We traveled as a family, to Switzerland on holiday and I decided to club it with a Marathon. Bryan too had a 4.2K race to run and was very excited about it. Race day! and, we woke up at 6am although the race was scheduled for 10am. Call it the race jittersJ. We munched on cinnamon buns and left for the race venue.It seemed like entire Lausanne was participating because there were races for Nordic Walkers, 10k, ½ Marathon and races for children under sixteen. The sky was grey and there was a nip in the air (8 deg C) as runners went about their race preparations. There was a podium with girls and guys leading Nordic Walkers into a warm up with some “Jane Fonda” aerobics. Bryan and I sniggered as we tacitly agreed that such exertions were misplaced for an endurance race. We had left the hotel wearing our bibs with jackets shielding us from the cold. Monsoon had volunteered to carry our stuff from the start point because the finishing point was another 2kms away. I went to the mobile toilet for a last min leak and found that I had to stand in a queue. A young woman that was ahead of me, turned around and asked me, “Are you doing the full-marathon?” and on my nodding replied, “Then you better go ahead or you’ll be late for your race”. Do you see that? Will we see that in our country???
The race started and I set out with the usual nervousness. I decided to give it all I’ve got. About 2k into the run the sun came out. I was wearing a bandana to protect my ears from the cold and I yanked it off. 5K and I was dot on pace for a 3:50. There was a blonde ahead of me with a “Switcher” T-shirt and I called her “switcher blonde” so that I could hang on to her pace. I saw a woman with jiggling buns running way ahead of me and wondered; how in God’ name do they run at this pace with that frameJ))))))! Then I got this shiver up my spine as we went up an incline that didn’t seem to end. I wondered: this was a course that I did not get a chance to check out and rued my fate if the inclines were many. I found out, alright for sure, there were too goddamn, many of them. The route was the most beautiful that I’d ever seen in my life with the vast expanse of the placid lake Lausanne on one side and breath-taking vineyards on the other side.
I grabbed the water and “Powerade” at drinking stations and ran strong wondering, like Dr Noakes predicts (in “Lore of Running”); run too fast and you have a death march ahead of you! I threw caution to the winds saying, “You come to Lausanne once buddy, so face it as it comes”. There were bands playing my favorite tunes, especially the “wedding march” as I remembered in Goa, where couples hold hands forming an arch as the bride and groom walking thru’ it. There was one incline that I found particularly difficult and I suddenly realized that when I ran to the beat of the “Jazz Swing” being played by a band, I could handle it quite well.
I saw the lead runners go by on the other side of the road (it’s an out and back route) with the motorbikes flashing their electric blue blinding lights. It would indeed be nice to run at that paceJ)))))) I realized that I was on the wrong side of forty and ought not to have any hopes of such divine benevolenceJ))) I trudged on and saw the 21k turn around coming up. Thank God!! I felt strong and crossed myself as I wanted so much for Bryan to see me finish in less than 4 hrs. There were 8 climbs and descents on the way here and hence I could expect the same on the return. “Switcher blonde” had fallen behind and I had nobody to latch on to.
I saw the km markers go by and felt as strong as when I’d started out except that the climbs had taken out 4 mins from my target time. 32K and I braced myself for the “wall”. I zipped on and realized that I had probably done something right, because I did not feel a thing. At the 36K mark I felt myself slowing down feeling the “wall” and winced as I forced the pace on myself. At the 39K mark I felt like I’d like to vow never to run another marathon because the pain was so intense I felt every step was like I’d jumped off a stool!!!!!!!!!!! There was a Britisher that was alongside me because he felt that my strong pace would drag him to the finish. At the 40K mark (Goodness gracious) I saw “jiggly buns” – damn; how did she do it!!!! My body was on fire now as I felt the burn in my calves. I was at the stage where any let up in my pace would take me over the brink into a 4 hr finish. I could not allow that! The inclines had taken their toll on me but I hung in there.
I saw a large arch in the distance and realized that it must be the finish. I was now over-taking runners that glanced in surprise; some in annoyance and some in courteous acknowledgement. How in Gods name do you speed up at this stage? You do it when you have a promise to keep to your son and – miles to before you sleep. I crossed the finish line in 3:57 and saw my dear boy, Bryan wave out to me. I was spent now and I could barely walk as I feebly waved out to him. I learnt from him that he had run his 4.2K in 24 mins – that’s my boy!!!!!!!!!!!! I reached the finishing area and did the one thing that I believe is heavenly manna for marathoners – grab a “HEINEKEN”!!! A strong finish indeed ol’ chap. You are not done yet, DanJ)) I was particularly touched, on the way back to the hotel, on a bus, when a woman who must have been in her 70s, offered me a seat on the bus saying, “you have just run a marathon”! I had to hold back the tears when I saw such genuine heart-felt consideration. Viva Lausanne!
