

was limping badly. Apprently, his foot had been bothering him all day

in the 10k worth of shoes he had purchased a month ago, worn every

single day to the office to ensure they got broken into and ran 20kms

in the same shoes a few days previously.

We could not figure out what was wrong, but we chose to look into his foot

upon reaching CAT Monica's home.

We called up both Nilimesh and Anita as we left the expo who were on the

way to CAT Monica's house to get us settled

After getting directions from both to reach CAT Monica's house just as

Anita herself pulled in.. Nilimesh came a minute later with a huge

bunch of keys in his hands... He explained which key is for which

lock and that is when we realised that he had already been here in the

morning to deliver a fresh supply of fruit, vegetables, milk, bread etc for us!

Anita brought in delicious packed lunch for the hungry CATS to pounce upon....

We were left flabbergasted..

Such a warm welcome in a city we did not know..

by people who barely knew us..

for them it was enough that we were CAT Monica's CATS from Chandigarh!

As CAT Rajpal got busy with his notes for his forthcoming interview,

CAT Guneet and I quietly left the house in the evening to purchase

some last minute supplies as sustenance during the run the following day.

After enjoying the dinner cooked by Monica's maid, we asked CAT Rajpal

to wear his shoes once again to figure out if all is well.

Unfortunately, the pain returned as soon as he slipped the shoe on!

It was 10.30pm and there was no way we could nip out to buy

another pair of shoes. I called up Nilimesh who said that he wore

size 8 and his son wore size 9 while we needed size 7 for Rajpal.

Anita was already sleep and not aware of the trouble we were in.

Suddenly it occured to me that Monica may have gone to US,

but she would not have taken her shoes with her! A quick call to

her and she told us where to look for the shoes in her pantry area

and said just one thing, 'Do whatever, take whatever, wear

whatever you need.. just make sure Rajpal and all of you have

a comfortable run tomorrow!'

Monica... since words are failing us... a BIG HUG is due to you when you return :)

and with a midnight goodluck call from a fellow CAT, we decided to call it a day!

I heard the phone beep what I assumed was the crack of dawn...

somehow the fear crept into my bones that none of us woke up with the 5.30am alarm

and that we had missed the marathon!

Fortunately, my fears were completely unfounded as the alarms

dutifully rang the day in at 5.30am :)

By 6.15am we were ready and giving final touches to our preparations for the run...

We were terribly missing all of our fellow CATS from last year..

Mr Bhatia's commanding orders.. Mrs Bhatia's lovingly prepared cuppa-cha...

The drama of getting Aman ready!!

Please cast no doubts over the bottle CAT Rajpal is holding...

It is nothing but what CAT Monica had advised him to drink during the

run last year and he's dutifully following her instructions this time too..

with a bottle of sugar-free apple juice :P

With our waist belts packed and hooked, breakfast of toast and tea..

all that was required was to tie the timing chips on to the shoes of each one of us...

Monica... aap ki duty hum ne nibhaayi iss baar :)

6.35am and were out of the house to head towards the marathon venue...

We found ourselves in a serpentine queue by 6.45am, wondering how long

would it take us to reach inside the holding area given how slow the queue was moving!

It was sheer delight to bump into Anita in the queue who was also running in

the half marathon... but only uptil the point her ham string started bothering her...

Waiting.. Waiting and Waiting in the LONG LONG queue which CAT Rajpal got us to

hop scotch our way through.. like a true CAT ;-)

One last shot together of the '3 musCATeers' before the run began... MEOW :)

and here we GO :)

can you spot CAT Rajpal at the starting line up?

Though the original plan was that the 3 musCATeers would stick together

throughout the run, we changed the game plan in the morning.

Given that CAT Rajpal did Chandigarh Half Marathon in 2hrs.12mins,

CAT Guneet and I suggested that he should not spoil his timing because of us tortoises!

