The Mumbai Marathon - Are you game?

I have moved into Thane (Mumbai suburbs for the uninitiated) hardly a month back. Thane was earmarked as the place for my residence during the current stint in Mumbai. (Previous one was for a year in 2006).

And in this short time life has already settled down to a routine. Day starts with a walk (to warm up for the day) to catch (rather try and catch) the bus @ 7.55 am. In roughly half an hour we alight to reach the obstacle course! A 500 meter walk followed by climbing and alighting 25 steps on either side. Walking up and down these steps, when I look down its scores of legs at a furious pace and when I look up its a swarm of heads ( or umbrellas depending on the monsoon...Keeps reminding me of the mass exodus scenes from the Hollywood flicks). And if its raining you can expect a steeplechase....jumping past those water pools to avoid your shoes getting damaged. After all this it looks like you have reached the starting of a marathon race! In between all this we are constantly keep looking at the watch (like a typical marathoner tracking his time and difference between his & the current world record!).

At roughly 8.30 am we have officially joined the rate race for the day...we are in platform no. 3 waiting for the 8.52 slow local (time it leaves for CST). Over the week or so when we did our dry runs to decide on Thane and later test runs to see what time we reach, we decided that this particular train was the best suited for us. Being a slow local, the train stops at all stations. At around 8.40 or so the train arrives. We like the rest of the crowd eagerly lunge once again like the marathoners taking position. As the train whizzes past and the Ist class coach nears me I gear up, try, dodge and muscle my way through and get into it.
As I get in I look for vacant seats (don’t worry they are almost never empty!!!) and if lucky get to sit on one. If not then look for the most convenient space given it was going to get packed in the coming few stations. This particular part of the trip is good for the calf, thigh and shoulder muscles. Wondering how? It’s a standing of over an hour in the most trying conditions and trying to hold on to the overhead hanger. (or whatever they call it)

The time is around 9.30 am and you have been standing for almost 45 mins. You would be experiencing pain in your heels and knees (like a long distance runner). What makes some of us happy is the so called calorie burn!!! We would have reached closer to Dadar and the train starts getting emptied. We get to sit and recuperate. In another 15 mins we are at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly known as Victoria Terminus). Getting out of the train like lakhs of others do we walk towards our next mode of journey, the almost legendary Mumbai cab! Its another almost a 750 meter walk. May sound small but given the just completed train leg it looks like a lot. We get into the cab…relieved that we have successfully completed one leg of the journey…planning the return leg for the day.

As I have been talking right from the beginning this whole experience reminds me a typical marathon right from warm up etc with traces of steeplechase built into it!!!

The Mumbai Marathon - Are you game?