This past weekend, the Woodstock Running Team composing of 7 staff and 7 students took on the Delhi half marathon. We were a mix of Americans, Indians, Nepalese, Canadians, and a couple Germans-we were a running melting pot. I was pretty excited to experience what running a half marathon would be like in India. Luckily, there wasn’t a full marathon option because it was clear that training would not be a priority when I arrived at Woodstock School. My runs were few and far between, but I was really banking on the altitude and mountains to give me the upper hand.
From race packet pick-up to receiving my medal, the whole experience was better than I imagined. Things that are still interesting but are becoming less surprising is the separation of men and women. For example, we arrived at the race to find there were separate entrances for men and women. This is pretty common in India as you walk through a security scanner and get patted down immediately following when entering some malls, movie theaters, or tourist attractions. We get into the Nehru Stadium, and we made finding a bathroom our first priority. Next thing you know we are stumbling upon men and women segregated porta-potties. This would normally be a bad thing as men are much quicker, but when the ratio of men to women is about 10:1, this wasn’t the worst part of our day. Unfortunately, this being a race full of first-timers, the line did not move very quickly as people were unaware of the demand for bathrooms pre-race. As race time neared, the segregation ended, and I saw men in the women’s lines.
We entered the gate for the start and managed to find some more members of our group. I began to look around me to scope out the competition. It was clear that many of these people had never run 21 km before. I saw people carrying bags, wearing jeans, and simply looking unfit. There were obviously exceptions to this rule, but when people were walking before we got to the 1km marker sign, I knew I was in for a lot of weaving and dodging in the race.
The race was an out and back course, which made it exciting to look for my friends on the other side. I saw the leaders go by in a pack of Kenyans. Then there were some Indians, and before I knew it, I saw my friend Jay-probably the second white guy to pass by since the leaders. I was so happy for him, and I felt motivated. I began the race conservatively, but when I realized that I was in better shape than I thought, I started to switch gears.
The course was well marked, had an appropriate amount of water stations, and had entertainment as well-all things one would expect from a large city marathon. The thing that was the strangest was the people along the streets. I would call them fans, but the looks on their faces expressed otherwise. Most of the people on the streets would simply stare silently as thousands of runners passed by. There was some cheering now and then, but it was rare. Even when I would see my friends on the other side of the course heading the opposite direction of me, I’d let out a holler and felt like people thought I was an insane white lady.
I finished the race in 2:07. I was pretty happy with the time as I felt incredibly unprepared. The trouble is that now I think I should train for a full marathon because I wouldn’t have to work so hard. I should really look at it like, wow what an opportunity to succeed. Instead I see this as a way to complete marathons with minimal work.
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