Reluctantly, he agreed and sprang ahead of us :)

CAT Guneet and I chose to stick together for the run...

and boy.. what fun we had all along ;-)

Pulling a leg here.. Waving a hand there... Sharing a joke all around... it was fun all the way :)

CAT Rajpal's foot gave no trouble at all till this point..

though the 500ml bottle of apple juice was a task to deal with ;-)

However, being diabetic he did not have much choice as everything being

offered by the organisers along the run counters was sugary :(

ahem... even I wonder now what were we running on ;-)

When we were at 9.5kms point, CAT Rajpal was a km ahead of us..

can you see the little paws climbing up the shoulders of a grey T-shirt???

CAT Monica, do you remember this exactly was the point where

you were last year when CAT Rajpal and I were running together?

Deja vu :)

Honestly, even I don't remember the joke now..

the guy in blue next to me might remember ;-)

Or perhaps I was basking in the glory of wearing a cap which was given to

me with such love and affection by someone so dear that I could not help grinning from ear to ear :D

Our T-Shirts were such a HIT that strangers along the way were cheering us,

'Come on CATS... RUN'

Little did they know that both of these CATS were running on painkillers :(

CAT Guneet deserves a standing ovation for completing the run with an

extremely painful vericose veins in her leg and I was running with a debilitating stomach ache!

Despite respective pains, we finished our first 7kms in 58mins

(our target was each 7kms in 1hour)... however, as the pain rose for both of us,

our pace slackened as it was very important for us to finish..

we did not want to drop out midway!

CAT Rajpal was expected to finish within 2hrs.10mins at best, finished much to

our surprise at 2hrs.47mins.. His foot had started hurting around 17kms mark and that slowed him down as well...

Despite our best intentions and efforts, we respected out protesting bodies and

finished at 3hrs.15mins rather than the target of 3hours...

CAT Guneet stepped on the finishing line mat with me.. one second later...

to immediately turn around and say, 'Thank you so much Supreet for making

sure that we participate in this marathon!'

It was madness at the finishing line... a near stampede!

The task now was to look for CAT Rajpal.. we found him sitting upright just

feet away from us but he neither saw us nor could he hear us...

Eventually we had to ask these people eating at this roadside hawker,

'can you please ask that man wearing the same T-Shirt as ours to meet us over here?'

See, T-Shirts do provide practical solutions too ;-)

Same spot as last time for a photograph before we head towards the medal counters

through the gate that you see behind us...

3 MEOWs to the 3 musCATeers :)

As Airtel claimed that 20,000 of their medals had been 'stolen' and that

they would courier them out to us, we were too tired to argue with them...

We were tired and all we wanted was to get some grub at the picnic organised by Anita and her Gang :P

Like lost lambs, we ventured through Nehru Park to look for food and friends :P

yeah... FOOD glorious FOOD :P

It is amazing how this gang of super energetic friends come prepared with

delicious and nutritious picnic lunch for everyone after the run..

with CATS being merrily adopted :)

There was plenty to choose from fresh fruit, juices, sandwiches, salads, pulaos,

pastas, idlis, paranthas, dhokla... atleast these are the ones I remember!

As you can see the evidence.. itna khaaya ke billiyaan waheen dher ho gayeen ;-)

We got home by 12.30pm and given Guneet's condition, she was asked to have

the shower first while Rajpal and I had some masala chai with some more grub :P

CAT Monica's maid massaged legs and feet of CAT Guneet and I while

CAT Rajpal opted to just rest his foot.. with food for company :)

By 2pm we were all ready, packed to lock up our home in Delhi and leave

for Chandigarh. Nilimesh came to see us off and we could not leave without extending

an invite from CATS to our Delhi Gang.

Words can never express how much care they took of us while in Delhi.

Though at one stage we nearly called off participating in the marathon since

we had not practiced much and all three of us had one emergency or another at

our respective homes to take care...

and we all felt over the moon after having completed the marathon.

And Monica... participation in this marathon would have been impossible WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT!

and if you think CATS' affair with marathon for this season is over, then think again!

Mumbai - here we come in January ;-)

MEOW

- CAT Supreet