It's official - I ran my first race! I've been running a lot here thanks to other roadwives who made a pact to start running more. We keep each other motivated and on track by posting our goals and distances on Facebook. It made me want to run a race and they actually had one here! The Kochi Mini Marathon was held on Sunday morning at one of the stadiums not far from the hotel. Registration was free and by Friday night I had convinced 3 people (Jason included) to do it with me. Our options were either a 10k or 3k run. I opted for the 3k because I hadn't run a 10k in a looong time and didn't want to hurt myself. I was doing this for fun, remember?
The website said the race started at 7 and to be there by 6am so of course, I wanted to leave early. I have to be on time! We ended up not getting there until 6:15am or so and I have to admit, I was slightly nervous that we wouldn't be able to run since we weren't there on time. For a moment, I forgot that I was in India and nothing is on time here.
While standing with our numbers and our "free size" XL tshirts, we notice the time for the race on our numbers - 730am. So far, that's two different times we were told. While we are waiting, a couple people take our picture but as soon as a news reporter came over with a video camera, we turned and walked away. The last thing we wanted was to be interviewed about why we were in Kochi. They were persistent and kept following so eventually we started jogging the track. They didn't follow. Just because we were the only non-Indians running the race doesn't mean we want to be interviewed! They were probably excited because we came from far away JUST for the race!
Apparently over 10,000 people registered but I didn't see that many. I'm not sure who did that math. They started the "10K" first and a short time later, the winners were coming in for their final lap around the track. We thought that was pretty fast since we were just talking about fastest times. The winners finished the 10k in under 30 mins. If you look up world records, it's about that time. So this "10k" race wasn't really a 10k. Again, not sure who did the math and mapped that one out. Maybe no one?
Eventually we started the run at 7:45. We were told traffic would be blocked and in typical Indian fashion, it was not. There wasn't a lot of traffic, but we were still dodging cars that insisted on turning when there was a crowd of runners crossing at the same time. They said water stations and bathrooms would be set up along the route. I saw no bathrooms (but wasn't looking for them either) and the one water station they set up was handing out warm, liter bottles of water. Who wants to carry that? No one... which would explain the numerous (too many to count) bottles of water we were running over on the rest of the route. Walking on the streets and sidewalks here is already hazardous to ones health, let alone running on them. Jason thought for sure someone would end up with a sprained ankle.
Watching people coming in from the '10k' run was a sight. The people towards the front were typical runners but then we had people in sandals, polo shirts, pants, button down long sleeve shirts.. you name it, they were wearing it! I'm not sure how people can run in that. There were some women in sarees for the 3k, but it was also a family walk/run event.
I didn't want to run with my camera, so I have no pictures except the one posted Jason took in the hotel room. We had to recreate it since I forgot when we got back from the race. (this was after the laundry done so the clothes are clean)
One thing on my Bucket List - Running a Race - CHECK!
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